Arcadia Ireland

What do you get when you have lots of exams coming up, a bus strike, and some of the heaviest rain Galway has seen in years? Four remaining students, a Scottish friend, a guide and an Arcadia staff member that still decide to climb the second highest mountain in Ireland- clever, eh?!

But what a day we had!

Our morning started early in a cold Galway where 6 of us clambered onto a bus with some breakfast in tow. There was some nervous chatter about the climb we had ahead and the potential of getting soaked by the oncoming rain, but not long into our drive the chat died down and everyone was out cold. The nap would prove very handy when we saw what was ahead of us.

We arrived to our beautiful location and looked up, and then up again, to see the summit that we were hoping to reach. It was hardly visible as a low (and very dark) cloud was sitting right on top of the mountain- I won’t lie, it was not the most inviting sight! We grabbed our very literal walking sticks (they were just that- sticks. None of that fancy climbing gear here!) and then met our lovely guide Conor and started the long trek up.

Croagh Patrick was originally a pilgrimage site and quite a few Irish Catholics still embark on the long journey upward to repent their sins. The very devout still do it in their bare feet. As Conor told us that 40,000-50,000 people climb to the peak every year, we couldn’t believe that almost 10,000 of those people do it on ‘Reek Sunday’ which is the always the last Sunday of July. It was difficult enough heading up and down with the few other people that decided to head out last week, we couldn’t imagine battling for footing with 10,000 others!  Reek Sunday is the traditional day of pilgrimage and a mass is said at the top of the mountain on this day. The mountain has now become a spot for tourists, mountain hikers and nature lovers along with the religious. There is a church at the top and Conor also informed us that there are about 2 weddings a year in the church that’s located at the summit. We unanimously agreed that we would have to politely decline invitations if we were invited to a wedding up there. Sweaty and red faced isn’t our best look!

As we climbed higher and higher we learned more about the traditions of the mountain and generally all just had a good laugh. With a few jelly baby sweets to keep us going, we arrived at the bottom of the final peak after about an hour. The final peak though is the real challenge. At a very steep angle, with no footpath and just an array of loose stones to try and grip, the ‘two steps forward, one step back’ mantra was ringing in our ears. We slipped and slid, we puffed and panted, we laughed and (almost) cried and then, we summited! It took almost another hour to do this short part of the journey but the sense of achievement was worth every minute.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t a particularly nice day on top of Croagh Patrick so we didn’t get to see the stunning views from the very top. We had a good laugh about being in a cloud though and we devoured our packed lunches as we sat outside the front door of the church. Some pictures, a bit of cloud rain, and some full tummies and we were ready to start our descent. You know those loose rocks I mentioned? Yeah, not so fun on the way down either! We took bets on how many times we would fall over and some of us lived up to our predictions. As we slowly made our way down hill, the sun broke through the clouds and we got some incredible views out over Mayo’s Clew Bay.

We spotted a few people heading up with no shoes on our way down and, knowing what lay ahead, we couldn’t imagine how it would be possible to make it up bare foot. We reached the bottom all in one piece and prayed to the mountain that our jelly legs wouldn’t be too sore the following day. We waved off Conor, returned our snazzy sticks and headed back to Galway. Once again, everyone fell straight asleep and we arrived back in no time. A challenge for sure, but Croagh Patrick certainly brings out craic and laughter. Have a look at Arcadia Ireland’s Facebook page to see some of the stunning views.