Inishbofin

Inishbofin lies about eleven kilometres off the Connemara coast and has a resident population of roughly a hundred and seventy. Saint Colman founded a monastery here in 665 after leaving Lindisfarne over the dating of Easter, and the ruins of a later church stand on the site. At the harbour entrance are the remains of a star-shaped fort built in the Cromwellian period, when the island was used to hold Catholic clergy before deportation. Three colour-coded looped walks cover the island - cliffs on the western side, beaches and machair grassland elsewhere - and the machair supports corncrakes, a bird that has disappeared from most of Ireland and can still be heard here in early summer. There is a Cultural Heritage Museum, several pubs with regular traditional music, and a small number of places to stay. The ferry is exposed and cancels in swell.

What you actually see

• The star fort - Cromwellian, guarding the harbour entrance.
• The three loop walks - cliffs, beaches and machair grassland.
• The corncrakes - heard in the machair in early summer, rare elsewhere.
• The monastic site - founded by Colman after leaving Lindisfarne in 665.

When to go

May to September; corncrakes call from late May into July. Ferries run reduced schedules out of season and cancel in swell, so allow for being delayed.

Honest expectations

The crossing is exposed and cancellations happen - build slack into any plan. Accommodation is limited and books out. Facilities are seasonal. Cliff edges on the western loop are unfenced.

Nearby

Cleggan is the ferry port; Inishturk and Clare Island are north in Mayo waters.