Overshadowed by its giant neighbours it may be, but the smallest of the main Blasket islands, Beginish, is no less impressive in its own right.

Sitting high on the cliffs of eastern Inishvickillane the view eastwards to the other Blaskets is simply extraordinary, writes Dan MacCarthy.

We love to anthropomorphise the landscape — that is, to give human definition to an inanimate object.

It is a place of worship, but not in the traditional sense. The towering cliffs of Inishnabro are known as the cathedral rocks as they resemble a magnificent church. Some, but not many, have come to kneel at their altar, writes Dan MacCarthy.

FOR much longer than millennia, islands have been a source of intrigue, writes Dan MacCarthy. Someone gazes out from the mainland wondering: “What is out there?”