The Islands of Ireland: Island of saints and eagles

There is something magical about embarking on a boat trip into the past where for part of your journey there is almost nothing modern in the scene before you apart from the bow of the boat, writes Dan MacCarthy.

Setting forth from Mountshannon pier in Co Clare to the historic monastic site of Holy Island on Lough Derg the view is no different to that encountered by St Colum in the sixth century.