For much of my early childhood, my family had a little caravan that got hitched to the back of our car for holidays across the length and breadth of Co Kerry. Killarney was a favourite at Easter, Glenbeigh and Caherdaniel beckoned in the summer and Ventry was squeezed in before school reopened in September. Spending my formative years immersed in the extraordinary beauty of the southwest corner of Ireland has left me with a lifelong love of mountains, seas and wild places.
Kerry still features very much in my downtime and there’s barely a beach or a peak left in the Kingdom I haven’t explored. Or so I thought.
Recently I came across images on Instagram of towering Cathedral Rocks on Inishnabro, one of the Blasket Islands off the Dingle peninsula. I couldn’t believe I’d never heard of this awe-inducing feat of nature. My grasp of geology isn’t strong enough to understand how hundreds of shards of sandstone could coagulate to form this soaring edifice, rising from the sea to rival Barcelona’s Sagrada Família. I immediately began making plans to see this natural wonder for myself on a family trip.
At the base of the Sliabh Mish Mountains, Ballygarry Estate just outside Tralee has worked hard to green its operations in recent years, with a 98 per cent drop in their emissions since 2017. It was the first hotel in Ireland to install Tesla Superchargers, and all four are in use as we pull in to the car park.
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I try to keep up with owner Pádraig McGillicuddy as he leads me on a brisk walk through the 80-acre farm the hotel purchased in 2020, pointing out the rewilding process under way. Thirty-thousand native trees have already taken root, wild flower meadows have been sown and integrated wetlands have been created to treat the hotel and spa’s wastewater. I ask McGillicuddy what he does in his free time. Given his surname, I’m not surprised to hear he has climbed some of the world’s highest peaks.
Another peak looms in the distance and we follow the road west below majestic Caherconree leading us to our 1pm booking with Dingle Sea Safari and a face-to-face date with Cathedral Rocks.
After decades of experience in the local fishing industry, the Flannery family pivoted in 2018 to begin sharing their passion for the stretch of coast between Dingle and the Blasket islands with adventurous visitors. Bridget, the matriarch of the Flannery family, helps us into waterproof layers and her son Colm welcomes us aboard one of the company’s high powered RIBs. The two engines are fired up and within seconds we’ve left the harbour and rounded the bend for the open sea. Eask Tower looms above us, and Colm explains that the mound was built as a Famine-relief measure to mark the entrance to the harbour. We soon pull into Thundercove, with vertiginous cliffs surrounding us. It was here that Fungie the dolphin first appeared in 1983.
The engines roar again and they are a given a proper chance to show off as we glide above the swell and speed towards Slea Head. Within minutes the hilly contour of Great Blasket Island fills the skyline. As we draw closer, we spot dozens of grey seals sunbathing on the beach. This is one of the largest colonies in Ireland, with seals travelling all the way from Scotland to seek out the gleaming white sands and breed here during the summer.
Crossing the sound to adjacent Inishnabro, Colm powers down the engine as a pod of dolphins appears. They lead us west in a straight line to Cathedral Rocks, the reason for my visit. It does not disappoint. Two spires reach for the heavens, framing a perfectly sculpted doorway at sea level, surely one of the top feats of nature along the west coast of Ireland. No organist is needed, instead the lapping waves provide the musical score with the soft-hum of several thousand nesting puffins creating the melodic line. Heaven has competition.
Charlie Haughey bought neighbouring Inishvickillane in 1974. His legacy lives on in the red deer he introduced to this tiny island that are just about visible from our boat. I’m fascinated to spot the former taoiseach’s summer house at the summit given the amount of airtime this island received in the media when I was growing up.
On the return journey, Colm continues his masterclass in oceanography, geology and local history. I feel grateful to have been in his learned company for the past 3½ hours and he leaves me with an even greater appreciation of our natural wonders. His parting wisdom is to make a beeline for nearby Solas restaurant to see if they can squeeze us in for a late lunch. Chef Nicky Foley welcomes us at the door and before long a dizzying array of small plates appears, many of them featuring seafood from the waters we’ve just traversed. Réalt na Mara rock oysters, queen scallop ceviche and Dingle Bay crab tartlet all dazzle before a whole turbot doused in chicken butter sauce and peas graces the table. Murphy’s Ice Cream has a cafe across the road, and we finish off our time at Ireland’s most westerly town with a scoop of their famed vanilla and Dingle sea salt flavour.
Back at Ballygarry we find a remote control but there’s no TV to be seen anywhere in our room. A random button summons a huge screen to rise theatrically from the end of our bed. Our 16-year-old son may have been impressed by the high-speed boat trip and the Michelin standard lunch but these wonders pale in comparison with this technological wizardry. We decide that this may be the time and the place to rewatch one of the recent Star Wars movies. Colm had pointed out Ceann Sibéal earlier, the headland where the beehive huts of Skellig Michael were reconstructed for scenes in the film.
All the movie watching in bed has us famished so we make our way downstairs to the Brasserie for a gourmet burger. Fifty-eight per cent of the food served in the hotel is sourced in Kerry, and a composting system returns food waste to the gardens.
Our dormer window looks out on the mountains: the next morning they are criss-crossed by multiple rainbows.. By the time we make it downstairs to the hotel spa, the rainbows have given way to blistering sun and we spend a happy hour moving between the outdoor hot-tubs, the glass-fronted sauna and a spruce-clad relaxation cabin. We pick out several more of these designer cabins hiding among the trees. The spa manager explains that these self-catering cabins are a recent addition and she suggests taking the complimentary bikes from reception for a closer look. We cycle down a lane edged with reintroduced hedgerows and press our noses against the curved windows of the cabins.
The hotel’s grounds border Ballyseedy Woods, and a bridge over the river Lee leads us to 80 more acres of native woodland. Returning to the hotel, we’re stopped in our tracks by a glamorous wedding party making its way across the gardens. A parade of jewel-coloured outfits files past and we stop ourselves from following them into the on-site chapel modelled on a New England barn.
Before leaving, we drive into nearby Tralee to pick up a coffee at highly recommended Maddens and then some delicious pasties from the Cheese Shop. A new greenway has recently been completed linking the town with Fenit, and in driving rain we follow Google Maps to the section at the Lock Gates where the Tralee canal meets the sea. It’s too wet to use the newly installed picnic area, but as the clouds pass, the panorama of the Dingle Peninsula is revealed across the bay in all its multihued glory.
I’ve been to Tralee countless times ever since those first childhood caravan holidays but this stunning location is another first for me. I’m grateful to Kerry for inspiring a lifetime of wanderlust and awe of natural places, and I’m happy to find out that there’s still so much more left to explore in the Kingdom.
Fergal McCarthy was a guest of Ballygarry Estate
