The 50 best summer days out

3. Take the Tarka Trail, Devon
North Devon’s Tarka Trail is Britain’s longest traffic-free cycle route, but at 180 miles, there’s too much here for one day. The answer is to pick the best bit, which, for our money, is the 14-mile stretch along the Taw and Torridge rivers between Barnstaple and Torrington, taking in the pretty harbour town of Bideford (for details, visit www.devon.gov.uk/tarkatrail). Otters and kingfishers are possible sights, while herons, redshanks and curlews are dead certs, as is a pint in the Puffing Billy pub in Torrington. Allow six hours for the 28-mile round trip — bike rental costs £10.50/£7.50 from Tarka Trail Cycle Hire (01271 324202, www.tarkabikes.co.uk).

4, CSI: Lynmouth, Exmoor
It looks like a normal beach to you, but it’s a jungle out there, especially in those rock pools, where the body count makes Baltimore look like Eastbourne. Join rangers from Exmoor National Park (01398 322290, www.activeexmoor.com) every summer Monday from July 26 for a series of free seaside safaris, with the emphasis on finding out who’s eating whom, and who’s hiding from whom, in the tidal pools along Lynmouth beach.

5. To the end of the Rainbow, Somerset
Any fool knows that you can’t reach the end of a rainbow. (Try it if you don’t believe us.) You can, however, reach Rainbow’s End as the climax of a delightful four-mile stroll through some staggeringly beautiful countryside. Starting in Claverton, just south of Bath, take the leafy towpath of the Kennet and Avon Canal to Dundas Wharf. Then turn right, climb Brassknocker Hill and follow the path to Rainbow Wood, named after its shape. Pick an end and start digging — for more details, visit www.monktoncombe.com/rambles/rainbow/rainbow.htm.

6. Time Travel, Dorset
Once upon a time, just down the lane from Lulworth Cove, there was a perfect little English village called Tyneham. It had a church, a school, a post office, cottages with rose gardens and a manor house. It had no electricity, and water came from the well, but the villagers, who had lived there for generations, saw no reason to move. Eisenhower, however, had other plans, so, just before Christmas 1943, the population was moved out to allow allied troops to use the area for D-day training. They said the move was only temporary, but, 67 years later, Tyneham is still eerily deserted. Visits are by voluntary donation; for summer opening times, go to www.tyneham.org.uk.

7. Spot the Red Squirrel, Dorset
If you’ve never seen a red squirrel, head to Brownsea Island, an offshore wildlife haven in Poole Harbour, where sightings of the rare and tufted beasts are all but guaranteed. There are more than 200 of them living in the island’s broadleaf woodland, and while they’re happy to get all the publicity, other species living there include kingfishers, avocets and the delightfully named black-tailed godwits. The National Trust has a summer of Brownsea activity days planned — call 01202 707744 or visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk for details.

8. Walk to the Source, Gloucestershire
Ever glanced at the Thames and wondered where the mighty river comes from? Stop wondering, awaken your inner explorer and find out by hiking the last 12 miles of the 180-mile Thames Path to the source, deep in the green glory of Gloucestershire. The trail begins at Cricklade and ambles upstream through the gorgeous villages of Ashton Keynes, Somerford Keynes, Ewen and Kemble. At last, you’ll cross a dilapidated wooden bridge and enter a field, in the middle of which you’ll find... but that would be telling. The official website is www.nationaltrail.co.uk/thamespath, but we prefer www.thames-path.org.uk.

9. Buckler’s Hard, Hampshire
The exquisitely pretty New Forest village of Beaulieu is to tourists what a jam jar is to wasps, but you can avoid the trap by taking a delightful hike through the forest to the Georgian boatyard of Buckler’s Hard (01590 616203, bucklershard.co.uk), four miles down the Beaulieu River. It was here that the colossal 78-gun battleships that painted two-thirds of the world pink were built, using oak felled from the forest. These days, it’s a pretty riverside location with a maritime museum, boat trips, riverside walks and a fabulous all-day barbecue at the newly restored Master Builder’s House hotel (0844 815 3399, www.themasterbuilders.co.uk).

