Features and Brands

Irish Independent 

In 2020, Ellie O’ Byrne did a fabulous article on our little family in the Irish Independent. She really captured a very good insight into our lives and why we hike with our young family.

Irish Adventure Film Awards

In 2019, we were nominated for the Irish Adventure Film festival adventure awards for hiking the County High Points with our kids. It was an unbelievable honour and a great experience to attend the ceremony. It was great to meet some of Irelands greatest adventurers.

53 Degrees North Columbia Campaign

53 Degrees North & Columbia

In 2019, 53 degrees north and Columbia ran a sustainable advert and selected our young family to represent the campaign in Ireland. We had great fun doing lots of walks and photoshoots in the Dublin woods. We have been using Columbia gear and shopping in 53 degrees north for many years and were thrilled to be working with such high profile brands.

Discover Ireland Staycation Campaign

Discover Ireland

In 2020, Discover Ireland approached us to explore Ireland on their Staycation campaign. We were truly humbled and jumped at the opportunity. We explored the magnificent Bere Island, Dursey Island and Connor pass. We loved the experience and the kids loved seeing themselves on the Discover Ireland advertisements on Television.

Tracks and Trails

In 2021, Tracks and Trails aired on RTE showing our little family meeting the legend, Pól Ó Conghaile. Pól was exploring Wexfords hikes he really showcased the true beauty of the county. The kids loved being on TV and our oldest daughter got a standing ovation from her classmates in Junior infants in primary School. We are missing our youngest daughter from the clip as Gina was pregnant while this was being filmed.

Experience Kerry

In 2021, Experience Kerry asked us to explore Kerry to help publicise its major attractions. We loved exploring one of Ireland’s most scenic locations.

Favourite Hiking Accounts

Below we mention some of our favourite hiking blogs and social media accounts that we follow

Tough Soles

We followed Ellie and Karl on their epic adventure to hike all Irelands waymarked trails. When they were completing their final legs of the journey we were lucky enough to have them stay in our house. The kids loved meeting these two legends and we still stay in contact to this day.

Roz Purcell

No one does as much to promote the hiking community in Ireland as Roz Purcell. We love following all her amazing hikes around Ireland, she is a real inspiration.

BeBoldLittleOnes

We love following Beboldlittleones adventures on Instagram. We hopefully aspire to get a Camper van like this inspiring family.

Nicky0040

Nicky has unbelievable dedication to hiking in Wicklow and Ireland. Her attitude toward hiking and exploring new routes is a pure joy to follow. A weekend doesn’t go past without some epic mountain hikes being posted on Instagram. Nicky always provides some great new hiking route ideas

The post Hiking Features & Favourite Hiking Accounts appeared first on Our Family Hikes.

When I first starting breastfeeding nearly 5 years ago, I taught I needed my breastfeeding pillow everywhere. On my 1st born, I found the first 6 weeks of breastfeeding hard mostly due to sore nipples, from a bad latch,  later I found out that she had a lip tie which didn’t help.  After that hurdle, it became very easy for me and I absolutely loved my breastfeeding journey.

Breastfeeding in the outdoors while hiking

When my firstborn daughter was 6 months old, we started becoming a little bit more adventurous with our hikes. We traveled all over Ireland climbing mountains with her on our back. Breastfeeding played a big part in that journey. It took that extra pressure off and allowed us to carry fewer baby-related items which also meant we didn’t have to stick to a routine. I could just feed her on demand when she wanted, wherever she wanted. I have fed both my girls until they were 18 months and now I am back feeding my third little girl, and I am loving it.

Breastfeeding in the outdoors 11 top tips

Here are some tips that I have learned along the way that worked for me and made our hiking adventures in the outdoors easier.

1. Offer a feed in the car before you start your walk

By offering a feed in the comfort of your own car before you start your walk, you will start the hike with a happy and content baby. It will be one less feed to do on the trail. Sometimes this doesn’t work out, as they could be asleep from the car journey, I just pop the sleeping baby into the sling and keep walking until they wake up looking for a feed.

2. Try to find a comfortable seat

If you didn’t want to buy or bring a pad to sit on, you could sit on your rucksack, a stone, or a log. Try to find somewhere dry and comfortable to sit on, you don’t know how long you could be there.

3. Bring a small Umbrella

An umbrella is fantastic to use to protect you and the baby. The umbrella can block the sun, stop a light breeze and it can give you that extra bit of privacy if you are in a very public place. It also stops your baby from becoming distracted from being too nosey, which leads to her stopping mid-feed to look around.

