Please note this is a paid partnership with Failte Ireland and Discover Ireland but all opinions and reviews are our own.

Breakfast at Bere Island Lodge

We woke up to beautiful views of the sea and the ferry which was just across the road from us. We had a massive tasty breastfast made by our wonderful host, Edel. Edel was like a second mammy to us. She was so homely and welcoming.

For breakfast, we had a selection of cereals, fruit, and yoghurts, and then a beautiful Full Irish. She also served us tea, coffee, fruit juice, and fresh scones straight from the oven.

When Breakfast was finished, Edel offered to make us some sandwiches for our hike on Dursey Island, how amazing is that? So she sent us off with lovely cheese sandwiches and some fresh scones and of course not to mention a little souvenir magnet of Bere Island that she Gave to Ourlittlehikers to remember their adventures here on the Island. The hospitality of the Murphy family just blew us away.

Before we drove our car onto Murphy’s Ferry, we went up the road to Murphy’s shop to buy some food supplies for a trip (Note–there are no shops on Dursey Island so make sure to bring plenty of water and food with you)

Murphy’s Car Ferry – Rerrin to Pontoon

Click here to view the timetable

We arrived at Pontoon at 9:50 am and drove straight to Dursey which took about 40 minutes and is 27km away.

Dursey Island Cable Car Parking

We arrived at Dursey sound and parked our car underneath the cable car just to look at it in action. It is amazing to see the cable car traverse the open sea. There was great excitement in our car.

We packed up all our hiking gear, food and water and started walking up the hill toward to ticket office to buy tickets and wait our turn to go into the cable car.

Tickets cost to Dursey Island

• Adult- €10
• child- €5

Dursey Island cable car opening hours

The Cable Car runs every 15mins, It can fit 6 people in it. You can bring your bike, buggy or even your dog on it.

• Opens 9.30-7.30pm
• Closes for lunch from 1-1.30
• Closes at 4.30 pm from Nov-Feb

Note–Make sure to ask for a map as it wasn’t offered to us and I just happened to ask about a map. The map is really nice and a beautiful painting of the landscape and a great keepsake.

Covid-19 Precautions on Dursey Island

Hand sanitiser stations were present to use before you enter the cable car and more on Dursey Island before you exit the station. Make sure to bring your mask to wear especially if you are sharing cable car with strangers. We were lucky to have it all to ourselves both times.

Dursey Cable Car Experience

While approaching the cable car you can’t but help notice the distance the cable car travels across open water, extremely scary. Then your eye is drawn immediately to the age of the cable car and the large posts that support the cable car.

This is one of Ireland’s most unique experiences

Stepping into the cable car was a little nerve-racking as it kept swayed, especially going over the water. Everyone was a little nervous, to be honest, but also excited as it was such a unique experience. The views while crossing the water were amazing. It is the only Cable car in Europe to traverse open seawater.

Dursey Island

Dursey Island is on the south-west coast of the Beara Peninsula in County Cork. Dursey Island is 1.5 kilometres wide and 6.5 kilometres long. There are only a small number of people living on the island and it has no shops or restaurants. It’s a very quiet and peaceful island, where you can walk in the middle without being a nuisance to the locals or sheep.

Dursey Island walking Loop:

Trailhead: Cablecar, Dursey, Co. Cork

Distance: 14km

Time: 3.5 to 4hrs

Difficulty: Moderate

Terrain: Roadways, paths and tracks

Hiking Gear: Walking boots, rain gear, food and water

Points of Interest on Dursey Island:

• Great for bird watching
• Ruins of a Monastery
• Signal tower from the Napoleonic era.
• Dursey Head- views to the bull and the cow (this is off the loop so the out and back journey will take an extra 1hr/1hr30mins)
• The Island has a small village called Ballynacallagh, Kilmichael,

The walk gives you great views of the rugged coastline and cliffs. The road is parallel to the Atlantic Ocean packed full of sheep roaming on little roads. It is amazingly relaxing. We saw a few families with buggies which is a great idea as the roads were very good. A compact buggy will be needed to load onto the cable car.

Exploring Dursey Island

We had a very busy schedule and couldn’t explore the whole island. We would love to come back one day to explore this beautiful island fully.

