Back to searchBrandon Peak on the Dingle Peninsula, at 952m, is the highest mountain in the Brandon Mountain range. Mount Brandon (Irish: Sliabh Bhreandáin or Cnoc Bréanainn) takes its name from Saint Brendan ‘The Navigator’, who legend suggests climbed to the summit around 530AD to see the Americas, before setting sail for them.
Mount Brandon owes its craggy shape to the work of local glaciers during the ice age, which gouged out a series of corries (cwms) on the eastern flank of the mountain. Running in a line almost all the way to the summit are some Paternoster lakes, a series of rock steps each of which are occupied by a lake, the largest being Loch Cruite. Carrauntoohil, at 1038m, is the highest mountain in the Macgillycuddy’s Reeks range and the highest mountain in Ireland. A large metal cross, 5m tall, tops the peak. The name ‘Carrauntoohil’ derives from the Irish language Corrán Tuathail, meaning ‘Tuathal’s sickle’. Lugnaquilla, at 925m, is the highest mountain in the Wicklow Mountain range. In Irish, Lugnaquilla = Log na Coille, meaning Hollow of the Wood. Views, on a clear day extend east across the Irish Sea to the hills of the Llŷn Peninsula and mountains of Snowdonia in Wales.