4. Wear breastfeeding-friendly layers

Breastfeeding bras and tops are handy but you don’t have to go out and buy them, you can use what you have.

I wear a strap top, a loose-fitting t-shirt or top, and a zip jacket. All I have to do is pull up my top and pull down my strap top and bra, therefore you are completely covered, keeping your back, tummy, and chest warm while helping you feel modest and less exposed.

5. Wear a light scarf

I find a scarf handy as it acts as extra coverage and you can also use it as a blanket

6. Bring a rain cover

I bring the rain cover from my pram just in case I ever got caught out in the rain and needed to feed the baby and we couldn’t find shelter. You could drop it over your baby or use your rain jacket or poncho. In my bag I also have a little mosquito net just in case I need it for when you sit still there are more chances of little flies etc annoying you and your baby.

7. Feeding your baby in a Sling

When I use my ergo baby carrier, I loosen the strap on the side, that the baby is feeding at and get her into a comfortable position. I then hold her as I would when feeding her and the carrier acts as extra support for the baby.

8. Feeding your baby in a Deuter carrier

While Breastfeeding in the outdoors while hiking, sometimes I found that it might not suit to take our daughter out of the carrier to feed her. The weather could be bad and she could be protected in her carrier, we might be in an unsafe part of the hike, etc. We learned over numerous hikes, that if the baby is happy in her carrier that it might be easier to just feed her in the carrier. Sometimes, when you take them out of the carrier they might not want to go back in. They might just want to walk or to be carried to get a better view of the sheep, I learned to feed her while she sat in the carrier.

I just opened the side strap of the carrier, I kept her strapped in and I just leaned in and hugged the carrier and she would feed away, you could tilt the carrier a little to get a better position. This is easier to do when they are older, around 1 year old.

9. Feeding your baby when you have active toddlers with you

Now when we go hiking and I need to feed my youngest it’s harder to stop for long periods of time as my older two girls love to be on the move. To encourage everyone to stop, we put down a blanket and have little picnics (loads of snacks).

We let them empty out their hiking bags to look at the treasures, that they collected along their hike and sometimes I pull out a little notebook and pen to let them draw their favorite things that they have seen along the hike. When all of the above fails, I walk and feed at the same time.

10. Stay hydrated while Breastfeeding in the outdoors while hiking

While hiking, it’s important to stay hydrated and the same when you breastfeeding so make sure to bring extra water and keep hydrated, I usually hike with my husband, and he carries all these extra items in his hiking bag. We also bring Lifestraw bottles in case we run out of water. They are extremely handy and provide that little bit of security you need.

11. Relax and enjoy feeding your baby in nature

It can be stressful feeding in public, especially when it’s your first time. My advice is to try to ignore strangers passing by and relax, smile down at your baby and enjoy both the view of your baby and the view of the mountains or wherever you are.

The post Breastfeeding in the outdoors while hiking 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

See full screen

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

The post Bere Island- Day 1-Make a Break for it appeared first on Our Family Hikes.

We are in the process of hiking all the high point in every county of Ireland. When we were in Northern Ireland hiking the high peaks, we needed accommodation as it was too far to drive back to our house, we love glamping sites, so that is what we were researching. We have previously stayed in log cabins, pods and treehouses before but we have never stayed in a Bell Tent, so we are looking forward to the new experience.

We can never book accommodation in advance of our hikes because we only like going up the mountains when the weather is very good for safety reasons with a baby. So we have been driving to the mountains, hiking and driving home the same day, this is tiring with a toddler but we always manage to have a good sing song on our road trips.

This time we are going to the top of Ireland. which is a four-hour drive from our house, so we did some research and found just what we were looking for at Carrowmena Activity Centre. When I rang a few days before, the lady on the phone said we were in luck, there was one Luxury Bell Tent left. The Bell Tent cost £70 sterling and I paid over the phone straight away, as we didn’t fancy driving 4 hours home after hiking a few mountains.

Getting to Carrowmena Activity Centre

Earlier in the day, we explored the Giants Causeway, Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, The Dark Hedges and Climbed Antrim’s highest mountain Trostan. All of the above were in the County of Antrim. We went from the Mountain straight to our glamping accommodation in Co. Derry which was a little over an hours drive.