There are plenty of activities for all the members of the family, including canines (Susannah Ireland)

London/Southeast

10. Soar over the Downs, East Sussex
Imagine skiing before the invention of the ski lift. A day on the slopes was 99% uphill and 1% downhill, and so it is with paragliding. The fact that you have to haul your rig back to the top of the hill after every flight is a marvellous incentive to maximise your flying time, but first you have to learn how to take off. And land. Airworks (01273 858108, www.airworks.co.uk), based at Glynde, has a summer-long sale, with a day’s introduction — which sees most students flying solo by the end of the course — for £130.

11. Chilling on the river, Berkshire
Here’s the plan: prepare a gourmet picnic, chill a bottle of something decent, then take a Little Lady day boat from Kris Cruisers (01753 543930, www.kriscruisers.co.uk), in Datchet, up the Thames to Cliveden Reach. Occupy one of the islands and indulge in a summer feast before steaming back to base. Day prices range from £103 for a six-seater vessel to £359 for a 12-seater. Any questions?

12. The Bloody Tower, London
The crown jewels receive all the publicity, but the gold, silver, diamonds and emeralds on display in the Jewel House are but a small part of the riches on offer at the Tower of London (0844 482 7777, www.hrp.org.uk; family ticket £44). The secret, as ever, is to arrive early (it opens at 9am, or 10am on Sunday and Monday) and join one of the free tours led by the hugely entertaining yeoman warders, whose job is to inform, entertain and scare the living daylights out of you. Then catch Fit for a King, an exhibition of royal armour, and afterwards, if you must, go and see the bling.

13. Down in the Dungeon, London
It’s rare that an attraction selling itself on its scariness is actually scary, but the London Dungeon (www.the-dungeons.co.uk), which mixes history and horror in a seemingly subterranean maze off Tooley Street, near London Bridge, is just that. The London Eye, on the other hand — the capital’s silent revolution — is merely sublime, but the secret of a stress-free day is to purchase your tickets in advance and avoid the period between 11am and 3pm. A family ticket covering both attractions costs £106.80 — start at the Dungeon, then visit the superb Museum of London (020 7001 9844, www.museumoflondon.org.uk; free), which has a full programme of summer activities, before riding the London Eye late in the afternoon.

14 How the other half live, London
During August and September, Buckingham Palace (020 7766 7300, www.royalcollection.org.uk) is opened, so hoi polloi can see what their taxes have bought. The inventory includes an awful lot of antiques, as well as art treasures by the likes of Canaletto, Poussin, Rembrandt and Rubens. How much you see is up to you: a ticket for the 19 state rooms costs £17, while a pass for a right royal day out, including access to the Royal Mews and the Queen’s Gallery, is £30.50. As for the garden party, the cake’s a bit dry, so you might be better off popping next door to the Goring (020 7396 9000, www.thegoring.com), which is hosting its own, complete with croquet, every Thursday from July 22 until August 26. The price is £45, including a glass of champagne, Fortnum & Mason teas and, if required, a croquet lesson.

15. Keeper for a day, London
Love animals? Want to get closer than the average tourist, but don’t want to give up your career for a poorly paid job at the zoo? Then Keeper for a Day is for you — the opportunity to put on overalls and wellies, then muck in with the feeding, grooming and welfare of the inmates at London Zoo and Whipsnade (www.zsl.org). What makes the day special is the unfettered access to staff-only areas — feeding a giraffe by hand, and your visit to the breeding room at the insect house, will stay with you for ever. The adult experience costs £270; for junior keepers (11- to 15-year-olds), the price is £150.

16. Bin the bangers, Hertfordshire
Enrol instead on a barbecue masterclass at The Grove (01923 807807, www.thegrove.co.uk), near Watford, where you’ll learn how to prepare and cook masterpieces such as whole sides of salmon, treacle and tea-smoked; boned leg of lamb stuffed with pastrami; stout-brined rack of pork; and bread straight from the barbecue oven — before finishing off with pineapple and sesame kebabs flambéed with rum. The courses run from 11am every Sunday until August 15 — the price is £60.

17. Natural history, Buckinghamshire
Fans of Mary Norton’s epic The Borrowers will recall that the titular little people eventually found sanctuary in a model village run by a kindly old eccentric. That model village was thought to have been based on the magnificent Bekonscot (01494 672919, www.bekonscot.co.uk; family ticket £25), a Lilliputian labour of love in Beaconsfield. There’s another delight just down the road — the Natural History Museum’s outpost in Tring, which houses the finest collection of stuffed animals in the UK, including extinct species such as the auk, the quagga and the thylacine (www.nhm.ac.uk/tring; free).

