Brendan O’Connor

The guides were very knowledgeable and personable.very friendly and made all hikers feel included in the experience.
They were well experienced with the landscape and hiking trails.
Loved the insight they had of their Country. Which then helped us to further understand its history and hopes for its future.
This wasn’t just a hiking trip but inside look into the country they obviously loved.

Guides were outstanding in all respects. We have done other guided trips and they were best guides by far

The guides were what made the trip. We had terrible weather but the guides came up with great options and kept us laughing.

As already mentioned, the guides, Kevin and Branden were better than "Excellent". Try SUPER!!!

Brendon was excellent, lovely dry nature about him and he made the effort to get to know us all and made it really easy for us to
gel as a group

Outstanding as previously said. Could cope with Australians sense of humor

There were six in our group with varied walking ability. The guide was able to adjust the programme to make sure all of us could enjoy hikes. We also had unexpected visits to the House of Yeats and a few other places. I would appreciate if Brendan can send us the group pictures he had taken for us.

Brendan was an excellent and knowledgable guide - just sitting in the center of the table at dinner would allow all to hear him

Brendan: knowledgable, interested, attentive, helpful and gave us some freedom! And a great Irish story teller.

Brendan was very informative and very knowledgeable of Irish history. He was very supportive during the walks.

Brendan was just great. Very funny. Wealth of Irish knowledge - never seemed to tire of our endless questions! Was very skilled in terms of addressing different needs and abilities of our group. I feel we were very lucky to have such a great guide.

timing again

Brendan’s love of Ireland’s wilderness and history was awe-inspiring. Loved his stories. A gracious guide. Very tuned in to trip participants.
Thank you.

Brendan was informative and knowledgeable . Provided history and culture along the hike. Has a great sense of humor.

Brendan did an excellent job, he was attentive to our capabilities and needs, and provided great background on the history of Ireland.

Please see above, Brendan is terrific. I also wanted to mention that he coordinated a special trip to Killary sheep farm where we got to see a sheepdog demo, sheep shearing, and we got to bottle-feed some lambs. It was really fun! And after we went to Croaghpatrick, we walked over to the memorial honoring those lost during the famine who traveled on boats to leave Ireland. Brendan told us a lot about the famine and the conditions on many of the boats. It was very moving.

Amazing!

Really cared for group, watching pacing, helping on more technical hikes. He also knew much and talked about appropriate geography, history etc. when we were at the place to talk about that. Great sense of humor.

What to say about Brendan? Poor thing certainly had to endure a lot of teasing. But he took it good naturedly and gave as good as he got (well maybe not quite as good, we are pros and well-practiced in the art of torment). Still it made for a good and relaxed time. Brendan is a very accomplished guide, and quickly assessed strengths and weaknesses and where he could offer help—all very discrete and dependable. I always felt safe and confident with him. His role calls for a lot of thinking on your feet and being ready with alternatives at every turn. He approached all that with the calmest demeanor. He gave each of us attention and made sure if we had specific interests that he would satisfy our requests.

Brendan was awesome! He received a lot of ribbing from some (most) of us, but took it in stride. We all had some good craic on his account. Although I’m sure he was glad to go home after 10 days with us, he was never impatient and always made sure we got to do things we were interested in. He kept us safe, was a good driver, and provided fun alternatives on the one day it was too rainy and foggy for hiking. He had many stories to entertain us and shared the history of his country that he loves. Thank you, Brendan!

I would say he was very very good! He had to navigate around some planned things that became unplanned - like the bus not working on the island and a ferry that wasn't running so we had to take the long way around. Plus, he had to navigate 7 people with different hiking abilities which he did great! One afternoon, we saw a picture of this ancient stone circle (sorry can't remember the name) and he did his best to find it for us to see. Very nice and greatly appreciated it!

Mr. O'Conner was an amazing companion and trustworthy side-kick on our adventure together. My father and I had the time of our lives. The week far exceeded my expectations and we have much to look forward to. At 72, Dad performed like an absolute unit, we felt comfortable in Wilderness Ireland's hands. Hikes are accurate to description in difficulty and we felt there was always a way to bail, back to the vehicle if need be. We were there for one reason and one reason only and that was to take it to the limit! We accomplished this goal. Thank you Mr. O'Conner for the poem durining dinner, super-cool lasting impression. I work in hospitality and am never impressed when I go anywhere, to Mr. O'Conner well done!

Brendan made heroic efforts to overcome obstacles created by the inclement weather during our tour, getting us out in the hills as much as possible and finding lovely alternate activities when necessary.