We stopped and had a lovely picnic at a beautiful stone bench and table, we sat in the sunshine and enjoyed our food and soaked in the beautiful views while listing to the waves crashing against the cliff, pure paradise.

We walked to the small village of Ballynacallagh and decided to return as we were running out of time for our next adventure. On the return, we walked down to the ruins of the church and explored the area.

Food Options at Dusrsey Sound

We then returned to the mainland after our cable car adventures. We went straight for Murphys mobile dining for an Al Fresco lunch followed by icecreams.

The mobile dining options were parked beside our car. We sat out and enjoyed our food while watching the cablecar go back and forth from the island. We ordered fish, chips, nuggets and battered sausages. Since returning we were advised that the scampi and the chilli battered fish and it is amazing, I guess we have another excuse to return.

Driving from Dursey to Glengarriff via Lauragh and the Healy Pass

This is an extremely scenic mountain pass drive and is really beautiful. We drove through curved steep small roads between Cork and Kerry on the Beara Peninsula. We were surrounded by two of the highest summits of the Caha mountain range. We would have loved more opportunities to stop the car and soak up the views but there were not many safe parking areas to stop the car.

We did get to stop twice and soak up the beautiful surroundings and we were blessed with good weather and amazing views.

Glengarriff

Glengarriff is a picturesque tourist area, lined with little souvenir shops, coffee and crêpe pods.

Things to see in Glengarriff:

• The Ewe Experience
• Glengarriff Bamboo Park
• Garinish Island
• Beara Way
• The Blue Pool Ferry
• Knockboy and Priest Leap

Our Accommodation near Glenngarriff – The Botanical B&B

This little hidden gem is nestled away in the countryside just 10mins outside Glengarriff. It is a fabulous house surrounded by a “Willy Wonka style edible garden”.

The owners Khloe and Adam are very welcoming and passionate about the whole experience of living off the land and being sustainable. Adam gave us a tour of ”The Garden of Re-Imagination” We really enjoyed the tour and tasting all the edible flowers and plants. Adam is a wealth of knowledge and we learned so much from him and he has inspired us to try to grow more in our own garden.

Botanical B&B

The drive up to the house is beautiful. We parked right beside our own private entrance. We were expecting a room like a b&b but we had a huge section of the house all to ourselves. It is very well presented and laid out, Kloe and Adam live in one part of the house, which you never see so you feel you have the entire house to yourself.

Before we entered the B&B, there was hand sanitizer outside and when we opened the door we were greeted by a beautiful dining area, surrounded by glass looking onto the garden. (this is where we enjoyed a beautiful unique breakfast the next morning).

The beautiful living area has sofas, a stove, a little fridge with chilled water, a cupboard full of board games (whatever board game that you play with you leave out and Kloe will disinfect it for the next guest). We felt very safe here which is great with whats going on in the world right now with Covid-19.

As we walked up the stairs, we noticed the whole ceiling was done in broken mirrors which is very fun to look at. On the landing, there is a glass door and soon to be balcony area with the most beautiful views.

There are four gorgeous botanical-themed rooms available, each named after tree/plants:

• Fern (Double)
• Willow(two single beds)
• Lichen(single)
• Silver Birch(single)

Each room was decorated with handcrafted artwork and pieces made from natural materials. You could see all the love and care put into each piece.

We stayed in the Fern and Willow rooms ( we had views of the garden and the willow tree that was made into a seating area)

There is one bathroom with a bath/shower filled with additional unique artwork that we admired. The attention to detail was second to none in this house.

After dinner, we came back and lit the fire and relaxed and played a board game. We love the fact there is no television here. The simplicity of it all and the quality family time we had was just perfect.

Dinner at Mannings Emporium

We had dinner at Mannings Emporium which is a lovely gourmet shop and Cafe in Ballylicky, Bantry. We wore our masks in and used the had sanitizer and were shown to our table. The tables were in an outdoor area which was enclosed. Looking at the menu, it looked to be a pizza menu more or less which I was delighted about as I’m a huge pizza fan. We had a lovely view of the big stone pizza oven.