East

18. Summerwatch, Norfolk
If the irreverent expertise of the naturalist Chris Packham kept you glued to the sofa during this year’s BBC Springwatch, you’ll already know the delights of the RSPB reserve at Pensthorpe (01328 851465, www.pensthorpe.com), near Fakenham. Aimed squarely at the armchair naturalist — amazingly, it doesn’t open until 10am — it nevertheless has all the facilities, from binocular hire to bird-spotting booklets and wildlife-spotting trails, to turn your children into poo-sniffing mini Packhams. A family ticket costs £25.

19. Love shack, Norfolk
You know those candy-coloured beach huts at the foot of the dunes on Wells-next-the-Sea’s vast, sandy beach? Of course you do — they’re the ones occupied by smug-looking beach-goers who always seem to be having slightly more fun than anyone else. Now you can have one too: the Pinewoods camp site (01328 710439, www.pinewoods.co.uk), just behind the beach, has a number for rent from £18 a day. A real bargain.

20. Treasure trails, Norfolk
The brief is this: a flask of extremely powerful sleeping gas has been unearthed during construction work in Bircham. Unless the deactivation code is found, the toxin will be released, plunging the whole of Norfolk into a deep sleep. (Will anyone notice?) Your mission is to use your bike to find the clues and save the county. It’s terrific fun, and just one of hundreds of similarly offbeat adventures — on foot, by bike, in the car and even by boat — offered around the country by Treasure Trails (01872 263692, treasuretrails.co.uk). You pick your county, pick an adventure, pay a fiver and download the mission brief. Then, when you’ve completed the trail, you email the code word back to the company for the chance of winning up to a grand.

Catch some equestrian action at the horse trials at Blenheim Palace (Hugh Routledge)

21. Catch crabs, Suffolk
The 30th annual British Crabbing Championships take place in the seaside village of Walberswick on August 1. The rules are pretty straightforward: using one line and the bait of their choice, entrants of any age have 90 minutes in which to catch crabs. The catcher of the single heaviest specimen wins £50 and one of the world’s ultimate sporting accolades. For more details, visit walberswick.ws.

22. Punting, Cambridge
Gliding along the River Cam is too sophisticated for children, in our opinion, so if you have any, fob them off on the grandparents for the day. The laws of punting are as follows: thou shalt not punt downstream unless thou art a tourist; thou shalt not set off without a gourmet picnic from Fitzbillies (01223 352500, www.fitzbillies.co.uk); thou shalt let go of the pole when it gets stuck in the mud; and thou shalt not attempt to climb over the Sheep’s Green footbridge and jump back in as thine punt passes beneath to impress thine wife or girlfriend. It rarely worketh. A day’s punt hire costs £90 with Scudamore’s (01223 359750, www.scudamores.com).

23. Canoeing on the broads, Norfolk
The best way to explore the labyrinthine waterways of the Norfolk Broads is by canoe, paddling like Native Americans through narrow backwaters, unseen by the cabin-cruiser crowd. Deep in the channels, you may spot “kingfishers, bitterns and even the elusive otter”, says Mark Wilkinson, aka The Canoe Man, who is running safaris all summer long. Prices start at £22.50/£15 — to book, call 01603 499177 or visit www.thecanoeman.co.uk.

24. Go gliding, Norfolk
Take any sunny summer day and the skies above Norfolk will be full of gliders, circling in search of thermals rising from the wheat fields below. If you fancy taking the controls, the Norfolk Gliding Club (01379 677207, www.norfolkglidingclub.com) offers introductory flights for just £90. The price includes pre-flight briefings, two winch launches or one aerotow launch, and 100 days’ membership of the club — useful in case of sudden addiction.

Midlands

25. War stories, Northamptonshire
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune combine with the clash of steel and the crackle of gunfire as more than 1,000 re-enactors (ie, people who play soldiers at the weekend) present two days of battle, ranging from Romans v Picts to the Marines against the Viet Cong, in the grounds of Kelmarsh Hall, near Market Harborough. A family ticket costs £46.50 — for more details, visit www.english-heritage.org.uk.

