Dursey Island is a special place because of its remoteness

Last week, en route to La Gomera in the Canary Islands, I decide to stop off in Tenerife and take the 1.2km cable car ride to the top of Mount Teide, 3,660m above sea level. Cable cars are invariably an exciting way to travel.

My first ever cable car journey was in or around 1981 to Dursey Island in West Cork. A sheep was getting off the car as I was getting on. The animal wasn’t well and was being brought to the mainland by its owner, presumably to see a vet and to recuperate on the richer pastures of the mainland.