Reek Sunday: By 3am a caravan of pilgrims is already snaking up Croagh Patrick

Mayo’s meteorology merlins eventually won the war with the grey skies that greeted the first pilgrims climbing Croagh Patrick before dawn for the annual Reek Sunday pilgrimage. When Derek Healy arrived at the cafe in the car park at the base of the holy mountain at 3am there was already a caravan of pilgrims snaking up the 764m-high mountain aided by head torches.

By 8am the armies of volunteers from the village of Murrisk and beyond opened a second car park, with numbers significantly increasing after the skies cleared and the sun shone at about 10am.

A Garda spokesman estimated numbers to be about 5,000.

Tryphena Feeney, from Grange in Co Sligo, embarked on her first climb of the precipitous pathway shortly after 6am.

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She was enjoying a cup of tea at the boot of her car with her brother, Padraig Feeney, a veteran of 10 pilgrimages. He had come to the aid of a struggling priest, who was carrying a heavy backpack, on their ascent. The priest was one of the celebrants at the series of Masses held in the oratory at the summit from 8am to 2pm.

“I prayed to Our Lady and she has given us this lovely sunny day”

“The whole tradition of St Patrick and the pilgrimage makes you think more about our spirituality. It brings a balance into our lives,” Ms Feeney said.

A man with a loudspeaker was selling framed pictures of Padre Pio alongside big Ukrainian flags, flapping in the warm breeze. An anti-abortion volunteer, Síle Quinlan, said lots of families were stopping at her stall. “We’ve had loads of positive interactions since 7am, with people being very supportive.”

Legion of Mary member Breda Tumelty, from Dublin, was distributing miraculous medals.

“I prayed to Our Lady and she has given us this lovely sunny day,” she said.

It was a low-key and solitary descent for Archbishop of Tuam Francis Duffy. This was the Cavan native’s first time to participate in the pilgrimage.

“I’m here to observe and experience the wonderful tradition and its links with St Patrick. This dramatic mountain, with its panorama of views over Clew Bay, raises our thoughts and offers us a different perspective,” he said.

He expressed his delight at meeting people from many different nationalities along the pathway.

Meanwhile, Inishturk islander Jack Heanue (73) recalled how his late mother talked of travelling in a púcán, a traditional sailing boat, the nine miles to the mainland pier and then walking 14 miles to the mountain before climbing it.

“This is my 39th time doing the pilgrimage and I hope to do it another few times. It means a lot to me and this year my son is gone into Westport to collect a couple of friends from the train and they will follow me up,” he said.

Heanue praised the pathway project, which is ongoing and by all accounts has ensured the most dangerous sections near the summit are safer. Indeed, while local Order of Malta teams and Mayo Mountain Rescue were bolstered with volunteers from around the country, there was only a small number of minor accidents.

“I’m doing this pilgrimage for young people, around my age, who have been forced into soulless modernity and are stuck in their bedrooms on devices looking at porn”

Climbing barefoot is one tradition that may have lost its popularity but it was being honoured by Dannan Gaughan from Co Galway.

“I climbed barefoot also last year and I’m doing this pilgrimage for young people, around my age, who have been forced into soulless modernity and are stuck in their bedrooms on devices looking at porn,” he said.

Defining himself as “a traditional Catholic”, he has set up an Instagram campaign, called Beatha Youth, in a bid to encourage a healthier community life for youth.

Twins Freya and Holly Renton (12) and their younger siblings Jack (10) and Aoife (8) from Westport know all about the communality of making music. Indeed, some weary pilgrims managed to dance down the pathway as their fiddles, banjo and bodhrán played such appropriate tunes as The Four Poster Bed and Off to the Well for Water.