26. Poop poop, Northamptonshire
Choose between a Ferrari 360 Modeno, a Lamborghini Gallardo and, er, a supercharged Renault Clio for a full-speed blast around the Silverstone racetrack. The day starts with a circuit and technique briefing, followed by practice laps behind a pace car or with an instructor; then you’re left to drive your chosen hot rod to its limits. The time to beat is 1 minute 18 seconds, set by Michael Schumacher in 2004, and prices start at £49; visit www.silverstone.co.uk/experiences.

27. Warwick Castle, Warwickshire
If you like your history Disneyfied, with beautiful princesses, handsome knights and white horses, you’ll love Warwick Castle (www.warwick-castle.co.uk), owned by the people who run Alton Towers. Pretty much everything you’ve seen on the BBC’s execrable Merlin is on show, from jousting and jesters to dressing up and trebuchets, and, this summer, there’s the new Castle Dungeon experience, which may contain rats. Family tickets cost £47 when booked online.

28. Peak Rail, Derbyshire
There are those who say the Midland Railway route across the Peak District was once the most scenic railway in Britain, with stupendous views, long tunnels and a couple of magnificent viaducts, at Millers Dale and Monsal Dale. These days, only four miles of line remain open, following the River Derwent from Rowsley South to Darley Dale and Matlock, operated by Peak Rail (01629 580381, www.peakrail.co.uk). If the steam evokes insufficient nostalgia, go on August 7 and 8, when you’ll find the line transported back to the 1940s, with a battle between our brave boys and Nazi stormtroopers as the climax. Family return fares cost £19.50.

29. Black Country Museum, West Midlands
If anyone in your household is studying the Victorians or England’s industrial heritage, take them to the Black Country Living Museum (0121 520 8054, www.bclm.co.uk) in Dudley. It sounds dreary, but such is the warmth and humour of the costumed curators in this relocated engine of empire, I defy you not to be utterly enchanted — and I bet you don’t see it all in one day. Family tickets cost £35 when booked online.

30. Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire
There are Battle Proms, horse trials, jousting and vintage car rallies coming up at Blenheim Palace (0800 849 6500; www.blenheimpalace.com) this summer, but the fabulous baroque pile, just outside Oxford, offers a good day out almost any time. If you’re old and boring, there are lovely interiors to explore; if you’re young and easily bored, it has a maze, an adventure playground, a secret garden and 2,100 acres of landscaped parkland, formal gardens and pleasure gardens to run yourself ragged in. Family tickets cost £48.

Arrive early to the Tower of London for free tours (Lynne Ferguson)

31. Monkey world, Staffordshire
We’re not entirely convinced of the wisdom of allowing 140 barbary macaques — the same primate delinquents one finds loitering on Gibraltar — to roam free in 60 acres of Staffordshire woodland. Before you know it, they’ll be on the council list, signing on and getting their kleptomania treated on the NHS. In the meantime, however, they’re biding their time, and you can spend the day in their hugely entertaining company at Trentham Monkey Forest (01782 659845, www.trentham-monkey-forest.com). Entrance costs £6.50/£4.50.

32. Geocaching, Worcestershire
Geo-what? It’s the 21st-century version of the treasure hunt, grandad. Using a handheld GPS, you search for hidden containers — known as geocaches — by navigating to specific grid co-ordinates. You can have a go at Clent Hills country park on various dates throughout the summer (for details, visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk), trekking over heath and hill and through deep forest in search of goodies. The price is £5, including GPS hire.

Wales

33. Build a den, Clwyd
When was the last time you built a really good den? I built a cracker last summer, with a raised floor to keep the rats out, a pitched roof, sleeping space for four, the aesthetic qualities of a Shinto temple and the stability of a Haitian apartment block. If you can do better, head to Chirk Castle (01691 777701, www.nationaltrust.org.uk), near Wrexham, where, from July 27 to August 29, staff will provide you with everything you need to build the perfect den. Family tickets cost £17.

34. Tall tales, South Glamorgan
Head to St Donat’s Castle on the South Wales coast, halfway between Barry and Porthcawl, in the first weekend of July, for the Beyond the Border International Storytelling Festival (01446 799100, www.beyondtheborder.com). This year, the themes include travel, with performers from Egypt, Iraq and West Africa, as well as stories from the Celtic diaspora and the intriguing account of Arthur Ransome’s epic flight across Bolshevik Russia. Day tickets are £40/£20.

