Skellig Michael

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Also known as the Great Skellig, this is not so much an Island as an outcrop of rock, rising over 700ft above sea level, about 9 miles14.4km from the coast of Co. kerry, and with an early Christian Monastery perched on a ledge close to the top.
Its international importance is recognised and it is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site.
For over 600 years this remote and unlikely spot was an important centre of monastic life. A small cluster of six beehive huts and two boat shaped oratories remain, stark and silent now but an eloquent testimony to the austere life led by the monks whose home Skellig Michael once was.

The Puffins are one of the most numerous breeding sea birds and most popular with many visitors on Skellig Michael. In the early part of the Summer Months, Puffins can be seen in Large numbers all around the Islands. Many people come to Skelligs specially to See these little birds as they go about their annual breeding cycle. And believe me it is well worth the visit to see these birds in the flesh.

The distinctive beehive huts in which the monks lived are remarkable, not just because they are still standing and intact centuries later, but because of how they were constructed.

There is no mortar, they are entirely made of dry stones. While circular outside, the inside is rectangular, with a corbeled roof and shelves for storage built into the structure as well as larger platforms for sleeping on.

A wonderful day was spent on Skellig with some great company. Thanks to Michael Herrmann for organising this trip and to our dear Richard for the history of the Island. An experience never to be forgotten.

“… the most fantastic and impossible rock in the world … the thing does not belong to any world that you and I have lived and worked in; it is part of our dream world.“

These are the words of George Bernard Shaw on Skellig Michael and it is difficult to disagree