We were privileged to be asked by Failte Ireland to visit Bere Island and Dursey Island in County Cork as part of the “Make a Break for it campaign”. Obviously, we were delighted and honoured to take up the opportunity. We previously hiked Corks highest point Knockboy so we were looking forward to exploring County Cork more.
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
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.
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