35. Wet and wild, Brecon Beacons
According to the Welsh extreme-sports outfit Call of the Wild (01639 700388, www.callofthewild.co.uk), its canyoning adventure — which involves the descent of a Brecon Beacons mountain via the steepest, most dramatic watercourse, clad in a wetsuit, a helmet and a lifejacket — “is whitewater rafting without the raft”. Expect to be sliding over shallow rapids, swimming down the deeper ones, floating down fast-flowing chutes and jumping off 20ft waterfalls. Unsurprisingly, it’s adults only, and prices start at £55.

36. Wetter and wilder, Pembrokeshire
If 20ft waterfalls aren’t high enough, try leaping from twice that height into the ocean on a Coastal Explorer day, offered by the St David’s-based adventure specialist TYF (01437 721611, www.tyf.com). The cliff-jumping is leavened with more serene moments as you paddle around the Pembrokeshire coast aboard a sea kayak, pausing to snorkel, cast a line for your supper or loaf on beaches inaccessible to landlubbers. The price is £100/£75.

North

37. Art house, Northumberland
Let English Heritage mess with your head at Belsay Hall and Gardens in Northumberland, where a summer-long art installation will challenge your sense of perspective. “The minuscule is made massive and huge surroundings hide surprises,” says the blurb, “taking visitors of all ages into an Alice-in-Wonderland world of dark enchantment.” Tickets cost £8/£4; visit www.english-heritage.org.uk.

38. Uranus and beyond, York
Ideas of suspicious provenance, number 402: “Let’s, like, build a model of the solar system on a disused railway track at a scale of exactly 575,872,239 to 1, so that every 100 metres along the track corresponds to 57m kilometres in space. Man.” Amazingly, whoever thought it up remembered it the next morning, and you can now hike or bike the solar system, complete with scale models of the planets, along a six-mile stretch of the former East Coast main line — for details, visit www.solar.york.ac.uk.

39. Maize maze, South Yorkshire
At the time of going to press, the maize crop at Jowett House Farm in Cawthorne was just 8in high, but farmer Jim Williams says that not only will it grow, but the maze will open on July 17, although he’s not giving much away about this year’s theme. Last year’s Scruffy the Scarecrow design was thought to be too hard by some, but as Farmer Jim says: “You could be there until the cows come home.” Prices are £4.95/£3.95, or £17 for a family of four; for opening times, visit www.maizemaze.co.uk.

40. Picnic at High Force, Co Durham
High Force in Teesdale is both the highest and most appropriately named waterfall in England. It thunders over the Whin Sill volcanic rock to plunge 70ft to the pool below, in a mesmerising display of raw power. Getting to it involves either a short walk from the High Force Hotel (entrance fee £1.50/free) or a seven-mile circular hike along the most picturesque part of the Pennine Way — for maps and details, go to www.visitnortheastengland.com.

Take a child-free punt along the river Cam, ice creams obilgatory (Chris Harris)

41. Three Peaks, North Yorkshire
Some of you probably think that taking on the Yorkshire peaks of Whernside, Ingleborough and Pen-y-ghent in one day is a great idea — an opinion that will probably change when you’re halfway up Ingleborough in the pouring rain and you’ve still got the Pen to go. It’s all Wainwright’s fault — his 1970 guidebook Walks in Limestone Country kick-started the trend of doing the three peaks in a day — but if you complete the 25-mile course in less than 12 hours, you’ll be instantly inaugurated into the venerable Three Peaks of Yorkshire Club. Visit www.yorkshiredales.org.uk for more details; you’ll need OS Explorer map OL2 (£6 from www.amazon.co.uk).

42. ...Or fly it, North Yorkshire
Fly over the peaks instead, perched in the creaking wicker basket of a hot-air balloon, with Airborne Adventures (01756 730166, www.airborne.co.uk). Taking off from a site near the Ribblehead viaduct, you’ll have an hour to gasp at the scenery and feel superior to the Gore-Tex-clad hikers below. The price is £700 for two — which, if you think about it, is pretty close to what you could spend on posh hiking gear.

