Climbing Croagh Patrick - major rocks
Looking out over Atlantic Ocean - Peak of Croagh Patrick
Church at Peak of Croagh Patrick
Half-way Down - Feeling Great
Statue of St. Patrick with Croagh Patrick in backgroundSaturday, March 27th
The weekend began on Friday night in Castlebar, Ireland where I met up with my buddy's sister and husband at a dart tournament at a local pub. It was great to see everyone again and the tourney was pretty interesting. I'm a fan of all sports. This was the county championship. It was great to see the competition and partake in some nice conversation.
I spent the night at their house and awoke early Saturday to climb a moutain - Croagh Patrick. This is Ireland's Holy Mountain. The mountain is 2,510ft high and is a place of pilgrimage. St. Patrick is said to have spent 40 days and 40 nights on its summit, fasting, praying, and doing penance during lent of 441AD. There is an annual pilgrimage on the mountain that takes place on the last Sunday of July - known as "Reek Sunday". Croagh Patrick is one of the world's best known sites of Christian pilgrimage and identifies with all Christian faiths.
This mountain climb was no small challenge. It took me about 2-1/2 hours total for ascent/descent. 1:15 to the peak - my buddy has a 58 minute PR - I wasn't challenging that today. The fact that is truly amazing is -- many people climb this mountain bear-foot during the pilgrimage in July. As hard as I try, I cannot see how that is even possible. The scenery was absolutely spectacular. It's one of the unknown treasures in western Ireland.
After coming off the mountain, I took a bus into the town of Westport, Ireland. I walked around a bit and had a pint of Guinness at Matt Maloy's Pub. This is a famous pub - the owner being a band member of the group - The Chieftans. My buddy's sister picked me up and we headed back to get cleaned up before going to my his parent's place for the evening.
When we first arrived, we went to Saturday night mass. It's a small catholic community and reminded me alot of Bloomsdale, Mo - the town I grew up in. The town was amazingly polite and friendly. After mass, I met most of all my buddy's relatives. We went back for an unbelievably good dinner and conversation.
It was a fantastic day all around.
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