Mannings review

Well, hand on heart they were the nicest pizzas we all have ever eaten. We would definitely go back and would highly recommend it.

Breakfast at Botanical B&B

Khloe texted us our very unique breakfast options and a selection of times to choose from.

Nearly everything was from their garden that Kloe had picked herself that morning. We Picked 8.30 am for our breakfast time and right at that time Kloe came through the secret passageway from her house to where she was serving our food in the dining room.

Words can’t explain all the beautiful tastes and detail that went into our breakfast experience. We have never tasted food like this before and it opened our eyes to a new way of eating and living off the land.

Collecting Eggs from the Chickens at the Botanical B&B

After Breakfast Kloe brought the girls and me to collect some eggs from the chicken coop. This was such a special experience for the children, it was one of the girls highlights from our trip.

We then explored the beautiful garden as we didn’t get a chance to the night before as we had to rush out to dinner. We then packed up our bags and said our goodbyes. Close by we called into The Ewe Experience before driving home.

The Ewe Experience

The Ewe Experience is Irelands only interactive and interpretative sculpture garden in a waterfall oasis.

It was voted Irelands #1 garden by the Irish times and we can see why. It is very well set out, filled with a lot of creativity, Some amazing imagination has gone into creating this wonderful experience, that the kids absolutely loved.

This is upcycling on steroids.

It is a one-way route with amazing sculptures and quotes around every corner, the higher you climb the better the view of the surrounding countryside becomes.

This walk is great for all ages, especially children. A great family day out.

Is the Ewe experience buggy friendly?

No, as there is a lot of steps and uneven paths. if you have a young child we would recommend a sling or carrier.

The post Dursey Island & Glengarriff- Day 2- Make a break for it campaign appeared first on Our Family Hikes.

Please note this is a paid partnership with Failte Ireland and Discover Ireland but all opinions and reviews are our own.

Castletownbere

We start off our journey in Castletownbere. We are booked in for breakfast at 9:30 am but as we were eager to get on the move we are slightly early. We decided to explore Castletownbere before breakfast.

We walked around the busy fishing town, we walked up to the church which is nestled in the middle of the town. We explored the perfectly placed tourist information office, which was closed as we were too early for it to be open. We showed the girls all the fishing boats which proved to be very exciting for them.

Breakfast in Lynchs Castletownbere

We arrived at Lynch’s on the Pier at 9:30 am as they opened the doors for breakfast. We were immediately greeted by friendly staff. We sat in a nice booth, which allowed the kids a bit of space. We got a lovely breakfast to start our adventure on Bere Island.

Puxley Castle Castletownbere

After breakfast, we drove out to the Puxley Castle to explore the area, as we were not leaving on the car ferry until 11:30 am. On the drive out to Puxley, we stopped the car to look at some nice hairy horses. One horse got a little too curious and decided he wanted to look inside the car and to try to lick the driver of the car :). The kids loved this, so did mammy.

We had a lovely stroll around the front of the castle. This area is filled with pure beauty and wildlife. We really enjoyed our stroll around the mansion, even if it is not open.

Getting to Bere Island

We took the car ferry from Castletownbere to the west end of Bere Island. The ferry takes 4 cars and also multiple spaces for walking passengers.

Note on the car ferry– The car ferry isn’t a booking system, it seems to be a first-come, first-served operation and all the cars queue up in reverse to wait their turn to reverse onto the ferry.

The car ferry was very exciting for all the kids including the big child that is the daddy. The journey took

10-15 minutes and was very smooth and a great experience. The children sat on the boot of the car while being held by the adults.

Arriving at the west end of the Island leaves us close to our starting point, for our first adventure out to Ardnakinna Lighthouse.

Note— We recommend driving a car on to the island to take full advantage of the islands amazing sights.

Bere Island Looped Hike

The full 10km hike starts at the pier but unfortunately, we didn’t have enough time to do the full hike due to our tight itinerary and having 2 young children with us. We decided to cut out the road walking and we did a 5km out and back hike instead. The full 10km hike around Bere Island and Ardnakinna lighthouse can be found here.

