Croagh Patrick

Friday: the marathon was long, but fun. The "free food" was a bit of a joke. 3 pizzas for all of those people, I got a slice and was lucky!

Sat: lunch at the market= delicious bean curry! I love Indian food, although not sure how authentic that was... either way, I love Indian food. Then a lot of me blowing off hw, skype and watching an action-flick.

Sun: Croagh Patrick with the Mountaineering Club! This is actually the trip that made me decide I wanted to join. Ever since I hear that people made pilgrimages to St. Patrick's Mountain where a church stood at the top, I told myself I would go there, and now I have!

The bus ride there was a looong one. Mandy and I opted for the short walk, glad we did as always. This was was different. For one, there was a trail. Two, it was a very rocky trail at some parts. Not big huge rocks of limestone like The Burren, but rather loads of smaller ones, making for a bit of a slippery climb at times. Pat and Anne, our friends from the first hike joined us. (I'm a fan of those two). We had a fun bunch of people, but the going was really steep and a lot of it was you just at it on your own. The walk up took a good two hours, two very steep hours. It was interesting because you had people coming down the mountain, encouraging you along the way: children, older adults, people with dogs, completely different than our other treks.

Luck was truly at our side because when we made it to the top the clouds went away and we had the most spectacular view of the bay, beyond the bay, the fields and it was breathtaking! Oh it made the struggle worthwhile for sure! I can't even really describe how beautiful the scenery was. On the bay, not only did you have a lovely blue next to the stunning green of the fields, but there were tons of little islands popping up all throughout the bay. At the top there was a church, no idea how they managed to build that up there (poor donkeys and other labor animals, I'm sure). And we saw St. Patrick's tomb, can't remember if it is his legit tomb or just "his tomb."

The descent down was completed in half the time, although coming down the steep rocky part was slow going for me--I'm overly cautious. Not only did I visit Croagh Patrick, but I also saw the famous Famine Memorial. It was so eerie. Just thinking about how Ireland's population decreased by 3 million during that time, oh, it was just sort of heartbreaking to visit. It also kind of pissed me off when three of the boys from our group started climbing on it. I'm not even Irish and I know not to desecrate the Famine Memorial! Boys...
We followed up the hike with a pub visit like always. We caught the tail end of a rugby match, Ireland vs Italy, in which Ireland dominated, yay!

After an exhausting day I enjoyed my flat 30 minute walk home in my tennis shoes (nothing feels as good as taking off those boots after a hike!). Now I'm uploading pictures, looking at train costs from London King's Cross to Cambridge and bidding farewell to Stonehenge for now---it's just not going to work in our short three day London tour. The way I see it, I'm not dead yet, don't plan on dying soon, and that means there are more days in my life left for seeing it. And I will, just not next weekend. ; )