43. Strangest place, North Yorkshire
Deep in the Yorkshire Dales you’ll find The Forbidden Corner (01969 640638, www.theforbiddencorner.co.uk), an extraordinary labyrinth of tunnels, chambers, follies and surprises, created in a four-acre secret garden hidden in Tipton Park. Created over the past 25 years by the architect Malcolm Tempest, the site, which last year beat off the likes of Brighton Pier and Alton Towers to be voted Little Chef’s best family day out, features a temple of the underworld, a huge pyramid made of translucent glass, paths and passages that lead nowhere, and some extraordinary and disconcerting statuary. A family ticket costs £34.

Scotland

44. Islands cruise, Loch Lomond
Nobody is entirely sure how many islands dot the glassy surface of this lake. In AD800, the writer Nennius counted 60, while these days the closest estimate you’ll get is “30 or more, depending on the water level”. If you’re up for a comprehensive survey, or perhaps just an afternoon loafing on a deserted island beach, you’ll need a boat. The Macfarlanes of Balmaha (01360 870214, www.balmahaboatyard.co.uk) have been renting boats for 150 years, and they’ll hire you a traditional clinker with an outboard for £50 a day.

45. Dolphin country, Highlands
Get up while it’s still dark to arrive at Culloden battlefield at dawn. The visitor centre won’t be open, so it will just be you and the ghosts of slaughtered Jacobites wandering knee-deep through the mist. Get out before the tourists arrive and make for Cawdor Castle (www.cawdorcastle.com; family ticket £26), the legendary — but, sadly, impossible — home of Macbeth, then head to Nairn for a chance of spotting the Moray Firth’s bottlenose dolphins aboard a charter with skipper Eric Wardlaw (01667 456078, www.phoenix-boat-trips.co.uk; £18/£12).

46. Strike gold, Lanarkshire
Scotland’s highest village sits atop the country’s richest gold deposits, so head for Wanlockhead’s Museum of Lead Mining (01659 74387 www.leadminingmuseum.co.uk) for the chance to get rich, I tell ya, rich beyond your wildest dreams. The museum runs full-day panning sessions, with instruction, equipment and a packed lunch. The price is £65, and you can keep whatever you find.

47. Beach gallop, Argyll
Depending on the tides, you will leave Brenfield Farm (01546 603274, www.argylltrailriding.co.uk) in the morning or early afternoon, hacking over the hills above Ardrishaig and down to the beach at Lochgilphead. Then you hit the afterburner for a high-speed gallop along the sands — and, if the tide is right, it gets even better. Entering the water at a canter, you’ll decelerate as the water rises, until your steed is swimming beneath you and heading for the Ardrishaig shoreline. It’s for experienced riders only, and the price is £125. Check the website for dates.

Ireland

48. Get The family fit, Northern Ireland
If you could persuade your family to become cycling enthusiasts, not only would you become lean and fit, you’d also save a packet on days out. Obviously, they won’t listen to a word you tell them, but maybe, just maybe, they’ll listen to a suitably Lycra-clad instructor — so book a family instruction day with Ciara MacManus of Summit Mountain Biking (077 8613 6324, www.summitmountainbiking.com). The four-hour session takes in either the coast or a forest route and teaches all the necessary skills. The price is £120 for a family.

49. Bog jumping, Co Meath
Here’s a fun activity for all the family: dress up in your oldest clothes, then go jump in a bog. Your options thereafter include writhing, swimming and hurling quality Irish mud at awestruck bystanders. This is just one of the activities on offer at Causey Farm (00 353 46 9434135, www.causey.ie), near Navan. Family fun days take place from 2pm every Tuesday and Friday in July and August, and include a treasure hunt, a bhodran workshop, a sheepdog demonstration (we’re not sure why they’re demonstrating), milking the cows and that bog. A family ticket costs £41.

50. Skellig Michael, Co Kerry
Eight miles off the Kerry coast lie the awe-inspiring Skellig Islands, a pair of towering granite outcrops surrounded by the wild Atlantic. The islands are home to thousands of sea birds — gannets, razorbills, puffins and storm petrels — but the main attraction is the mysterious, superbly preserved ruin of a 6th-century monastery on the 714ft summit of Skellig Michael. Getting to the top is not for the faint-hearted — the ancient stone steps are steep and slippery, and there’s no safety rope — but those who have made it describe the experience as “the best day out in Ireland”. Return crossings cost £37 with Casey’s Boat Trips (00 353 66 9472437, www.skelligislands.com).