Arcadia Ireland

Arcadia students have ambition, passion, and dedication. We noticed this from the first meetings with them during orientation back in January. Students attending NUI Galway had an opportunity to demonstrate their youthful energy and curiosity in joining me on one of Ireland’s quintessential adventures: the Croagh Patrick Pilgrimage.

Croagh Patrick, aka the ‘Reek’, rises 2,507 feet above Clew Bay on the Western coast of County Mayo. Pilgrims have been ascending this modest precipice since 3,000 B.C., when pagan peoples climbed to welcome the summer solstice. Nowadays “Patrick’s Stack” is celebrated throughout the Christian world for the time Ireland’s patron saint fasted forty days and forty nights atop its summit in the fifth century A.D. The trek usually takes 3.5 hours to achieve and some 2,500 pilgrims annually flock to the mountain on the last Sunday of July, called ‘Reek Sunday’, to remember St. Patrick’s life. While the most diehard pilgrims make the climb barefoot, we opted for the protection of Timberlands and North Face.

Arcadia students want more, and we like to oblige. As part of our Spiritual Ireland co-curricular theme, I met our students in Galway city early on 11 April to begin our spiritual quest. Besides their curiosity, students were instructed to bring warm clothes, appropriate footwear and plenty of water for the climb. Our fantastic driver for the day, Branco of Healy Coaches, drove us through the Connaught landscape towards the Reek, passing sturdy stone walls, green glens, docile cows and adorable lambs both black and white. As the coach snaked its way through Westport and exited toward the North, students got their first impression of Croagh Patrick as it glistened in the morning sun. The chatter and banter ceased as the holy mountain came into view as the day’s task came into focus.

Conor, our trusted mountain guide, met us at the car park. Before starting the climb I made sure that the students received a walking stick to assist the ascent and a brief history lesson about the townland and the importance of Croagh Patrick to the region. After a necessary bathroom stop we began.

Just before the terrain elevated and became rocky, we stopped to see the statue of St Patrick, erected in 1928 by Father Patterson with monies from the USA. The Arcadia pilgrims posed in front of the statue for the obligatory group photo and then we were off!

The sun shined as we began, but darkening clouds gusted in from the West and unleashed a payload of sharp April hailstones that bit and stung our cheeks. Undaunted we continued the climb, seeking the unobstructed views of Clew Bay and the Nephin mountain range to the East as our reward. The hail subsided as the stout gusts from the West pushed the low hanging gloom beyond the mountain range. We were making progress.

We were not alone on the Reek this day. Pilgrims young and old passed us by, sharing encouragements and gentle slagging to bolster our confidence. Before we reached the summit we knew that the ‘cone’ awaited us. The cone is a steep ascent over loose rocks and gravel as one approached the top. We all got over the cone and rested atop the Holy Mountain and basked in our shared accomplishment. Water was gulped and snacks scarfed down in the shadow of St. Patrick’s chapel. More hail spewing gloom approached from the West so we needed to start the descent back to civilization.

Back on the ground, warm beverages in hand next to the open fire at Campbell’s pub, the results were in: we all had a spiritual experience, a truly Irish one. We had conquered the mountain.