Below is the details of the camp site:

Carrowmena Activity Centre Details

Address: 100 Carrowclare Rd, Limavady, Co. L’Derry,BT49 9EB

Phone: 028 77763431 (this is also the number you can ring during the night if you need anything as it is linked up to the mobile of the member of staff on duty)

Website: http://carrowmena.co.uk/

First Impressions of Carrowmena Activity Centre, Glamping Site NI

When arriving first, you see a vintage lime green campervan with their logo on it and also a large surfboard again with their logo. We were loving it already. You are greeted with an old school house, this is where the reception is but as we arrived late, 6:35 pm there was a sign on the door saying “Sorry they have been and gone and to follow the stones around to the coffee pod”.  (Also just bear in mind that check-in is from 3pm-7pm and late check-in will cost an extra £10). I then went into the coffee pod, to be greeted by some super friendly staff. I had to sign a form about rules, for example, no music or loud noise after 11 pm and before 7 am which was a great idea and really suited us.

The Tour around Carrowmena Glamping NI

I was then given a tour of the campsite, the shower block, toilets and the Glitchen (where you had your own shelf in the fridge), cooking and eating area. If something has a Carrowmena logo sticker, this means that everyone can use theses items, like tea, coffee, milk and cereal (which was a nice touch). The staff guided us to our Bell tent along a little footpath, to one side was a sand pit, swing area and mini climbing wall, to the other side was a row of lovely timber frame huts. There was also an outdoor BBQ and eating area, which allowed parents to cook while also watching their children play on the swings.

Token-operated shower block (£1 per token)

Changing area & Toilet Block in our Glamping site in Northern Ireland

Our Bell Tent in Carrowmena Activity Centre Glamping Review

Our home for the night was “Bell tent one” this was beside the car park. We loved it straight away, amazing views of Binevenagh behind us, vintage bunting, fairy lights, double bed and two single beds which were elevated off the ground on top of wooden pallets. There was a little electric fire heater that you could be turned on if the tent got chilly, we put it on for ten minutes and it made the tent nice and cosy. The bedspreads were of VW vintage campervans which we love, we even drove one on our wedding day.

The decor in the tent was a mixture of vintage, boho and rustic, there were wooden pallet boxes turned upside down and painted which were used as a nightstand. Ourlittlehiker loved every minute of it, the excitement on her face was priceless, she was so busy running and jumping on each bed and exploring the tent.

Here is a list of everything in our Glamping Bell Tent:

• 1xDouble bed
• 2x Single beds
• Pillows, mattress, duvet and all linen provided.
• Electric fire heater
• Basket for our shoes. (no shoes allowed inside the tent)
• Rubbish bin
• 2x Electric plug
• Picnic table and bench beside each tent

Here is a list of everything in the Glamping site:

• Free car parking
• Free WiFi access
• Outside Toilet and token operated shower block(1 pound per token)
• Family-Child friendly environment including kids play area
• Coffee Pod and shop
• Outdoor activities.

Parking at our Family Gamping site in Carrowmena Activity Centre

There is free parking to the side of the old school and also down beside the bell tents which is handy when you are unpacking your car for the nights stay. We were lucky to get parking right beside our Bell Tent which was super handy for 3 tired hikers.

The overall conclusion of our time Glamping in a bell tent in Northern Ireland

Overall we were very happy, the staff and the friendly families that were also staying there made it an enjoyable experience. The beds were very comfortable and we loved the whole set up. It rained heavily through out the night so it was lovely listening to the rain hitting off the tent. Most of the camp site were all families with young children, except for one tent which had a bunch of young men, who were out drinking alcohol in the town, they arrived back at the campsite around 3 am and made a lot of noise, but in fairness the staff had set up their tent far away down the field from everyone else and had pre-warned us all and apologised in advance about the noise. We didn’t mind at all as we are easy going and you get that in most accommodations. The staff handled it well and tried their best to keep them quiet.

Carowmena has loads of activities for older children and adults like climbing walls along with a bouncy castle for smaller hikers but we didn’t use or take part in any of this as we came late and left early. I’d say it is very popular for hens/stages and school tours.

We would highly recommend this accommodation and we would be happy to go back again in the future.

Ourlittlehiker loved the friendly Staff and as you can see below she was more interested in her toast than the climbing wall, She loves her food just like her Mother.

The post Glamping in a Bell Tent in Northern Ireland appeared first on Our Family Hikes.