Cycling St Patrick's journey from Down to Mayo

IT’S been often said that we are ‘following in the footsteps of St Patrick’ whenever we climb the Reek. But do we in Mayo realise just how far those footsteps go?
Do we realise that you can draw a line ‘with breathtaking accuracy’ from the hill at Slane where Naomh Pádraig lit a fire, through the domain of the ancient High Kings of Connacht at Rathcroghan, and on to Croagh Patrick? Do we realise that St Patrick died in a Co Down village called Saul, where a local chieftain gave him the loan of a barn to say Mass? Or that there’s a well in Monaghan where the holy Welsh man washed his shirt that’s said to cure jaundice?
The path from the Reek to where St Patrick is buried in Downpatrick, Co Down, is 400-kilometres long. And at the end of the month, a group who modestly describe themselves as ‘former sportsmen’ (extreme athletes is a better term) will retrace St Patrick’s footsteps along this route, but on wheels.
‘Raceface’ have cycled Malin to Mizen and Carnsore to Erris umpteen cycles, so this one’s no big deal. But there’s much more to it than the distance.
“Our main goal is to try and raise money for the Order of Malta,” explains well-known Ballinrobe cycling fanatic, postman Padraig Marrey, who’s helping to organise the St Patrick’s Way cycle. “For ourselves, it’s like a personal discovery of things we didn’t really know about St Patrick.”
Naomh Pádraig’s footsteps in Mayo are well-trodden. You already have the 22-mile Tóchair Phádraig, which runs from Ballintubber to Croagh Patrick. Even longer again is the Croagh Patrick Heritage Trail, which starts back in Balla and is bursting with historic treasures. Then, of course, there’s the annual Reek Sunday pilgrimage which – though nowhere near as big as it was – still draws more than 4,000 pilgrims over the last weekend in July.
For the past 80 years, the Westport Order of Malta have maintained a constant, guarding watch throughout Reek Sunday. This year, its members treated ten injured pilgrims who needed treatment, despite the good weather and the added safety of the new Pilgrim’s Path. Indeed, the Order of Malta Ambulance Corps is an essential part of any large gathering in Mayo – not just Reek Sunday – providing first aid and emergency ambulance services to a wide range of organisations, events and festivals.
“Our sport is cycling, and they’ve done so much for cycling events all over Mayo,” says Marrey, outlining why the Order of Malta became the ‘obvious’ beneficiaries from this charity cycle.
All funds raised will go towards the purchase of a badly needed new ambulance. “With our current ambulance showing signs of wear and tear, we are at risk of not being able to meet the growing demands of our community,” Westport Order of Malta states on its GoFundMe page.
While the St Patrick’s Way cycle will benefit the Order of Malta in the short-term, its long-term benefits to Westport could be of ‘huge significance’, according to Marrey.
The idea of an east-west cycle route was first mooted by then Tourism Minister Leo Varadkar back in 2012.
Varadkar had Dublin to Galway in mind, but the idea of following St Patrick’s footsteps germinated with Tom McLoughlin, a Project Co-ordinator at Tochar Valley Network.
“He touted that to me straight off,” says Marrey. “I said, ‘Come here, we’re mad to do a challenge, we want to do some sort of event.’ We promised the Order of Malta that we would do some sort of a charity cycle.”
Already, at least two heritage centres along the route and an Ulster-based cycling federation are said to have expressed support for the cycle.
Beginning at Strangford Lough, Co Down, and traversing west through 14 sites associated with St Patrick, Marrey believes the history-laden 400-kilometre east-west route could draw thousands of cyclists to the west.
“If you look at the Camino in Spain… most people don’t do that for religious reasons, they do that for personal reasons. They go on a journey for themselves,” Marrey tells The Mayo News.
“We’re just so lucky that St Patrick visited these areas. It [the journey] doesn’t have to be for religious reasons, it’s part of our folklore, part of our history, part of our being. Catholic Church or no Catholic Church, St Patrick was recognised all over the world.”
And what better way to finish that journey than by gazing down from atop the mountain that bears his name, where the cyclists plan to deposit a symbolic item from each site as an offering to Ireland’s patron saint.
“You come all the way from Downpatrick in Co Down and you make it all the way across to climb up the top of Croagh Patrick, and next thing you are looking at all these little dots in the sea below you, you are looking across at the Nephin Range, you are looking across at Mulranny, you are looking across at these islands, you are looking across at Achill Island and then you see Clare Island. How magical is that for anyone to see for anybody? I don’t think a picture can ever paint that.”

The St Patrick’s Way cycle from Co Down to Croagh Patrick takes place on September 28-29. You can find out more about the St Patrick’s Way by emailing info@raceface.ie. You can donate to the Westport Order of Malta’s fundraiser for a new ambulance via their GoFundMe page.