Scraggane, An Scragán, Co. Kerry

An Scragán · Co. Kerry

A pier, a lobster fleet, and the Atlantic both sides of you.

Scraggane is the kind of place a road runs out at. North of Castlegregory, past the dunes, past Fahamore, and then the tarmac just stops at a pier. There is no village square. There is no shop. There is a harbour, a slipway, a few houses turned to face the wind, and the Atlantic on three sides of you. The Irish name - An Scragán - means 'the rocky place', and it does.

The point of Scraggane is the boats. About twenty trawlers work out of the pier, fishing lobster, brown crab, spider crab and the odd run of mackerel. The currachs you see pulled up on the slips are tenders for the bigger boats, not show pieces. The pier was built in 1900 and the first regatta was held the same December. The Maharees crews have been racing the Brandon crews ever since, and the rivalry has not softened.

Come for the end-of-the-road quality. Walk out onto the pier at six in the morning when the boats are sorting pots. Walk the dunes when the wind is up and the marram grass is laid flat. Look across at the Seven Hogs and wonder who'd put a monastery out there in the seventh century, and why. Then drive the four minutes back to Fahamore for a pint, because Scraggane itself doesn't run to one.

Walk score

Pier, dunes, end of the road. Twenty minutes either way.

Coords

52.3103° N, 10.0347° W

01 / 05

At a glance.

Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.

01 The pier

A working harbour at the end of the spit.

About twenty boats fish lobster and crab out of Scraggane Pier. The slips at the west end are still busy at six in the morning. Currachs lie pulled up between the slipways like they've always been there.

Stories & lore → 02 The Maharees

Five kilometres of sand between two bays.

The Maharees is a tombolo - a sand spit joining the headland back to the peninsula. Tralee Bay one side, Brandon Bay the other. Marram grass, dunes, and the rare Natterjack toad that won't live anywhere else in Ireland.

Walks & outings → 03 The Seven Hogs

Magharee Islands, just offshore.

Seven low islands a couple of kilometres north of the pier. Illauntannig, the largest, has the ruins of a 7th-century monastery. The rest are summer grazing for sheep and an Important Bird Area the rest of the year.

Stories & lore →

02 / 05

Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

Lobster, crab, and a fleet of twenty

Scraggane Pier

The pier was built in 1900 on what had been a working landing for centuries before that. Two slipways at the west end, a fleet of around twenty trawlers, and a catch list that hasn't changed much in a hundred years - lobster, flat-back crab, spider crab, Atlantic crayfish, salmon when the season runs, mackerel when the shoals come in. The boats use traditional currachs as tenders, which is why you'll see them pulled up between the slips like they grew there. It's a small harbour. Stand at the end of it for ten minutes and you'll have figured out who works which pots.

Naomhóga off Scraggane Pier

The Maharees Regatta

When the new pier opened in December 1900, the Maharees crews held a regatta to mark it, and they have been holding one most summers since. The Maharees Regatta is the first of the season's naomhóg races on the west coast - usually a Sunday in early July - and it draws crews from Brandon, Cromane, Dingle, the Aran Islands, Galway and Cork. A naomhóg is the local long currach, three pairs of oars, no rowlocks, just thole pins and the rhythm. The Maharees-Brandon rivalry is the one to watch. It is older than the pier.

Magharee Islands and Saint Senach

The Seven Hogs

Two kilometres north of the pier, seven islands lie scattered across the mouth of Tralee Bay. The largest, Illauntannig - Oileán tSeanaigh, 'Senach's island' - has the remains of a small early-Christian monastery, said to have been founded by Saint Senach in the 7th century. Two stone oratories, a graveyard, the outline of a cashel wall. Twenty-two people lived on the island in 1891. Nobody lived there by 1956. Today the islands are summer grazing for a few mainland farmers' sheep, an Important Bird Area for breeding seabirds, and a national monument with restricted access. Boats out of Scraggane can land you on the easy side of Illauntannig in calm weather. Calm weather is the catch.

03 / 05

Things to do outside.

Wear waterproofs. Bring a sandwich. Tell someone where you're going if it's the mountain.

Scraggane Pier walk Out onto the pier, along the slipways, back the lower road past the houses. Do it before breakfast and watch the boats sort pots. The currachs on the slips are not props.

1 kmdistance

20 mintime

Maharees end loop From the pier, north along the dune track to the headland, back down the Brandon Bay side past the marram and the Natterjack pools. Wind always present. Tralee Bay one side, Brandon Bay the other, and you can see both at once for most of it.

4 kmdistance

1-1.5 hourstime

Down the spit to Castlegregory The whole length of the tombolo on the Tralee Bay side. Long flat sand, dunes either hand, the Slieve Mish mountains lifting at the far end. Walk it down, get a lift back, or turn around and do it twice.

5 km one-waydistance

1.5 hourstime

04 / 05

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

If a local was sitting beside you, this is the bit where they'd lean in.

Coming for a pub or a meal

Scraggane has neither. Drive back to Fahamore for a pint; Castlegregory for food. This is a pier and a dune system. Know that going in.

Trying to land on Illauntannig in a swell

The monastery island is two kilometres offshore and the landing is on the sheltered side. In anything but flat water the boats can't get close. Check conditions before you organise a trip out.

The Maharees end loop in a westerly

The spit is fully exposed. The wind off the Atlantic at the tip is not decorative. It will take your hat and throw it into Brandon Bay. Go on a calm day or go for the spectacle of it and dress for it.

Getting there.

By car

From Castlegregory, drive north on the Maharees road (L5077) past Fahamore. The road ends at Scraggane Pier - about 6 km, ten minutes. From Tralee, allow 35 minutes via Camp and Castlegregory. From Dingle, an hour over the Conor Pass and round.

By bus

No bus to Scraggane. The nearest stop is Castlegregory village, served by Local Link Kerry from Tralee a few times a day. From there it is 6 km - a taxi from the village is the sensible option.

Next on the tour

Co. Kerry

Fahamore

One kilometre south along the spit. A handful of houses and the pub that Scraggane sends you to.

Co. Kerry

Castlegregory

Four kilometres south at the base of the Maharees tombolo. Kitesurfing, food, and a village with a main street.

Co. Kerry

Cloghane

Twenty minutes east around Brandon Bay. A village of 150 at the foot of Mount Brandon.