Islands of Ireland: Middle Calf’s room with a view

It is an odd name for an island as though nothing of its own character is sufficient to define it. Only by reference to its fellows, and vice versa, does it gain identity. Calf Middle (Lao Mheán), flanked by Calf West and Calf East, lies in Roaringwater Bay, West Cork, three of the glorious Carbery’s Hundred Isles of poetic fame.

The nearest of the three islands is about 8km from Baltimore and 5km to Schull with just a few hundred metres between the islands themselves. The three islands are low-lying unlike the comparatively mountainous Cape Clear Island about 3km west which is the last land between it and America and which had a big influence on the daily life of the three Calves.