Skellig Michael Hermitage, Co. Kerry

Your fingers fit into the same grooves the monks carved a thousand years ago. That's what stays with me about the Hermitage on Skellig Michael's South Peak. Not the vertigo, not the absence of anything resembling a safety rail. The physical fact of those handholds, worn smooth by centuries of use, connecting your hands to theirs.

This image was taken from the Irish Lights helicopter, which is the only way to see the Hermitage in its full context. From the air, you grasp how it clings to that narrow ledge, the remains of its stone walls still holding after a millennium. Below, the layered rock face drops away, split by deep vertical fissures. The monks' walls sit on top of all that geology almost like a natural extension of it, as if the limestone simply decided to organise itself into rooms.

I've been fortunate enough to visit in person too, and the climb is genuinely harrowing. No rope, no railing, nothing between you and a very long drop into the Atlantic. But from the helicopter, in bright even sunshine, every layer of stratification reads clearly. The texture at that scale is remarkable.

Someone chose to live up there. Voluntarily. 700 feet above the sea, in prayer and isolation. I don't think I'll ever fully understand it, and that's precisely why I keep coming back!

If you'd like to understand more about the monks and their extraordinary life on this rock, I've put together a guide to Skellig Michael with a piece on the island's history and tips for photographing it.