Hiking to Ardnakinna Lighthouse

Getting to the start of Ardnakinna lighthouse Hike

From the pier, we drive up the road to the first Tee junction and turn right. We drive down to the end of the road and park our car on the inside of the farmer’s gate, make sure to close the gate. If you consider walking this section, it is 1.3km from the ferry with a small hill.

Hiking to Ardnakinna Lighthouse Bere Island

Within the first 100m of starting our hike, we stop to walk around the old gun embankment. A few of these gun embankments are scattered around the island and are fun to walk around and imagine their history.

We continue up the gravel road toward a house. We cross a stile, Ourlittlehiker loves walking these on her own. The gravel road continues but now we start getting views of the Atlantic to our right-hand side. We are greeted with another stile and gate combination. The gates are easily opened but Ourlittlehiker forces us to all climb the stile, obviously she knows the right way and we don’t :).

Follow the Beara Way signs to Ardnakinna Lighthouse

After crossing the last stile the road stops and we start walking uphill on a dirt path following signs for the “Beare way”. Good hiking boots will be required for this section.

We walk up and down small hills and over small streams. Thankfully, steps have been formed with large stones for the steep sections and a small metal bridge has been placed over the stream to keep everyone’s feet nice and dry.

After about 1km of rough terrain walking, we meet an old horse and cart track that is now covered in grass, which the sheep keep nice and low, a perfect walking height and very smooth.

This road cuts uphill and in between rock faces on either side until you can see the top section of the lighthouse.  The lighthouse is nestled below us in a perfectly rectangular stone-walled garden filled with sheep grazing on the lawn.

Distance to Ardnakinna Lighthouse bere Island

It is a 2.5km hike out to Ardnakinna lighthouse from the first stile car park, a 5km round trip. You can have an option of walking the 10km loop walk if the time allows.

Map to Ardnakinna Lighthouse hike

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Would we recommend Ardnakinna Lighthouse hike?

We absolutely loved this hike. The hike out to Ardnakinna is amazing. The view of the ocean is breathtaking. The hike itself is filled with lovely little distractions for all ages. When you eventually see the lighthouse the views of the surrounding landscape are breathtaking.

Has this got to be one of Ireland’s hidden gems? It certainly feels like it. We loved every second of this hike.

Note– The majority of the Hike is on rough terrain so hiking boots will be required.

Lonehort Battery Tour Bere Island

After completing our hike we returned to our car and did our customary quick clothes change and got going again. We met Barry Hanley in Rerrin and followed him to Lonehort Battery.

Start of our Lonehort Tour Bere Island

Barry started the tour by giving us a fascinating history of the island and the battery. As the island has a small landmass, it has an astonishing history that touches on all major historical events in Ireland and the world.

Inside Lonehort Battery

Lonehort is fully surrounded by palisade fencing and a dry mote. Luckily, for us, Barry had keys for us to gain access and cross the bridge onto the barracks. We got a personal tour of the amazing guns, how they work and the restoration process. The kids loved the guns and roaming around the surrounding area.

We even got a tour of the underground workshops and ammunition stores. These buildings are in unbelievably good condition and a real joy to explore, especially with such an enthusiastic tour guide.

It would be great to see this battery fully restored to its former glory. Everyone loved this tour, even the children.

Accommodation on Bere Island

We had the pleasure of staying with the amazing Murphy family in their BnB for our night on Bere Island. This is true Irish hospitality and great hosts, we cannot recommend this family enough.

The BnB is located in the centre of Rerrin and sits 100m away from the northern pier. Our bedroom had bunk beds, a double bed and a single bed, the children loved the novelty of the bunk beds.

Dinner on the Island

We had dinner in Murphy’s restaurant across the road from our accommodation. We had a very enjoyable meal in the restaurant. We highly recommend the pudding and chorizo salad, AMAZING.

After our dinner in Murphy’s restaurant, Edel the owner insisted that we visit Martello tower before bed. We were all quite tired but we hate missing out on a good sunset hike. Strangely enough, we also saw everyone else from our BnB up at the tower, she is a great saleswoman. We went back to our BnB and changed into our hiking clothes again and off we went for another hike. Edel gave us perfect directions for the hike.

