Tom Crean Hike

“After the Expedition was over the King gave Lashly and Crean the Albert Medal for their bravery in helping me win through.
It is little enough tribute that I have dedicated this book to these two
gallant fellows.”

South with Scott by Rear-Admiral Edward R.G.R. Evans (1921)

When visiting the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland, there is… well, rather… there was… one shrine absolutely imperative to visit: the pub known as The South Pole Inn in the village of Annascaul. When arriving to Dingle from the East, if Google Maps is being merciful and not taking you over the Conor Pass (it is not recommended driving over this pass from the east especially if you have not purchased the full insurance on your rental car), it will practically bring you by the doorstep of The South Pole Inn along the way.

The South Pole Inn is a purposeful name which has not been cleverly concocted to lure curious visitors (I will get to the bad news in a minute). This pub was once owned and run by a gentleman named Tom Crean. If you don’t know who Tom Crean is, the simplest introduction I can give is that he was an Irish seaman in the Royal Navy who served under both Robert Scott and Ernest Shackleton during their exploration missions to Antarctica and the South Pole in the early 1900’s. But to really put Tom Crean’s stature in a more appropriate way, it is necessary to describe a scene. Imagine a pub somewhere in this vast universe. In that pub, Tom Crean is taking a drag from his pipe, stroking the furry head of a sledge pup, and looking with amused curiosity across the bar. The object of his hardened weathered gaze is a fella named Chuck Norris.

Tom Crean:  What did you say your name was?
Chuck Norris:  (fidgets nervously) Ch-Ch-Chuck Norris.
Tom Crean:  (takes another drag from his pipe, his grin widens slightly)
Tom Crean:  Ever been to Antarctica (pauses dramatically)... Chuck?

To survive a trip to the Antarctic in the early 1900’s would already be a feat in itself. Tom Crean survived three, but in each expedition, he didn’t just survive. He was instrumental in ensuring the possibility of survival for his comrades. He confronted situations of life or death that make every Chuck Norris meme seem as mundane as the average day at the office.

“Crean was hours moving to and fro before I had the satisfaction of seeing him up on the Barrier. I said: ‘Thank God one of us is out of the wood, anyhow.”

The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard (1922)

One of Tom Crean’s numerous feats of heroism occurred while Crean and two companions, Henry “Birdie” Bowers and Apsley “Cherry” Cherry-Garrard along with some ponies were trapped on a floe of ice which had broken off from the mainland and was starting to drift out to sea. This scene was further described in South With Scott. “Crean, with great gallantry, went for support, clambering with difficulty over the ice. He jumped from floe to floe and at last climbed up the face of the Barrier from a piece of ice which swung round in the tideway and just touched the ice cliff at the right moment.” All of that, by the way, under the threat of killer whales who at any moment could have upturned his ice floe.  After making it up the Barrier, Crean was able to make it to the next hut for help.

During Scott’s ill-fated Terra Nova expedition, Crean once marched solo 18 hours covering 56km through a blizzard to get to the next depot for help to save the life of Edward “Teddy” Evans who was incapacitated by scurvy while William Lashly stayed behind to keep Evans alive. This resulted in Crean and Lashly receiving the aforementioned Albert Medal.

His penultimate feat though came on Shackleton’s Endurance expedition from 1914-1917. After the Endurance became stranded in ice at Elephant Island, the crew spent 492 days surviving on a sheet of ice before Shackleton, Tom Crean, and Frank Worsley managed to sail a small boat 1300km over a 17-day journey to South Georgia Island. The landing spot incidentally is named Peggotty Camp, after the boathouse of the Peggotty character in Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield. After ditching the boat, the party still had to hike 36 hours over the South Georgia mountains to reach the nearest whaling station. Due to the weather, it took three months before Shackleton could return with a ship to rescue the remainder of the crew.

“I mistook a small bag of curry powder for the cocoa bag, and made cocoa with that, mixed with sugar; Crean drank his right down before discovering anything was wrong.”

The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard (1922)

Back in 2016, I had the privilege of spending a wonderful two hours at The South Pole Inn gazing at the collection of Crean artifacts and sipping Crean-themed beer brewed at the nearby Dingle Brewing Company. It was a great time to be a newly-minted Crean fan.

“Crean and Lashly had the hearts of lions.”

South with Scott by Rear-Admiral Edward R.G.R. Evans (1921)

However, returning in May 2026, a lot had changed. The South Pole Inn not only closed down in October 2025 with the memorabilia gone, but it had changed colors from the more appropriate icy, sea-faring blue color from 2016 to a hideous creamcicle orange which would be better suited if it was called the South Tahiti Inn. The pub is rumored to have new owners, but the fate of the pub is currently unknown. Meanwhile, the Dingle Brewing Company also closed down in 2018 apparently over a dispute with the Crean family over using the name. Today, the Crean family runs their own brewery, the Tom Crean Brewery, in Kenmare, Ireland, which is located in a different part of County Kerry about a 90-minute drive from Annascaul.

In ten years time, the beer and pub connections to Tom Crean in Dingle took quite a hit. But not all is lost. Browsing the web looking for any other way I could appease my fanboy appreciation of the great explorer, I discovered that the town of Annascaul published an official Tom Crean walking route and that the grave of Tom Crean was not far from the village. I reproduced the route in Komoot and added the gravesite visit and also the Knocknanacree peak for a little bonus peak bagging. Except for the peak hike, this hike is quite easy-going and offers a wide array of scenic views.

