Lookout at land’s end

YOU can’t get further west in Co Clare than Pilot Hill.

At the highest point near Loop Head, it was a favourite lookout for ships coming up the Shannon. Local fisherman and boat owners from Kilbaha rowed out to offer their services as freelance pilots to the vessels on their way to Limerick, long before marker buoys.

And, perhaps, on days of driving rain, they sheltered in one of three, pre-famine cottages which stood on the top of Pilot Hill.