January 18th-Westport

St. Patrick with Crough Patrick in the background.

Finally made it to the top!

View from the top of the mountain.

St. Patricks church on top of the mountain.

Inside of church.

Erik, Sean, and myself at Matt Molloy's

Sean and I

    Woke up early today in hope that the skies were blue and we received the green light to climb Crough Patrick.  Fortunately, it was a beautiful day and before you knew it we were on our way to the mountain.  The mountain was very steep and the rocks were loose and slippery.  Hiking up the mountain took about 2 hours and by the time I got to the top I was exhausted.  I felt like I did two hours of the stair master machine.  At the top of the mountain there was ice and frost all over the ground, and the temperature felt as if it changed 20 degrees.  St. Patrick's church is on the top of the mountain, 2,510 feet majestically above Clew Bay.  There is said to be 365 little islands in Clew Bay, one for every day of the year.  Every year the last Sunday in July (Reek Sunday), Mass is celebrated every half hour on the summit. Depending on weather, up to 25,000 people climb the mountain, some to look but most to pray, with some pilgrims climbing barefoot. 

    Later that night my cousin Sean Feeney picked me up from my hotel and took me back to his house to meet more of the family.  There I met Brian, Edel, and Mary.  Then we went to Sean's brothers house, Chris, to see even more family!  Chris is battling cancer, and just got over the swine flu.  For being so sick, he looked very good and was full of good spirits and fun to talk to.  Of course, each house I went to they were stuffing my face with food and drinks!  After seeing all the family Sean and I went down to his office, which is located inside the GAA stadium.  I toured the stadium and he gave me an authentic GAA jersey!  This day probably sounds like the longest and most tiring day, but in all fairness I don't know the next time I'll be back to Ireland, so we headed down into Westport to Matt Molloy's pub for a drink, or two, or three...  Needless to say we had a great time talking about all the family on both sides and we enjoyed many drinks, one I became more familiar with is Jameson on the rocks with water.  Finally after a never ending, but excellent day, the bar kicked us out because they had to close.  This was a great day.