Martello Tower Rerrin

The Martello towers on Bere island were used to defend the island in 1796. For more historical information on the towers see here.

Parking for Martello Tower hike Bere Island

We could have parked in the Rerrin and walked but we decided to drive down to the pier at Cloonaghlin and walk from there. There is enough parking for 3-4 cars at the pier.

Hiking to Martello Tower

We walked on the road from the pier up the hill until we met the crossroads. The crossroads seems to be a starting point with an information sign and a 2km signpost. We continue up the hill for 20m and see another sign pointing into someone’s garden (Edel told us about this and the person allows access). Even though we knew the owner allows walks to walk past their front door we couldn’t help but to tiptoe and sneak past hoping not to disturb anyone.

After passing the house we are hit with a steep hill again. Ourlittlehiker made short work of this as she hitched a ride on her mothers back. At the top of the hill, there is a stile. After the stile, the grade of the hill eases off and we start walking past a small lake to our left.

We are now to the rear of the signal tower at the top of the first hill. The path starts to level out and walking starts to become a bit easier.

Approaching Martello Tower

When we start getting closer to the Martello tower the landscape starts to open out and we get amazing views of the surrounding mountains and sea. Luckily for us, the sun started to set as we were up at the tower and it was simply stunning.

This is an out of this world experience.

Inside Martello Tower

To enter inside the Martello we had to crawl through a small hole at the base of the structure. Inside the tower is not child friendly as it’s full of rocks and a very tight staircase. We do recommend going inside and climbing up to the top as it’s really fun outstanding views from the top.

Day 2 of our “Make a Break for it” can be found here

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to holiday accommodation, than to stay in standard 3-4 star hotels. On our previous family holidays, we stayed in a treehouse in Westport, a bell tent in Derry, a glamping pod in Cork, a campervan and we once stayed in a beautiful air-BnB above a photography studio with views on the Cuilaigh mountains and we had a family photo shoot which was included in our package.

So when we came across an air-BnB Double Decker bus in Cobh Cork (which is pronounced “Cove Cork”) we were very much ‘on board’ with the idea. It’s our little girls 1st birthday so we booked the bus for two nights to celebrate. We had Double celebrations on the Double Decker bus, two little cakes, 1 to represent our precious little girl turning one and other to celebrate a year of our lovely breastfeeding journey together.

About our unique Family BnB Accommodation in Cobh

The bus was a vintage London red Double Decker bus that has been converted into a modern unique accommodation experience. It was perfectly situated accommodation near Fota island for young kids. It’s main features are:

• It can sleep, 7 guests
• It has 2 bedrooms
• 4 beds
• 1 bathroom
• kitchen- microwave, sink, hob, fridge, freezer, toaster, coffee machine (lots of free coffee) pots, pans, tableware for adults and children, cutlery, etc
• Indoor gas fire
• A TV downstairs and one in each bedroom
• Heating (central heating)
• WiFi
• Hot Water
• Shower
• Essentials-Towels, bed sheets, soap, toilet paper
• Children’s books and board games
• High chair
• Travel cot
• Private outdoor area with table and benches, bbq and firepit. Bbq coal and fire logs/coal can be provided on request.
• Self-check-in. (the key is left in the door)
• Space for 2 cars.

Our First Impressions of the Double Decker Bus BnB Accommodation

We put the coordinates into google maps and it brought us about 5 mins outside of Cobh. The gate entrance has a sign near the road saying ”The Lux Bus”. Once we drove up the driveway we could see the bus and it looked like it was parked in the front of the owner’s garden. But it is very well done as it’s just before their house into the right and there is a fence at either side and you have your own car spaces and private bbq area beside the back end of the Bus. It was all very private, just the way we like it.

There was such excitement when Ourlittlehikers saw the bus.

We all jumped out of the car and ran inside the Bus. We pulled open the original Bus doors to walk up the steps to the bus driver’s seat and steering wheel. Of course, we all had a go at ”driving” the bus (which was done about 100 times throughout our stay while singing “The Wheels on the bus go round and round”).

