Last weekend, we drove up to Skerries, a seaside town north of Dublin city. In about an hour, we made it to the centre of the small town. Easily accessible by Dublin bus and the Irish rail, Skerries is part of the Dublin county and makes for a great city break.
Skerries is especially popular for its historic tower mills that date back several hundred years. The Skerries mill complex includes 2 tower mills or windmills and a water mill.
The mills can be visited through a guided tour only and unfortunately the last tour was already underway when we got to the mills. And so, we just walked around the mill complex admiring the mills from a distance.
The one above is the four sail windmill and is the older of the two. It’s also known as The Small Windmill while the one below is called The Great Windmill. The taller one below is said to be more efficient considering its five sails.
It was good weather the day we were visiting – blue skies showing no trace of rain. Perfect weather to walk the little coast of Skerries.
We were soon peckish and decided to head over to this little cafe Goat in The Boat for some snacks and coffee. Funny little folk tale of St. Patrick and his visit to Skerries can be found on one of the cafe’s walls.
Skerries is filled with cute little cafes.
Storm in a Teacup is very close to the beach, perfect place to take away some icecream and a cuppa to enjoy by the beautiful Irish sea.
From the Skerries harbor, you can see a faint outline of the Mourne Mountains in the distance
We walked along the rocky shore picking shells and watching little hermit crabs scurrying thru tidepools.
As the sun went down, it started to get nippy and we made our way back to the car park.
Right behind the car park is one of the two Martello Towers in Skerries. You’ll find plenty of such towers along the Irish coastline. These small defensive forts were built during the French revolution. Although primarily functioning as a watch-house, these towers were also homes to the guards and their families.
Alhough we spent only a few hours in Skerries and found Howth much more fascinating, it was nevertheless a lovely evening spent in good company.
Take a break from Dublin city and head over to Howth, a picturesque little fishing village in Dublin county offering gorgeous panoramic views of the Irish sea.
Two weeks ago, we visited Howth (pronounced Hoth). It’s just 30 minutes away from the Dublin city centre and makes for a great break from the city. We hopped on a DART and took a short ride along the Irish coastline.
As we stepped out of the station, we saw that the Howth weekend market was on. We wandered in to find something to fill our hungry stomachs.
It was a lovely little market with jewellery, some handcrafted items, freshly baked bread, dried fruits, candy and lots of other delicious little bites. They also offered an interesting variety of cuisines for the ones craving bigger bites. Being a fan of Mexican food, we packed ourselves a Quesadilla and Burrito and headed over to the pier to find a cosy spot to have our lunch by the sea.
Having stuffed ourselves happy, we were ready to start exploring little Howth. We walked around the harbor for a bit. It’s a pretty little harbor with plenty of sailboats docked at the harbor entrance and a few spread around the bay.
It was good weather the day we visited Howth – sunny and dry
Perfect weather for a great cliff walk. The Howth Cliff Path Loop is a 6 to 10 km walk that will take anywhere from 2 to 4 hours depending on which loop you take. There are 4 loops; some are longer and more difficult. We opted for the easier one as it was our first cliff walk in Ireland and we were setting off on our walk in the evening.
Head towards the east side of the promenade for the cliff walk. You’ll see rocky shores just before you begin the steep climb up Balscadden Road.
There’s a bunch of lovely houses along the way, all boasting of stunning seaside views and beautiful courtyards. Wouldn’t mind waking up to this view!
See the guy on the little rock luring in a catch?
Howth seems to be a popular spot for the angling enthusiasts.
The island you see just ahead in the picture above is the Ireland’s Eye and the one further ahead is the Lambay island. Ireland’s Eye is home to a variety of sea birds and in a short 15 minutes, you could be in the bird sanctuary. On the island is also an old Christian monastery. The island is fairly secluded and has a nice little beach from what we hear and it could be a good spot for an afternoon picnic. We were unable to visit Ireland’s Eye this time but plan to make it there on our next Howth visit.
As you approach the end of the short ascent on Balscadden Road, you’ll see a car park and just ahead of that a gravel steep path. This is the starting point to the Cliff Walk. If you are unable to make the cliff walk, you can just park your car here and go on a short 5 min climb up the gravel trail. This will lead you up to the cliff top where you are rewarded with breathtaking views of the Irish sea.
It’s a beautiful trail! The sea is just 50 metres below you and looks utterly fascinating as you walk along the cliff edges.
As you continue your walk, you’ll see plenty of jagged rocks where someone’s jumping off for a swim or fishing for a big catch.
The views are mesmerising and all you’d want to do is stop and stare
The trails weren’t crowded as you can see. We did the walk later in the day and so we escaped most of the tourist crowd and ran into just a few locals. The trail gets narrower in some places but you should have enough room to allow a fellow walker to pass by.
