Wild Atlantic Aways · Things to Do in Kerry · Dingle Peninsula
Cove & sea arch · Pair it with the Slea Head Drive on a west end day
The narrow cove under Mount Brandon from which St Brendan is said to have sailed west in the sixth century, with a small pier and sheer cliffs on both sides.
Brandon Creek, Cuas an Bhodaigh in Irish, is a deep slot of sea between cliffs on the north coast of the Dingle Peninsula, about 13 km north of Dingle town by the R549. The ninth century Voyage of St Brendan tells that the saint set out from here in the sixth century and crossed the Atlantic.
In May 1976 Tim Severin and a crew of five left the same creek in a leather boat built to the old pattern and reached Newfoundland, which is why the story is still told here with a straight face. A plaque at the creek marks the voyage.
There is a small pier at the bottom of the creek and a car park beside the road above it. The walk down is short and steep. Stand on the pier, look up at the rock on either side and out to the open sea, and the scale of the thing is clear. Mount Brandon rises behind, and the Saints Road pilgrim path to its summit starts a little further east at Ballybrack.
From our Cloghane and Castlegregory homes it is about three quarters of an hour by car over the Conor Pass and through Dingle, so it suits a day on the west end of the peninsula with Ballydavid and the Slea Head Drive. There are no facilities at the creek itself; the nearest are in Ballydavid.
More around Dingle Peninsula: Inch Beach
More beaches in Kerry: Fenit Beach, Castlegregory Beach, Derrynadivva Bay, Aughacasla Bay Beach. All beaches