Things to do
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Dún Aonghasa
A prehistoric stone fort of three concentric walls on a cliff edge eighty-seven metres above the Atlantic, defended on the landward side by a band of set stones planted to break a charge. The cliff has no barrier of any kind and visitors lie flat to look over it.
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Dún Dúchathair
The Black Fort, an older and larger promontory fort on the south coast with a single massive wall cutting off the headland, reached across a kilometre of open limestone with no path. Almost nobody goes and it is the more atmospheric of the two forts.
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Kilmurvey Beach
A sheltered white sand crescent below Dún Aonghasa with Blue Flag water and the island's only lifeguarded swimming. It is where the walk up to the fort begins, and the bay faces north, so it stays calm when the Atlantic side is unswimmable.
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Teampall Bheanáin
An eleventh-century oratory above Killeany, about three metres by two, and often called the smallest church in Europe, aligned north to south rather than east to west. It stands on a ridge with the whole eastern end of the island below it.
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The Seven Churches
A monastic settlement at Eoghanacht with two churches and several domestic buildings rather than seven, founded around Saint Brecan and a pilgrimage stop from the eighth century. Fragments of high crosses stand in the graveyard, and the site is open, unstaffed and a short walk off the road.
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Worm Hole
A rectangular tidal pool cut into the limestone below the cliffs at Gort na gCapall, so regular it looks quarried, and used for the Red Bull cliff diving series. The scramble down is unmarked, over bare rock, and dangerous in swell.
