Islands of Ireland: A bit of a hike before you can kayak to Mayo's Frehill Island

The landing at Frehill Island is inhospitable and there is no welcoming committee to congratulate you for your efforts in visiting.

Frehill Island off the coast of County Mayo has had many name changes over the last few centuries but its current name may come from the heather which grows there

It is an old chestnut that the journey to a destination turns out to be of more value than the destination. Not that there is anything amiss with Frehill Island, County Mayo — it is as charming a hunk of rock as any visited for this column — but the sheer effort in getting to it makes the place itself pale into insignificance compared with the quest.

Frehill Island may seem like it is the last island between Ireland and America but much further out lie the three comparatively enormous islands of Clare Island to the north, Inishturk to the northwest and Inishboffin to the west. To the south, lie Inishdegil More and in the distance at the mouth of Ireland’s only fjord in Killary Harbour, the island of Inishbarra.