April 2017 - (with Gemma) Ascent from Faha. Brandon Mountain is a mountain on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland. It is the highest peak of the unnamed central mountain range of the Dingle Peninsula and the ninth highest peak in Ireland. A lovely drive over the Connor Pass to the start point today as we were tackling Brandon Mountain from its east side. This also meant we could take on the notorious Faha Ridge: a Grade 1 scramble, technically easy, but exposure impressive - especially on the ridge's north side. The ascent from Faha car park up the slopes to the start of the ridge proper was hard graft through trackless heather. The scrambling began just after the summit of Benagh and was largely inescapable, with one break in the encircling cliffs on the south side only obvious from below. The views down into the savage glen of the Paternoster lakes with Brandon's ridges falling in parallel were stupendous, as were the views back along the ridge. There were plenty of challenging downclimbs including one where Gemma’s foot became stuck in a cleft of rock, wrenching her shoe off. It took ages to wrestle the shoe free whilst balanced precariously on a shelf of rock. There were moments where the ridge genuinely was knife-edged with sheer drops either side bringing some stomach sinking pangs of exposure. The whole ridge was fantastic and it took us over an hour to negotiate it before we descended to re-join the main path to the summit of Brandon Mountain. Now we were well into the clouds however we enjoyed lunch on the summit next to the large white cross. The views from here would have to wait for another day. The descent was along the ‘Pilgrim’s Path’. The large corrie on the mountain's east side has a series of rock steps, each of which includes a small Paternoster lake. There’s at least ten of these lakes, which grew in size as we descended the mountain. Amazing day out.