Surf Trip Around The Dingle Peninsula May 2010

Last Saturday was the first of my holidays this year and the location was the Dingle Peninsula. I had never surfed further south of Doonbeg so this was new territory. Five of us altogether went down for the few days with surfing every day (if possible) in mind. We stayed in a few different hostels around the area; Mount Brandon Hostel, The Grapevine and Finnegans in Tralee on the last night. These were all decent hostels but the breakfast was virtually non existent! Mount Brandon Hostel was pretty quiet, with the Grapevine being in the thick of it in Dingle.  

It's a pretty long trip to the Dingle area and at 4pm, about 4 and a half hours after setting out, Colin and myself had reached Inch beach. The waves were rolling in at about 2 -3 foot, in nice sets and the wind was pure offshore. This was by far the longest session I've had in the water hitting the three hour mark! and I caught some of the best waves of my life the most notable one being about 3 foot which I caught just as it was breaking from my right, I dropped in with the white water inches away to my right and the clean face to my left... caught it sweetly and surfed down along the face for a good distance...  such a great feeling.

With north easterly winds for the majority of the week Inch beach was the best location when the swell was rolling in, but on Monday it was pretty dead and Brandon Bay was very messy so what to do? Climb Mount Brandon! which is up there with the highest peaks in Ireland. This was a great adventure and with the help of Marc's trusty navigation skills we made it up and down in about 5 hours. The views from the top are breathtaking... I felt a great sense of achievement this being my first hike. The weather for the trip was pretty good but near the top of the mountain it started pelting down snow... couldn't believe it.

On Tuesday and Wednesday we surfed Brandon Bay which was slightly cleaner... Tuesday turned into a wave hunt! every beach on the peninsula was hit looking for a clean wave, we found a nice secluded beach which, with a bit of swell, would be a sweet break... but I couldn't be giving away the location!

This was a real outdoor activity holiday, on Wednesday with only 3 of us left we hopped on a few bikes and did a 35km bike ride around the peninsula with some serious climbs up the hills... there is some amazing scenery about this area.

This was a top class surf trip, action packed and great craic. The Dingle Peninsula is a brilliant location for a few days away... there is so much to do and with beaches on every side you're bound to find a few waves!