The key was left in the main front door, when we opened the door we could see a modern kitchen at either side of the bus where the bus seats would have originally been. As we walked down the aisle of the bus we saw a lovely gas fire to our right, on our left there were stairs up to the top deck, under the stairs there was a mini couch with storage underneath for books, jigsaws, and games. At the end of the bus, there were steps up to the dining/seating area. The sofa was U shaped and it was the coziest sofa ever, you would happily sleep there. There is also a glass table, tv, heaters in the roof and more books and games in the back window area.

Upstairs there were 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. In the ”kids room” there is 1 bunk bed and 1 single bed (3 single beds), tv, bedside locker which was filled with kid’s books, chest of drawers filled with extra towels, blankets and pillows. There was also a travel cot which we were kindly asked if we needed one when we made our booking.

The other bedroom had a double bed that felt like you were sleeping in a marshmallow, very comfy. There was a tv, chest of drawers again filled with extra blankets, etc, hairdryer, an essential box which contained shampoos, conditioners, toothpaste, new toothbrushes, cotton buds, tissues, etc.

The bathroom had a toilet, a shower, and a sink.

Pros for staying on the Double Decker Lux Bus BnB:

• Such a fun and unique experience especially with children
• It has everything you would need when holidaying with children. ( I read that there is a place in town if you want to get clothes washed if you are there for longer than we were as there is no washing machine).
• Very cozy, comfortable and sparkling clean.
• WiFi throughout the Bus
• Great attention to detail, like lovely signs and messages.
• Very homely.
• great location.
• Great value for money, it cost us €100 per night.
• Very friendly and helpful owners, They left us fresh bread, milk and there was also cereals, choice of coffees, teas, butter, jams salt, pepper and oil for cooking.
• fire pit and bbq area outside for fine weather
• A dream place to stay with kids esp with the Bus driver’s seat and steering wheel.

Cons for staying on the Double Decker Lux Bus

• It wasn’t a problem for us as we are not the tallest of people, but just to note that the ceilings upstairs are 5ft 9inches which are lower than normal. Its to keep the bus as original as possible.
• Just to be mindful that if you have young children there are no stairgates on the stairs and also some of the windows on the top of the deck are emergency windows therefore they are not childproof.
• Just keep in mind during winter months it can get a little cold at night as you would expect just like a campervan but there are extra blankets to keep you warm. Once the heaters are on the Bus heats up very quickly.

Things to do and see on our Family Holiday in Cobh Cork

We found the Bus to be a great base for our family holiday in Cobh Cork. It is a 10min drive to Fota island Wildlife and a 5 min drive into Cobh. Which is filled with beautiful walks around the town, the amazing titanic experience, and the magnificent Colman’s Cathedral.

On our first day of the Family Holiday in Cobh Cork, we had breakfast on the double-decker Bus. We then went to Fota island park at the opening time for 10 am, it had just opened and was nice and quiet. We had the best experience. You can read about it below.

After our Fota island experience, we went back to the bus to relax and made lunch from the food we bought in Lidl. We find it so relaxing and stress-free to do it this way when you have small kids instead of going to a restaurant, it’s also much cheaper when you’re on a budget.

After lunch, we drove into Cobh, which was only 5 minutes in a car. We explored the beautiful Cobh, we find that you really get to know an area when you walk around it.

The Titanic Museum Cobh

We were hesitant about signing up for the titanic museum in Cobh with two young kids. We spoke to the lovely ticket saleswomen and they assured us that there would be no problem bringing young kids on the tour.

The cost of the tickets was very reasonable:

Adult: €10

Child: €7

Children under 4: FREE

The guided tour was 30 minutes with plenty of time in the end to explore, there is also a lovely gift shop.

We previously did the Belfast titanic experience before but we found the Cobh museum experience is a very personal tour. The group size that did the tour was small and it felt the tour guide spoke to everyone individually. We all got boarding cards with names of real people that boarded the Titanic in Cobh.

At the end of the museum tour, we found out if we survived the crash into the iceberg or not. Which is so sad but it makes you feel part of the experience. Just before the end of the tour, you enter a room where you can sit on seats in the shape of a lifeboat. Here you will have a chilling cinematographic experience where you listen to eyewitness accounts of their own experience while watching the Titanic sink. We also got to see the original pier (Heartbreak Pier) which was the last point of land contact for Cobh passengers (know as Queenstown back then)

We all loved the tour, it was super informative and very interesting. This is a totally different type of museum tour of the titanic compared to the Belfast titanic experience. We found this to be much more enjoyable.

