Islands of Ireland: Galway's Pine Island makes for a perfect picture — and mug or cushion
Pine Island, County Galway Picture: William Murphy https://www.instagram.com/williammurphy1984/
There may be a poem applicable to every island if you were prepared to search hard enough, but one obvious one presents itself in the case of this stunning Connemara island: Man’s Island
“No man is an island, Entire of itself, Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main”
The famous quote from John Donne, not a poem of course, but a prose work, is from , and written in 1624. The metaphysical poet could well have been writing about Man’s Island but, of course, his island was ideal rather than real.
Man’s Island is in County Galways's Derryclare Lough which is one of a chain of lakes east of Clifden that nearly surround the famous Twelve Ben mountains: Ballynahinch Lake to the west, Lough Inagh, and Kylemore Lough complete the near encirclement which, if global warming continues at its present pace, may well become a reality, leaving a giant mountain chain and a few towns and villages cut off from the rest of the country.
But is this island what it claims to be? At what point does something universally known in popular culture by one name deserve to have that name replace the name by which it is officially known: and there’s the rub (to quote another English poet).
The island may well be referred to as Man’s Island in the Ordnance Survey maps, but to the probably tens of thousands of amateur and professional photographers who have photographed it, it is known as Pine Island. But why stop at photography?
There are even coffee mugs for sale with pictures of the island. Throw blankets and cushions are decorated with its image.
Excursions stop opposite the island on the Clifden Road to allow visitors take its photo. On any given summer’s day (but it is also a very popular photography subject in autumnal and winter light) a regular flow of cars will pull in and disgorge their occupants for the purpose of taking photographs of it.
Other islands in the country have their fans too, of course. Inishtooskert, or An Fear Marbh, one of the six Blasket islands in County Kerry, the reposing form of which is said to resemble a sleeping or dead man, is constantly being photographed. That is a dramatic locale which can throw up astonishing sunsets and towering waves to excite any lens.
So what is the attraction of Pine Island, to use its more popular name?
Its appeal may lie in the symmetry of its shape which shows each side to be practically a mirror image of the other. It further appeals in that it is foregrounded by the placid lake waters but also has a stunning background of the rugged Twelve Bens.
This magnificent mountain range is a jewel of Connemara and several of its peaks rise up behind Pine Island as if to stake their claim in the beauty stakes: Benbreen; Benlettery; Bengower and Ben Derryclare draw in and capture the imagination like few others. So there you have it: subject, foreground and background — essential elements for landscape photography.
There are a lot of other islands on Derryclare Lough but none have the appeal of Pine Island. Far Island, Straw Island and Crow Island, to name but three, are defined by their similarity rather than their difference.
It is even possible to walk to Pine island which lies about 200m from the lakeshore thanks to the construction of a narrow causeway. While the native Irish tree scot’s pine dominates the island, there are several other species including mountain ash and rhododendron.
There is no doubt that Pine Island is a magnificent spot but there are other Irish islands that are far more attractive. These matters are subjective of course, and perhaps the answer to what is beautiful lies in John Donne’s fellow Englishman John Keats’s poem ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’
: Drive the N59 for 60km west of Galway or 3km west of Joyce’s Craftshop. Don’t forget your camera!
: Visitgalway.ie; Fairbairn, Helen (2014). . Collins Press.
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