Islands of Ireland: On my deserted island... please don't send help

Young's Island in Lough Derg, County Clare has remains of campfires — and is a neighbour of Holy Island which has a round tower and the ruins of six churches

Young's Island, Lough Derg, County Clare. Picture: Dan MacCarthy

Inside some people lurks a desire to escape from it all, to pack that rucksack and head off across the desert or into the mountains or find refuge on a remote island. Perhaps the greatest adventurer and dreamer of them all was the fictitious Huck Finn, the protagonist in the exquisite Huckleberry Finn novel by Mark Twain.

Our coastal islands are largely unwooded and therefore less intriguing perhaps than their lacustrine or riverine counterparts. Wooded islands can give the feeling that there may be someone dwelling within, or some hidden camp, maybe an old cabin of some sort with an anchorite tending their garden.