Cobh Cork- Walking Trails

The Cobh historical Walking Trail starts at the Titanic Memorial in the center of the town with a large map board that outlines each of the 3 routes.

We picked the shortest route (around 1.3km) which brought us north towards St.Colmans Cathedral. It was a steep climb but we really got an amazing panoramic view of Cobh. We walked around the side entrance by the base structure of the Cathedral, it really is an outstanding structure. The views from outside the Cathedral was breathtaking (not just the climb that took our breath away). We had a great view of the Habour and surrounding islands including Spike Island.

St Colman’s Cathedral Cobh

The inside of St Colman’s Cathedral Cobh is Magfincant, Ourlittlehiker was mesmerized by it all. We lit candles, made a donation and got a lovely card with children prayers, there was also a book you can sign, which means they will pray for you at the 3 pm mass. It is a must-see when you visit Cobh, the architecture is so beautiful, along with the amazing views of the cathedral.

Fota Island Park Cobh

Fota Island wildlife park in Cobh was a 5 minutes drive from our double-decker bus BnB accommodation and 10 minutes from Cobh. This makes Cobh a perfect location to explore Fota island wildlife park.

Fota island opening hours are from: 10 am- 4:30 pm.

We arrived at Fota Island park’s main gates at 10am and we were one of the first people into the park. It was very exciting, as all the animals were just let out of their enclosures and they were all full of energy. Ourlittlehiker loved all the noises of the lions, the peacocks following her for food and the kangaroos hopping straight past her.

We all really enjoyed Fota Island park and would highly recommend it. If we were to give any tips, it would be to try to arrive mid-week and as early as possible. We felt that we had the whole park to ourselves and we had a really unique experience.

Cost- Adults: €16.90

Children under 16: €11.50

Toddlers up to 36 months: FREE

Would we recommend a Family Holiday in Cobh Cork?

Yes, definitely. Our Family Holiday in Cobh Cork was a great little two-day trip. It was jam-packed with wonderful experiences and amazing tours. We would highly recommend Cobh Cork as a family holiday. The next time we go to Cobh for a family holiday, we will allow some additional time to explore more of its hidden treasures.

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Knockboy is the highest point in County Cork and sits at an elevation of 706m. The hike up to Knockboy mountain starts from the Priest’s Leap mountain pass monument at 519m. Knockboy is on the border of Cork and Kerry but is only County Kerry’s 30th highest mountain. The priest leap mountain pass is the highest pass road in the province of Munster.

The roadway up to Knockboy and the Priest’s Leap pass is definitely one of the most interesting roads of all the County High Point roads. The road is very tight in places with little room for error and there are large drops into the valley below if mistakes are made. Even more interesting than the tight road is the contours that the road follows, some of the vertical gains and dips are extreme, to say the least. We were greeted with cows, sheep and a horse sitting and resting on the side of the road, Ourlittlehiker loved every second of this. She hasn’t mastered the ability to string together full sentences yet but we all knew she was trying to talk about the animals for about 1 hour after seeing them so close to the car.

Overview of Knockboy County high point hike

The hike up to Knockboy is a reasonably straightforward out and back hike. We followed a fence up the hill to a T junction of fences, then took a left until we met another T junction of fences, from here we follow this fence the whole way up the hill to Knockboy mountain.

It took us 2 hours to get up to the top of Knockboy mountain and return to our car at the Priest’s Leap mountain. We had numerous stops for snacks and breaks on the way up and down.

Knockboy key information

• Location- Starting point here
• Distance- 5km
• Duration- 2 hours out and back walk
• Difficulty- Gradual climb- 3 out of 10
• Parking- 2 to 3 cars only
• Amenities- none
• Signposts- None but can follow the fence to the top
• Things to see- The road to the priest leap is great fun
• Advice- Bring waterproof boots
• Recommendation- 6 out of 10

Knockboy Hike

After our adventurous drive up to the Priest’s Leap passing, we parked opposite the monument. There looks like there is enough parking here for 3 cars if all the cars are parked tightly. After we parked our car we did some exploring of the area. The car park area is very high 463m and has spectacular views down the centre of the valley.