“Crean’s sporting skills were not limited to his footballing talent and on one documented occasion he defeated Patrick Leohane to win a billiards competition. For his victory, Crean won a bottle of beer…”

Crean: The Extraordinary Life of an Irish Hero by Tim Foley (Merrion Press, 2023)

Hike Details

Starting Point	The South Pole Inn (parking nearby)
Beer Sites	Foley’s Pub in Annascaul
Peaks	Knocknanacree

It’s Not Just a Beer, It’s a Journey

Most of this hike simply follows various country roads. The southern border of the hike is a ridgeline of low mountains. One of them is Knocknanacree. After three hikes of being pretty fortunate with the weather, it was looking like my luck might have run out.

There is no official trail up to the top of Knocknanacree. You have to climb over a gate and follow a rugged farm road leading up to a sheep pasture.

When the road ends, the path to the summit is often invisible. Here is where you gain experience with hill walking in the British Isles. As I have mentioned in other posts, the foliage may look soft and comfortable, but it actually consists of brambles well over ankle deep which make it imperative to wear good hiking shoes and long pants.

By the time I had reached the summit, the nadir of the day’s weather had arrived. Rain and high winds, which had thus far been stifled, completely let loose. I sat futilely in the lee of some rocks and let the wind and rain pound me in the back. After roughly a five-minute solid beating, the weather suddenly cleared for the remainder of the day.

By the time I reached the road again, the weather had become beautiful.

One of the highlights of the hike is Minard Castle, a towerhouse which was blown up by Oliver Cromwell’s army in 1650, killing the inhabitants and leaving the ruins that still appear today.

Leaving the castle, the hike continues to follow various picturesque farm roads.

The grave of Tom Crean resides in the Ballynacourty Cemetery just north of Annascaul. It is a surreal and haunting place, definitely better seen in the daylight. Mother Nature has swallowed up many of the crypts and tombstones. Most have become mounds of earth with no visible signs of stone or inscriptions to identify the interred occupants. Tom Crean’s gravesite sits in the far corner of the cemetery clearly one of the few which are still cared for. Compared to the remote, silent Antarctic tundra far removed from the modern world, this place feels like the Irish equivalent.

Back in Annascaul, without the South Pole Inn to enjoy my celebratory beer, I was forced to explore the local pub scene. Dan Foley’s Pub did not disappoint and was a more than suitable substitute. Any local pub worth it’s weight will be serving the Tom Crean beers, so I savored the Scurvy Dog IPA.

Meanwhile, across from the South Pole Inn are two monuments to Tom Crean. One a statue derived from a famous photo of him holding sledge pups and the other a memorial containing a stone which came from near Shackleton’s grave in South Georgia Island.

Final Remarks

During my Dingle trip of 2016, I picked up a copy of Michael Smith’s biography of Tom Crean called An Unsung Hero. While I was browsing a bookstore in Dingle in 2026, I was excited to see a more recent biography by Tim Foley (no relation to Dan Foley) called Crean: The Extraordinary Life of an Irish Hero. I excitedly bought it and immediately started the first chapter in one of Dingle’s many great pubs. On my way back to Dublin, I decided to drive a little out of the way to visit the brewery in Kenmare. Kenmare is a cute town, not so dissimilar to Dingle. The shop was locked up and I took a peek behind the building where the brewery was in operation. Someone saw me and motioned to a woman who let me in the front door when I explained how far I’d come. I could tell the lady was teetering between sympathy for my visit and irritation for having to open the store. I tried to show my appreciation by engaging her in conversation. I got the sense that she was one of his descendants. I mentioned my excitement over buying the new biography. “That’s crap!“, she exclaimed. “That author is so full of himself,” she continued. The author claims to have produced new scholarship into Crean’s family life, particularly related to the number of his siblings and where he falls in the order of age. Apparently, the family disputes his claims and has disavowed the book. “You should read An Unsung Hero!” I assured her that I had already done so ten years ago. Feeling a little bit of having the wind taken out of my sails, I purchased a beer glass (which I proceeded to break the first time I washed it). Meanwhile, other visitors were popping their heads into the door asking if they were open. As I left the shop, I was pretty sure that was irritation in her voice as she apologized to the other customers for closing the shop back up. As I walked to my car, I assured myself that I would be making the right decision to finish reading the book. It is written in a much different style than An Unsung Hero; more as a fan and someone that has worked hard to promote Tom Crean’s legacy. By the time I’ve finished any book that I’ve read, I’ve forgotten most details like how many siblings the person had. I like a non-fiction to entertain as well as inform and to make you feel like you were there. Both books accomplish that in their own ways. As for the hike, it cannot even be spoken of in the same breath as Crean’s 58km behemoth. But I can think of no better way to spend a relaxing few hours contemplating the tribulations of Antarctic exploration than roaming Crean’s backyard admiring its beauty. Meanwhile, maybe in that pub somewhere in the vast universe, Tom Crean has warmed up to his new drinking buddy, and he is raising his ale in a diatribe to the fate of his beloved South Pole Inn.