Islands of Ireland: Annagh Island - at low tide, people, cattle, and cars can get here

There were plans once for a causeway/embankment road between Annagh Island and the mainland but this building project never went ahead

The low-lying Annagh Island, east of Achill Island, County Mayo. Picture: Dan MacCarthy

Several Irish islands are involved in the great pilgrimages undertaken by such as Saint Patrick but few are connected to our great mythological literature. The Táin Bó Cúailnge relates the episodes of a war between Queen Medb of Connacht and the king of Ulster supported by the famous Cú Chulainn.

However, there was an earlier part of what is known as the Ulster cycle concerning some of the same characters. The Táin Bó Flidhais relates the tale of the eponymous Flidhais and her tribe the Gamhanraidh who carried out a daring raid against a rival tribe amid betrayals sexual and political. Part of the action of this epic, set around 50AD to 500AD, takes place at Annagh Island in County Mayo. One of the main characters, Engan, passed along the island in search of a rath and a rendezvous.