Our guide was good. He had to step in at last minute for someone.

Brendan did an excellent job, especially since he stepped in at last minute to do the trip

Brendan took over the trip unexpectedly. He is knowledgeable and clearly a very experienced guide. He is very patient and ensured that we were all able to enjoy the trips, despite the varying fitness levels and the almost constant rain. I always felt confident that he was checking we were all ok. His has a great sense of humour and his passion about Irish history was a learning experience.

Brendan O'Conner was Wonderful. He was organized, a great driver, funny, full of historical information, and watchful over our group on the hikes.

Brendan seemed to know the area pretty well, was calm and had a good sense of humor

Brendan was great. Learned a lot of Irish history from him and had a great sense of humor.

Our guide was knowledgeable, energetic, and flexible to the needs of our group.

I can't express enough how great our guide Brendan was. His knowledge about Ireland, and his hiking experience along with his great personality and sense of humor made the trip so memorable and fun. Additionally, my wife and I were a little nervous about the steps at Skellig Michael, due to a small fear of heights, but Brendan's calm nature and support got us past being nervous about it and we got to really enjoy the full experience.

We couldn’t have asked for a better guide than Brendan. He was extremely knowledgeable, shared interesting facts and stories about the areas, the people, culture, history, etc. It was evident Brendan loves leading these tours. He has such a great personality and we knew instantly we would have an excellent holiday with him as our guide. We learned so much about Ireland from Brendan and we were simply captivated by his stories and the knowledge he imparted. We can’t thank Brendan enough for giving us the best holiday we could have asked for. He truly exceeded our expectations.

Brendan did very well! Especially for not guiding this trip very often, he always made sure we made it to our destination in a timely manner!

The guides were uniformly excellent and highly tolerant of the our group's eccentricities.

I feel we were extremely fortunate to have been assigned to Brendan's guidance. He truly has a wealth of knowledge of Irish history, culture and customs. He did his best to impart his knowledge to us. You are blessed in Ireland with having remained so close to your and western Europe's history. With this blessing comes an obligation to educate and enlighten those of us who have through neglect or ignorance forgotten our past.
My wife and I have participated in active travel with several companies over the last 9 years. I believe having a native guide who has a passion for the culture, geology, flora and fauna of the land is essential to a fulfilling experience. Brendan reflects well upon your company. He was able to adjust our itinerary to match the weather.

Brendan is amazing and needs a raise! Haha

Brendan was terrific! He was lovely, patient, kind, full of good stories, remote and recent Irish history and politics--and generously spent a lot of time telling us all about it. And he helped us set up a few great stops that were not on the itinerary when we were subbing in options for a very rainy day (Connemara National Park visitor center, Bog museum and tour at Aughnanure castle with Giles who was fantastic). We really enjoyed our time with Brendan and I think it definitely takes a certain patience and tolerance to just deal with a whole family for a week (with a chatty 13 year old who has lots of questions and a nervous 17 year old musician with her own way of being in the world). We had an amazing time and would do the whole trip over in a heart beat!

Brendan O'Connor has the perfect disposition for a guide - well trained, knowledgeable, cordial - a true gentleman. We all loved having him.

Brendan was outstanding. He was knowledgeable and took the time to consider the groups needs as plans were made.

Brenden O'Connor was outstanding in knowledge, temperament and professionalism

Brendan was perfect.

Brendan was extremely adept at reading the group - and the group varied greatly in personalities and hiking abilities so that was critical. He was able to adapt the original plan for weather, abilities, injuries, interests and a whole host of other factors. I'm certain he is part mountain goat (he essentially towed one lady up a steep slope)! Twice we were completely socked in at the top of some mountain, but he displayed the necessary confidence and skill to navigate us back down. Great leadership to let the fast ones go ahead at times (when safe to do so) so he could watch the rest of the flock - he was very, very good at leading from the middle. And he did it all with a warm sense of humor!

Tried to keep everybody motivated. Very encouraging. Tried to make the trip a good experience for everybody.

Guide B was thoughtful, encouraging, tactful, humorous and safe. And he was a fountain of knowledge of Ireland history, geology, ecology, and nature. He made it an immersion experience. Much appreciated!

Our guide, Brendan O'Connor was great! He was extremely knowledgable and provided all of the information we needed to prep for and enjoy our hikes. He was flexible and accommodating to make the most of our daily excursions based on the weather and our desires. He also shared a lot of historical background about Ireland and the areas we were hiking in Connemara and County Mayo which made our trip an amazing experience!