Watch: The Islands of Ireland: Sailing to Innisfallen

Give the oars a quick rattle in the oarlocks and settle onto the wooden seat before you undertake the 45-minute row from Ross Castle, Killarney, Co Kerry, to a stronghold of early Irish monasticism. Alighting here feels like you are stepping into the tenth century.

Innisfallen is an extraordinarily peaceful place and the row is but a precursor to an incredible calm. When the Irish Examiner visited, a herd of deer had swum across to the island from Tomies Wood and frolicked in the meadow by the Romanesque oratory.