Start at the carpark under the Faha Grotto( marked on OS map) on the hillside overlooking Cloghane. There is room for 8-10 cars.
Walk up the track past grotto and on until you cross over a wire fence. At this point you will be near the crest of the ridge.
Leave the path and continue on up to the crest of the ridge after the wire fence and follow a low line of stones upwards. This stone line will after a short distance start to veer to the left away from the crest of the ridge. Do not follow it, stay near to the crest which will turn slowly towards the right. You will eventually gain a grassy platform (Benagh)after crossing another fence at about 790/800 meters elevation, here starts the more difficult section which has many rocky steps to negotiate.
Be very sure about the ability of your party before attempting this ridge.
It is difficult in good weather and in bad weather/visibility/winds might not be such a good idea.
If you decide to do it then stay as close to the top as possible.The summit is just before the drop down to the side of the large rock slab. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/35/comment/4795/

Proceeding east to west, you descend from the north east top onto a grassy platform but do not need to venture onto the knife edge. You escape through the band of rocks to the right by descending a short chimney, much easier than it looks at first sight. GWPR's photograph (in Brandon Mountain portfolio) was taken near the foot of the chimney, and shows the way forward from there. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/35/comment/1753/

This photo gives a clearer view of the route down from the north east top. The chimney leads down to the grassy ledge, which connects with the col. The photo also gives an impression of the terrain you have to negotiate to reach Brandon's main ridge in the vicinity of the north top. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/35/comment/1754/

Faha Ridge (centre of photo) as viewed from the southern slopes of Mount Brandon heading toward Brandon Peak.
The path from Cloghane winds is way through the Locha Chom an Cnoic on the valley floor below before the short climb on to the ridge and the final 150 mtrs up to the summit of Mount Brandon. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/35/comment/1421/

Just to show the gradient of the scramble up the final ridge. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/35/comment/6020/

EAST (Faha) RIDGE route: Grade 1 scramble: technically easy, but exposure can be impressive - especially on the ridge's north side. The ascent from Faha/the Grotto (OSi map 70 Grid ref Q493119 A) up the slopes to the start of the ridge proper (point 822) is hard graft through trackless heather - best option is to aim for the remains of the ridge wall (grid ref Q487123 B) and walk along that as much as possible. The scrambling section begins at point 822 (grid ref Q469119 C) and is superb. Individual difficulties can be avoided, most specifically a flat knife edge section with a 10m drop at it's end - avoided via a steep descent path on it's right hand/north side - but beyond retreating the ridge overall appears to be 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 are stupendous. The obvious steeper upper section of the ridge that rises direct to the summit plateau from the small col is a genuine rock climb; avoid this via the steep slopes on the right which take you direct to the subsidiary point 891 from where the summit is an easy stroll. Magnificent views. A classic route on one of the greatest mountains in these islands. Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/35/comment/3510/