Do take care as you walk though – you are after all walking on the edge and there’s nothing but the deep blue ocean below you. The terrain is a bit rugged but is a well-worn trail popular with locals and tourists alike.
It can get mucky and slippery when it rains so make sure you have the right footwear! And, may not be a wise idea to do the cliff walk on a bad weather day.
The cliff path takes a whole bunch of turns through the 6 kilometre walk and as you move further along the loop, the views change as well.
The Baily Lighthouse on Howth Head comes into view as you near the Howth Summit. The mountains you see in the distance are the Wicklow mountains, known for its stunning scenery and pristine lakes.
You can continue your cliff walk and do the full 10 km by heading towards the lighthouse. We decided to take a turn towards the uphill path that leads to the Summit car park area.
View from the Howth Summit
At the car park, you have the option to continue on the loop and take the path running parallel to the uphill path to return to the Howth station. We decided to take a break and grab a pint at the Summit Inn.
It was well worth the stop as this pint of Guinness is an excellent pint of the delicious dark beauty – it had a great creamy head that stayed all the way thru to its last drop!
We headed back to the Howth Harbor by bus and got off at a stop close to the East pier. We arrived in time to watch the sunset and it was just spectacular with dramatic clouds looming above.
The Howth East Pier walkis wonderful, especially at sundown. The tourist crowd was long gone and except for a few locals walking their dogs, we had the whole pier for ourselves to explore.
Colorful little sailboats dot the bay on one side and the beautiful Irish sea laps on rocky shores on the other.
At the end of the pier, you reach the Howth Harbor Lighthouse. There’s some interesting history behind this fine structure that was also used for defensive purposes.
Further ahead, you’ll find this little beacon tower – it is a great spot to take a break and admire the magnificent Irish sea before heading back.
We stopped for dinner at The Bloody Stream, a lovely pub although the name might indicate otherwise. It’s right at the station so quite convenient to head straight to your train. We finally got our craft beer pint in this little pub and were ecstatic. They serve just the Hope beers (one of Dublin’s good craft breweries) and of course the traditional Irish beers were also on tap.
It was the perfect end to a perfect day. Howth is a little hidden gem in Dublin that is well worth a visit!
Whoever said “Money can’t buy Happiness” definitely wasn’t a craft beer enthusiast!
It is soon going to be 2 months since we moved to Ireland and in this short while, we have explored a great variety of outstanding craft beers from this little country! It has definitely been the best bang for our buck and we are still floating in a little cloud of joy.
What continues to amaze us the most is just how EASY it is to get good craft beer around here. There are a myriad of pubs that serve craft beer, some that serve only craft beer with no macro beers at all! Having moved from a little town in Germany, where we were starved for craft beer, Dublin has been pure bliss!
We no longer need to go scouring the little corners of the country we live in for a good pint of craft beer but walk less than a 100 metres to our friendly, neighborhood supermarket to get some of Ireland’s top-notch craft beers. And, better yet, we’ve also got an off licence store (or liquor store) that stocks the latest and greatest of craft beers from not only Ireland but all around the world. So, yeah, we are definitely in a happy place! 🙂
So far, we have tried over 70 beers from a number of breweries around Ireland (yeah, we know – more beers than the number of days we’ve been here! But hey, haven’t you heard – A beer or two a day can keep a slew of health conditions at bay!)
And, yet, we have barely scratched the surface! There is a lot more beer to be explored and enjoyed. The local breweries keep releasing limited edition small batch beers. New breweries as well seem to keep springing up ever so often. So, it seems like there’s always going to be new stuff – on tap and by bottle.
Through bold experimentation and radical flavors, the craft breweries of Ireland have carved out a prominent place for themselves in the craft beer revolution map. Ireland was already a renowned beer nation having given the world one of the greatest beers of all time – the Guinness. But, now, the country is garnering a reputation for itself among the top craft beer nations, and gaining international recognition for its impressive assortment of craft beers.
And, surely enough, there seems to be a large community of craft beer enthusiasts who not only indulge in all this amazing beer but also share their experiences with the community actively via Twitter, Instagram, podcasts and beer blogs. We had the absolute pleasure of meeting a few of these guys over the last few weeks – friendly folks who are hugely passionate about their beer – they gave us a warm welcome and lots of helpful recommendations! We have also been getting a whole bunch of recommendations from folks over Instagram. It’s been simply marvelous to connect with all these wonderful, beer-loving folks!
All in all, we are absolutely thrilled to be here in Ireland, in the midst of all this fantastic craft beer culture! We are happy to be spoilt for choice here and we look forward to making the most of it and sharing our experiences. Sláinte! 🍻
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