Pilgrimmage up Croagh Patrick

When I woke up to discover a mildly sunny day, more importantly it wasn’t misty or raining, I knew today was the day to climb Croagh Patrick.  I think Croagh is the Irish/Gaelic word for “mountain”….at least I’m thinking that’s a safe bet.  Apparently, back in the day, this is the mountain that St. Patrick walked up as an act of penitence.  It’s become a holy mountain in Ireland and people come en masse to do this hike (or pilgrimage) at the end of July.  I packed up and drove to the next town over from me where the trailhead begins and where the cafe and visitor centre (fancy word for souvenir shop) are located.  I won’t bore you too much with the details of the hike other than to say it was about an hour of straight up and then about an hour of straight down and it was really rocky.  It was the kind of up where your Achilles tendons are always at their max and several times on the way down I thought, “I’m thankful I have emergency health insurance”.  I enjoyed the way up, hard but not impossible, but my knees did not enjoy the way down.  Oh well.  It was definitely worth it when I got to the top to see what seemed like the whole of Ireland stretched out below me.  I know I couldn’t see the whole island, but you know when you see a view that just seems to go for ever?  That’s what it was like.  St. Patrick’s oratory is up there (a small chapel) as well as his bed, which looked like a big stone.  I spent some time hanging out and eating my lunch on the top but not too long because it was COLD up there.  I actually put mittens on!  There were lots of nice people to meet on the way up and down; I’ve gotten into a habit of trying to guess where people are from before they speak…I’m not very good but my guesses are getting better.  Mostly I have trouble with Irish vs. English, but continental Europeans and Americans are pretty easy to spot.

I got to the bottom and headed over to an old abbey and the national famine memorial.  The abbey was cool and there was a grave there for a guy who died in 1791!!  It just reminds me of all the history that came before Canada was even born!  There were probably older as well because there were lots of slabs that had become unreadable over time.  And the famine memorial was….haunting, I think that’s the best word to describe it.  I have realized how little I knew about the famine that happened here in the 1800s and how terrible it actually was.  It literally wiped out half of Ireland’s population, before the famine there were 8 million people here and after there were only 4 million survivors.  And of the 100,000 people who emigrated to escape the famine, they think that 13,000 people died on the ships.  They started calling them coffin ships because of all the deaths.  It all just reminds me to be thankful to God for the amazingly blessed life I have. 

The other night, I had a job interview which was actually pretty funny.  It started out with the woman forgetting to show up and ended with her telling me that they had chosen me for an interview because they believed I’d be able to use my Canadian connections to secure jobs for all the graduates of their business college.  Secure jobs?  Connections?  Am I in the Canadian mafia or something?  While I didn’t say that out loud, I was definitely thinking it.  Needless to say, when I politely told her that besides the regular job searching tools that Canadians use I didn’t have any “connections” that would be able to secure jobs for graduates, she looked disappointed and SURPRISED. I don’t think I’ll be getting the job. 

And for those just tuning in, you can view photos and videos of this day and others. Just click on the links at the side of the page under "Photos and Videos".