So, I will start about saying & spreading the love of our b&b were we stayed 5 nights in. It is called Beaufort Lodge & is located in the heart of Beaufort, a quite small village. We chose this B&B because it was located right in the centre of our activities. The house aka cottage is tucked away on a smaller road in Beaufort village, with a lovely garden with flowers, trees & shrubs surrounding the house. The B&B is central located to visit the area like the Dingle-peninsula, ring of Kerry, The Gap of Dunloe & the Dunloe Ogham stones are nearby. It is 8 km west of Killarney!
You have a steep short driveway & a big car parking. The entrance is located at the side. It looks like this:
Ulrike, the owner, is a very lovely & charming host with tons of humour & gives you great advice & guide maps of the area to lend. Excellent spacious & cool modern big rooms with a spacious ensuite shower room. Our room had a view on their lovely back garden with chickens! You can choose from different breakfast options. She makes all of her jams herself & the fruits come from her own garden! She is also a bake enthusiast! She often bakes her own bread & cakes! She makes you feel at home! And not expensive at all. We paid 98 Euro for 2 persons per night & breakfasts! And that is in high season! That is right! Cheap!
Our room:
Every day, we got new towels if we needed them! Every morning, we sat elsewhere. You could choose from different breakfasts each morning. A few photos:
The 1st day, we headed to the Dingle Peninsula. It was a day trip for the 2 of us! And we fell in love with the peninsula! What was not to love? It was one of the highlights of our whole Ireland trip!!!!!
Some facts:
It stretches 30 miles (48 kilometres) into the Atlantic Ocean from Ireland’s south-west coast.
The peninsula is dominated by the range of mountains that form its spine, running from the Slieve Mish range to Mount Brandon, Ireland’s second highest peak.
The coastline consists of steep sea-cliffs, broken by sandy beaches, with two large sand spits at Inch in the south and the Maharees to the north. The Blasket Islands lie to the west of the peninsula.
The peninsula has something to offer to everyone. Among other things: sandy beaches safe for swimming, walking routes for all abilities, a thriving Irish language community, a rich musical tradition, fine dining, sea angling, arts and film festivals, talented craftspersons and some of the best surfing in Ireland.
We drove in 1 hour + 30 minutes from our B&B to the city of Dingle! See map here:
We drove 3/4 of the island that day. First stop, Dingle town centre. We parked near the harbour. Dingle is a smaller town with many colourful houses & many tourist shops. A few cool photos from our trip:
We walked around the town & spent around 2 hours over here. We enjoyed some lovely coffees in a real coffee bar (like the one’s we know in Belgium, moderns one’s!) This one was called: Bean in Dingle: cool name, right?
Then we walked further & finally went for the famous Murphy’s ice-cream. It is an Irish chain of excellent ice-cream makers. They have several stores across the whole of Ireland, also, in Dublin!
They sell lovely creamy delicious ice-cream. We were met by a charming woman who let us taste ice-cream samples for free, like fennel ice-cream. Who wants that flavour? We took each 2 scoops with their famous Dingle sea salt ice-cream & another one in a big cone. My husband’s ice-cream & my own were superb in flavour & texture. It was a bit more pricey but the same price of good quality ice-cream in Belgium.
Then we went to the local supermarket & bought Dingle whiskey for my husband & some Irish sea salt for me & my mom. Then, we drove off.
From Dingle town, we drove this way:
Peter & I fell in love with the peninsula. Everywhere you drove, we were surprised by the amazing wide beautiful countryside & views! We don’t get that in Belgium! We stopped 2 times before going onto a walk for 1 hour. We stopped at the side of the road to see a fairy ring fort. It only costed us 2 euro p.p. with a small fresh car park at the other side fo the busy road. You get an information map with info on it. Some photos:
We also stopped at the beehive huts made out of stone, dated back to 2,000 years before Christ! Ooh yes! These stone buildings aka constructions were all very impressive building & no cement! This was not free of charge. It was 3 euro p.p.
It as all very impressive. It was also located at the middle of a hill with fab views across the bay, all the way to Dingle, the surrounding mountains & the Atlantic Ocean!
Some photos:
After Slea head drive, we stopped the car & went for a steep walk up a hill. We stopped at Coomenoole beach. That day, there was a lot of sun & it was very warm. There was a smaller free car park with a beautiful enclosed bay, fine strand & a beautiful blue-green ocean! Waw! There was no life guard though & the ocean looked rough with big waves.
At the top & sides of the hill we had some beautiful wide views over the Blasket islands & far, far away, the Skellig islands. Here are some photos:
We drove further along the coast & then, more inside the peninsula to visit the Gallarus oratory, you see?
The Gallarus Oratory (Irish: Séipéilín Ghallarais, Gallarus being interpreted as either “rocky headland” (Gall-iorrus) or “house or shelter for foreigner(s)” (Gall Aras), is a chapel located on the Dingle peninsula, County Kerry in Ireland. It has been presented variously as an early Christian stone church by its discoverer, Charles Smith, in 1756, a 12th-century Romanesque church by archaeologist Peter Harbison in 1970; a shelter for pilgrims by the same in 1994. The local tradition prevalent at the time of the oratory’s discovery attributed it to one Griffith More, being a funerary chapel built by him or his family at their burial place.
The oratory overlooks the harbour at Ard na Caithne (formerly also called Smerwick) on the Dingle Peninsula.
The oratory is built of large cut stones from the Dingle Beds of the Upper Silurian Old Red Sandstone. Charles Smith, who discovered the edifice in 1756, described the stone as “a brown free-stone, brought from the cliffs of the sea shore, which cuts readily and is very durable.”
The stones are cut on every side and end so as to fit perfectly together. They exhibit smoothly finished outside facings that follow the slant of the wall.
The edifice is usually thought to have been built without mortar, but there is evidence that even if mortar “was never visible in the wall facings it was used as a structural medium for the interior of the wall at least.” A thin layer of lime mortar is used to bond the stones together and to fill in small hollows in the inner faces.
You can park at a free car park & go on foot to the place. It costed us 4 euro p.p. It is a very impressive building, inside & out! Then, it was already evening, we drove back to our B&B. This was the way we went, we did it in 2 hours time!
We went for dinner at Kate Kearny’s Cottage without reservation. It is located at the foot of the Gap of Dunloe. Here are some lovely photos:
The beginning of the Gap of Dunloe.
The outside of the cottage. There is also a small visitor & souvenir shop inside, besides the bar/restaurant.
The lovely inside with a lot of wooden furniture & very friendly staff!
Then, fortunately, it was only a 10 minute drive back home!
The next day, would be a resting day for us. In the morning, after breakfast, we went for a smaller nice morning walk from our B&B till the Killarney Lake, not too far from were we stayed. We thought we would have walked 4 km but we did 7!
We rested a bit & in the afternoon, we headed to the city of Killarney, 8 km west from our B&B! We rented an E-Bike for me & for Peter a city bike for Sunday morning, 11 am. Some photos:
We drove further to Ross Castle but didn’t visit the actual castle but its grounds. This is free of charge, also the car park. We went there to rest a few hours & to write cool cards to the home front!
Then, we went home & ate in the Beaufort bar & restaurant once again!
So, this was part 3, I hope you enjoyed it all!
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