Croagh Patrick

We climbed Croagh Patrick on Monday! Brendan had been looking at hotels around Westport a few weeks ago, but we had done nothing more about it. Then, on Thursday evening, Brendan brought up the idea of travelling on Sunday for a 3-day break - special offers etc. - as the weather forecast was quite good for the few days ahead. So, carpe diem and all the rest, we finished all the jobs we had to do on Friday and Saturday, I did my hair colour on Saturday evening, we packed (not lightly - one of the advantages of travelling by car), made arrangements for Willow, and we set out around 10:30 on Sunday morning. The journey wasn't as long as I had feared. The road to Westport, while a little roundabout, was pretty good and we made good time. We checked into the Wesport Plaza (check out Brendan's review on Trip Advisor) at about 2:30, and then went about exploring the town for a bit.

After a lovely meal in the hotel restaurant on the Sunday evening, an early night and a hearty breakfast, we set out for Murrisk, where the path to Croagh Patrick starts, at sea level. We didn't know much about the climb, except that Croagh Patrick is about 770 m high and that the average walk takes 2 hours up and 1.5 hours down. Well, it took us nearly 5 hours round trip, including a good half hour at the top.

Lucinda had advised me to take a stick with me, and I'm so glad she did. I had a monopod that Brendan uses for the camera, and without that third leg, I don't think I would have been able to make it. I might have been able to climb up, but there is no way I would have been able to come down the mountain without the mountain rescue helicopter! (If you're ever at our house, ask Brendan to show you the video footage of me coming down the mountain - it's very funny!)

How people climb this barefoot, I don't know. I had good hiking boots, practical trousers (yoga leggings - nice and light), plenty of layers, a hat, water and snacks, and I needed it all.

Although it was a Monday morning, there were quite a few people on the path, some experienced hill-walkers, who were nearly running the whole way up and running even faster on the way down, some fit young American tourists (probably on a gap year) and people like us, who needed plenty of breaks - my heart was beating so loud that I needed to stop every 5 minutes, even at the start of the ascent. By the time we got to the start of the really steep climb (about 40 degrees), it was sheer stubborness that kept me going, and the encouragement from people who were walking down and lying to us, telling us there was only another 10 minutes to go. It had clouded over a good bit by the time we got to the top and it was really cold - so cold that I had to go and take off my sweaty tee-shirt and pile on the layers to keep warm. We were glad of our provisions - Belgian chocolate (Côte d'Or - noir), bananas and pecan "Cuisine de France" pie. There are toilets at the top (as well as at the bottom and the halfway point), so we had plenty of water to drink too.

Walking down was even harder than climbing up - I kept looking back and could not believe I had just been up that mountain, on that steep, ridiculously stony path. I laughed the whole way down, thankful that I had a stick, otherwise, I would have been on my behind the whole way down and it would have taken twice as long. My left knee was in bits by the time we got down, and my legs were like jelly, but what a sense of achievement! I don't think I'll ever climb Croagh Patrick again, but I'm so glad I did it!

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