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Our trip to Antrim and the Dingle Peninsula, Ireland
April 9-23, 2013

Phil, Dara, An Canteen, Mighty Session

Wednesday, April 17


World’s best pork belly at An Canteen Restaurant:



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Page 10: Thu – Fenit Pier and Bana Beach
Page 11: Fri – Inch Strand, Sammy’s Cafe, An Canteen, Music at John Benny’s.
Page 12: Sat – Dingle, Dinner at Michael & Dara’s, Music at Courthouse.
Page 13: Sun – Cottage, Global Village Restaurant, Dick Mack’s Pub.
Page 14: Mon – Dingle, An Canteen Restaurant, Pack and Return Home.
Page 01: Tue – Prep and Travel to Dublin.
Page 02: Wed – Drive from Dublin to Barbican Gatelodge in Antrim.
Page 03: Thu – Giant’s Causeway.
Page 04: Fri – Bushmills, Dunluce, Waterfall in Glenarm Forest.
Page 05: Sat – Drive from Antrim to Dingle, Murphy’s Pub.
Page 06: Sun – Dingle and Music at Courthouse
Page 07: Mon – Shopping in Dingle.
Page 08: Tue – Loch a'Dúin, Doyle’s Restaurant, Music at Courthouse.
Page 09: Wed – Cottage, An Canteen Restaurant, Michael & John at Mighty Session
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Phil, Dara, An Canteen, Mighty Session

Wednesday, April 17




Our wish list, from most to least important:

1. Climb to the top of Brandon Mountain, Cnoc Breanainn, highest mountain on the peninsula.
2. Climb to the top of Eagle Mountain, Sliabh an Iolair, second highest mountain on Dingle.
3. Cruach Mharthain, the 3rd highest mountain on the peninsula, behind Phil’s house, where Ryan’s Daughter was filmed.
4. ( The OTHER SIDE of Loch a'Dúin valley )
5. Coumaloughig (Valley of the Lakes) in Feohanagh River Valley
6. Beach on Inch Strand OR Smerwick Harbour Beach and
7. The Fenit Harbor and Marina and Banna Beach in Tralee Bay
8. Dick Mack’s when it’s not packed.


We woke up at 7:30 to pounding rain! I guess we won’t be hiking anywhere today. Nor will we be getting up this early…. We rolled out of bed an hour later and KC made coffee. He read his Famine book while I updated the webpage.

For some reason, it’s taking me much longer to document our trip in real time than it did to create it once we returned home so I may not do this again next year. However, except for the time involved, it IS nice being able to record what we do minutes after we do it, rather than rack my brain a week later trying to remember.

I figured out what we were doing wrong in our attempts to text locally – we need to do it as though we were in the US, with the area code first – and then I texted Phil and Michael to set up a time to meet.

At 10:00 KC made hard boiled eggs (2 minutes this time, which was perfect).

I was feeling really tired – 6 hours sleep isn’t enough for me – so I went up to take a nap. It was really nice being able to close the blind on the sky light by the bed and I easily slept another two hours. While I was napping, Phil came by, but they didn’t wake me up. She told KC the Wi-Fi at her house is really fast so I’ll go over there once I’ve washed and dressed.

I finished the write-up on yesterday’s hike and went up to change just after 2:00pm. When I came down, KC went up to change, and I called Phil to arrange a visit in 20 minutes. Then I called Michael and arranged to meet him at his shop at 5:00.

Phil welcomed us in and we spent the next hour in her living room, overlooking Cruach Mharthain, going over, her new website . I will make the changes we discussed when we get back.

When we got to Dingle Music Shop Michael was still there but Dara wasn’t – he’d gone home to take a nap and I didn’t want to bother him – so we went to An Canteen for dinner intending to meet Dara at The Courthouse afterwards.

An Canteen, OUR FAVORITE DINGLE RESTAURANT:



I think Brian was surprised to see us but he recognized us right away and there was no one else in the restaurant that early so we had a chance to talk. There are big changes coming to An Canteen – Declan is raising some lambs and some beef for them, they’ll be growing their own vegetables, and they’re learning how to make cider!

Niall brought us a taste of the sloe gin they made last winter and not only was it delicious, it was beautiful, and the color comes entirely from the plums, there is nothing artificial in it:

House-made Sloe gin at An Canteen
look at how beautiful that NATURAL color is:



KC ordered two craft brews. The first was a Golden Ale from Tig Bhric, the brew-pub just north of Ballyferriter. According to their website, …we are artisan brewers and have been brewing since 2008. Our hand-crafted cask-conditioned ale is brewed from our own spring water using only the best ingredients. We’ve been meaning to visit this pub for ages – it’s so close to the cottage – and now we are even more motivated!

The second was Stonewell Irish Craft Cider, a medium dry cider made in Cork from Irish apples. KC said it was the best cider he’d ever had so I contacted them when we got home and asked if they had a US distributor. They said they were working on it!

An Canteen is really expanding our craft brew horizons!


For dinner, I ordered what I’d been looking forward to since we left Dingle last year – fried calamari and fish and chips.

Niall does the best calamari I’ve ever eaten and I could have managed four times what I was given but it was a good thing I didn’t have to or I wouldn’t have had room for the fish. As you know, I’ve ordered fish and chips a lot on this trip, because fish is a superfood for me and that is frequently the only way it’s available. No other fish and chips has lived up to my memory of Niall’s.

