The name on the tombstone said ‘O’Driscoll’. So did the next and the next. In fact, most of the tombstones in the small, overgrown churchyard went by that name. And so do many of the modern day inhabitants, as is the way in rural Ireland.

I’d come to Cape Clear Island for the simple reason that it wasn’t in my guidebook. I’d heard about it elsewhere, about the 25,000 migratory birds that pass by each summer and the Gaelic speaking population that call the island home.

Stone walls on Cape Clear island

Cape Clear, off the Cork coast, is as far south as you can go without leaving Ireland. Only Fastnet Rock Lighthouse, 4 miles away and still visible when I arrived in the clear summer dusk, is further south.

Between the mainland and Cape Clear are the two guardians of the island - the white tipped expanse of Roaring Water Bay and the narrow mouth of the harbour. As the ferry clears the waiting rocks, the world beyond the island slips from sight and mind.

The harbour at Cape Clear is its hub. That’s not to suggest it’s busy. It’s not. But much of the island’s traffic and commerce happens among the scattered buildings on and around the harbour. The harbour side road takes the first green hill at an alarming angle and winds past Cape Clear’s shops and accommodation.

Stay on the road and you’ll come to Cape Clear YHA. It’s a long, white building facing an inlet, a quiet sliver of water that picks up the light and moods of the changing day.

The YHA is bit of a walk from the harbour but then walking is the main form of transport on the island, for visitors at least. Residents get around in a noisier fashion, but at no greater pace, in bastardised versions of cars. There’s a garage by the harbour that keeps their motors turning with divine help from St Keiran, Cape Clear’s local saint. None of the cars are registered. About the same number are insured. But with no police on the island, it doesn’t seem all that important.

Roaringwater Bay, Cape Clear

Aside from the garage, there are a few grocery shops, pubs, a school, museum and gallery. Connecting the lot is a narrow hilly road that traverses most of the island’s length. En route, it passes one of the inhabitant’s more recent innovations - huge wind powered fans , spinning impressively, that rise above their surrounds like island gods.

I bought a mud map and heritage guide to the island and walked its length. The raised spine of the island provides remarkable views from Fastnet Rock to nearby Sherkin Island and the mainland. But to really see the island, it’s worth exploring some of the coastal vantage points. There is no track along the coast, but it’s often possible to turn down a few of the side roads until they peter out and simply follow the cliffs. Cape Clear and its pioneering bird observatory is famous for its sea-bird sightings. In season, kittiwakes, guillemots, puffins, razorbills, skuas, comorants, shearwaters and others are seen in their thousands.

The island’s farmland and fishing fleet supported 1,200 people more than 150 years ago. That number reduced to a hundred and is still declining, despite the efforts of the local development cooperative to reinvent its patchwork economy.  Evidence of Cape Clear’s history is still scattered randomly about the island, from standing stones in lonely fields to the ruins of churches and lighthouses.

I spend two days walking the island, something I would have thought impossible of a place only 2 ½ kilometres long. The days were remarkably clear and fine, and the breezes off the sea just cool enough to take the edge off the sun.

The island scenery changes dramatically. Sometimes I walked among undulating hills, spotted with squat white farmhouses, lonely bays and seas in the distance. At other times, the land would rise to high coastal cliffs, grey and sheer, with white water surging against their base. Every now and then, I’d find the cars that didn’t make it up the last hill, abandoned and sprouting flowers on cliffs set above drops of fifty metres or more.

The isolation adds to the romance, even as it whittles away the island’s population. Cape Clear has a natural beauty that so far has escaped the kitsch of more touristy spots. For a retreat from a retreat called Ireland, it’s hard to beat.