Islands of Ireland: The most difficult island to reach in this entire series... Illauneina

This small wooded island is in a Kerry lake that is almost sealed off by a ring of foreboding mountains

Illauneina in Cloonaghlin Lough in the heart of the Dunkerron Mountains, County Kerry. Picture: Dan MacCarthy

The concept of remoteness in Ireland is somewhat overstated. We have a small country and nowhere is that difficult to reach. Except, (there is always an 'except') where nature throws up such obstacles that crossing them makes the journey very difficult or precarious, or both.

Among the most difficult places to get to for this columnist was Frehill Island under Mweelrea, the highest peak of Connacht in County/ Mayo [link below]. However, that task was a mere traipse down to the shop in comparison to Illauneina in County Kerry.

The small wooded island lies to the east of Cloonaghlin (Loch Cluain Eachlainn) or Loch Oileán Uí Eadhna in the dark sandstone Dunkerron Mountains between Sneem on the south coast of the Iveragh Peninsula and Cahersiveen on the north, in County Kerry.

The lake is almost sealed off by a ring of foreboding mountains: An Bheann Mhór; Coomcallee; Coomnahorna; and Slievenashaska comprise this formidable fastness.

The lake is 110m above sea-level and it drains into the adjacent Lough Namona which flows into the Owengarriff River which itself joins the Cummeragh River which has flowed down from a higher and bigger lake in the mountains before the entire system drains into the huge Lough Currane at Waterville. The salmon and trout lake is 2km long by 1km wide and is reached by a long boreen running through the mountains from the west side and then a track to the water’s edge.

It is an anchorite’s paradise, and were the long-ago hermit type still with us this is where he would have been found, or not found, as the case may be. As we have seen many times, the appeal of islands for monks or hermits lay in their remoteness... a place where they felt they were closer to god by living an ascetic life. The Eina in question in Illauneina, is the fifth-century St Enda of the Aran Islands. There are many variations to his name including these two as well as Eanna, Endeus, and Eadhna.

Whether Eina actually set foot on this island is not known but it is a sobering thought to think he may have. Not many people can have visited this truly remote place though local knowledge relates it was once a place to gather firewood, so perhaps a few others have. There is no evidence of any type of hermitage or oratory and the island has not been surveyed by archaeologists. Though a small island, it is heavily wooded with native trees including oak, beech, hawthorn, and holly, and stands in stark contrast to the surrounding barren mountains. Beautiful but stark.

There is an accessible low-lying area on the west side of the island where the tree branches dip down to touch the water. There are numerous examples of epiphytes here — plants that grow on other plants — in this case, ferns growing on the luxuriant mosses on the sides of trees nourished by the veils of mist that sweep across the lake.

This miniature temperate rainforest is the type of place that farmer and sculptor Eoghan Daltun has been advocating for in his recent book. Eoghan has let nature take its course on his 30-acre farm on the Beara Peninsula and effectively returned it to what it looked like thousands of years ago. It’s just 30 acres but it’s a start in the attempt to increase our pathetic native forest cover of 1%, the lowest in the EU.

Suddenly a rustle, and a huge shadow moves across the dappled floor of the wood: A white-tailed sea eagle which had been perched on a high tree branch, lifts off at the sound of the intruder. It is immediately joined by a second and the two birds of prey proceed to circle overhead for 20 minutes.

Whether the ghost of St Enna still visits the island we know not.

Maybe it is best left undiscovered. For now, it is guarded by its two roving sentinels.

How to get there: Probably the most difficult island to reach in this entire series. Kayak from the lakeshore at the end of a boreen leading from the townland of Dromod (5km northeast of Waterville) to Cloonaghlin. Better to ask permission before entering farmland.

Other: An Irish Atlantic Rainforest: A Personal Journey Into the Magic of Rewilding, Eoghan Daltun, Hachette