We walked across the road toward the monument and crossed down into the road gully and back up into the meadow. We followed the wire fencing up toward the top of the hill. After driving 3 hours 35 minutes our legs were stiff and very sluggish. We initially felt tired after the long drive but we weren’t walking long before we stretched the legs out and got into the walking rhythm.

We continued to follow the fence up the hill, the fence starts to rise out of the meadow, up over mounds and clay banks. Sometimes it is easier for us to walk around the mounds of clay than walk over them. Halfway up the first section of fencing we walked through part of the hillside that was filled with white flowers which resembled cotton or daisies, we weren’t sure but they were extremely pretty.

We reached the first fencing junction (basically a T junction), we took a left here. There was only 1 sty to cross the fencing on this whole walk so be prepared to climb wire fencing. We are now greeted with small rock mounds covered in soil in front of us, we walk around these to meet the fence on the other side. It’s amazing that someone erected this fence into the rock face going over the hill, that is dedication.

Just as we walked around this rocky mound, we walked into our first boggy area. Unfortunately, Gina walked into the mud straight down to her ankles. She had soggy wet ankles for the remainder of the hike. Ourlittlehiker loved seeing her Mammy getting wet feet and kept shouting “oh-oh Mammy”.

Overall the ground conditions were ok for us, but we had to watch out for soft spots. We can only imagine that in a wetter time, this mountain would be extremely boggy and you might even need Wellies.

We walked up to the next T junction of fencing, from here we could see a small lake below us and Knockboy mountain above us. We could even see the fencing running the whole way up the hill, we knew we would be following it to the summit. It even looks like someone has put the fence down into the lake, these are very dedicated fencers on Knockboy mountain.

We descended down into the small dip that houses the tiny lake. We walked around over to the rear of the lake and crossed over to the other side. This is the only Stile that we saw on the walk up to Knockboy. As we walk past the lake, Ourlittlehiker keeps shouting “Bath”, she thinks the lake is a big bath and she wants to get in, Lol the innocence of it all.

We now start our ascent to the top of Knockboy. We follow the well-worn path in the grass up along the fence until it crosses the fence for a final time. The main reason we cross here is that the ground conditions look better on the other side of the fence.

We can see the Cairn of Knockboy from about 50 meters away. We reached the top of Knockboy very quickly and easily. The views on the decent are amazing, we could see all Kerry’s highest mountain on the right-hand side in the far distance.

When we reached the bottom of the hike we had a lovely picnic and admired the views down along the valley. After our picnic we let Ourlittlehiker try our her new Deuter Backpack. We did a tiny little hike over to a cross and Ourlittlehiker carried her own bag and a walking stick, we can see she already loves walking and hiking.

The verdict on the Hike to Cork’s highest mountain

We hiked Knockboy in a very warm mild time of the year. The ground was dry in most places but still, there were boggy and swampy areas, so be careful and watch out for these.

On the hike up to the summit of Knockboy, the views on either side of the walking trail are slightly disappointing as there didn’t seem to be a great landscape to appreciate on the ascent. Like most of our hikes when we are climbing we generally don’t stop and look behind us but the views to the rear of us when we were climbing up were amazing, we obviously got to admire these views on the descent.

The top of Knockboy is surrounded by other larger peaks in County Kerry. The views from the top are still pretty impressive. Knockboy is a relatively easy County high point but if the weather was wet and the ground was damp and boggy, I’d imagine Knockboy would be a much harder hike.

Overall we enjoyed our hike up to Corks highest point, it was a short hike and definitely not worth all the driving but it is another high point off the list.

Which County High Point next after Knockboy?

We have only 1 county high point to climb in Munster remaining after climbing Knockboy and that is Carrantuohill in County Kerry. As we drove over 3 hours to climb Knockboy we should have stayed the night and climbed Carrantuohill the next day but unfortunately, with work commitments we both have to be home early the next morning.

We might leave the highest mountain until last now.

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