KC ordered the cream of vegetable soup and the pork belly he had enjoyed last year.

Niall brought us each a plate of Dingle Bay Prawns and they were the most tender shrimp I have ever eaten. They were so big I thought they were pieces of lobster, and the Thai sauce they were served with was sublime. Even KC liked it and he’s not crazy about shrimp.

Dingle Bay Prawns (langoustines) in Thai cream sauce at An Canteen :



My calamari was even better than I remembered it. I wasn’t going to eat the sauce because it had soy in it (an avoid for me) but I thought I should try it and it was so good with the sesame in the breading that I couldn’t resist it. The calamari is light and not in the least bit rubbery. It really is the best I’ve ever eaten and it’s consistently good: it was the best 3 years ago and it still is.

Sesame Crusted Calamari at An Canteen :



KC’s soup was so good he practically licked the bowl. It was light and creamy and perfect for this cold rainy day. For the record, Niall’s soups are never thickened with flour, only vegetables, which makes them taste as good as they look.

Cream of Vegetable Soup at An Canteen :



Our main meals were as tasty as we remembered them. KC ate all of his AND most of my chips. I don’t eat potatoes (they aren’t good for my blood type) and should have asked Niall to hold them because KC ate way too much!

Pork Belly at An Canteen :


Fish and Chips with pea puree at An Canteen :



While we were eating, a young couple came in with two kids. They ordered the chicken wings for the kids and the woman had the pork belly. We overheard the kids RAVING to their parents about how good those wings were; and when they left, the woman told Niall it was the best pork belly she’d ever had. So, the superlatives I use to describe the food are not unique to me. No wonder they keep winning awards!

Press here for what Tripadvisor has to say about An-Canteen.


It was getting busy now and we were too full for dessert so we went over to The Courthouse to visit with Dara before Michael’s session.

KC had Guinness and we talked to Dara until the pub got busy. Sitting next to us was a couple from Iowa who had been to New Zealand multiple times and re-kindled our desire to visit. They were going to Ashford Castle next so we advised them to go meet Dingle the owl at the Irish School of Falconry.

At 9:15 we moseyed over to the Mighty Session, next to The Small Bridge, and ran into John Brown in the foyer. FINALLY, we got a chance to tell him how much we liked his music. He lives in Tralee so we talked to him about Fenit and the surrounding area. KC has really gotten into that book on The Civil War in Kerry and Bana Strand apparently figured prominently in one incident so he was really looking forward to seeing it.

Michael came in at 9:30 and the music started.

Michael and John Brown at Might Session:



There weren’t many people in the pub, so it was a bit awkward, but they did play my two favorites – I’ll Tell Me Ma and Galway Girl. Towards the end of the night a couple came in from Tipperary who requested some songs from that area, which Michael knew. Then, miracle of miracles, he requested An Poch Ar Bouile, one of my favorites, and while John didn’t know it, the man did, and Michael was able to provide accompaniment!

I can’t believe I heard it live! When I asked him if he knew Baidin Fheilimi, he sang that, too. What a treat that was for me!

Not long afterwards, the session ended. We talked to John while he put the equipment away (Michael was talking to the guy who sang), and then we went over an introduced ourselves. They were from Tipperary, a part of the country we had not yet visited, but which is on our list for next year.

Their names were Carmel and Danny Morrissey, and we should ask for her at the Tourist Office when we come through. Won’t she be surprised when we do?

Danny and Carmel Morrissey with KC:



It was late now, almost midnight, and there was a storm brewing so we drove home and beat the rain by 10 minutes. KC had a headache AND an upset stomach – he had consumed waaaay too much beer tonight -- so he took some Advil for the headache and Gastro-D Complex, a Blood-Type-Diet supplement designed to protect your stomach health when you overindulge and fell asleep on the sofa. When he woke up an hour later, both symptoms were gone (score two for natural cures!), but he didn’t drink beer for the rest of the trip!

I updated the web page and then we both went up to bed. It was 2am.


To continue to the next page, please use the links below.
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Page 10: Thu – Fenit Pier and Bana Beach
Page 11: Fri – Inch Strand, Sammy’s Cafe, An Canteen, Music at John Benny’s.
Page 12: Sat – Dingle, Dinner at Michael & Dara’s, Music at Courthouse.
Page 13: Sun – Cottage, Global Village Restaurant, Dick Mack’s Pub.
Page 14: Mon – Dingle, An Canteen Restaurant, Pack and Return Home.
Page 01: Tue – Prep and Travel to Dublin.
Page 02: Wed – Drive from Dublin to Barbican Gatelodge in Antrim.
Page 03: Thu – Giant’s Causeway.
Page 04: Fri – Bushmills, Dunluce, Waterfall in Glenarm Forest.
Page 05: Sat – Drive from Antrim to Dingle, Murphy’s Pub.
Page 06: Sun – Dingle and Music at Courthouse
Page 07: Mon – Shopping in Dingle.
Page 08: Tue – Loch a'Dúin, Doyle’s Restaurant, Music at Courthouse.
Page 09: Wed – Cottage, An Canteen Restaurant, Michael & John at Mighty Session
Original, all-on-one-page version.


Press here for 2012 Dingle travelogue (a new window will open)
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Press here for 2009 Dingle travelogue (a new window will open)
Press here for 2008 Dingle travelogue (a new window will open)
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Last Revised: May 27, 2013
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