Croagh Patrick Mountain, in Ireland’s County Mayo, is set to welcome a new walking trail. Entirely made of stone, and stretching 4km in length, it links the base to the summit of the mountain, and should facilitate the annual pilgrimage of Irish Catholics coming to pay homage to Saint Patrick. This trail is the result of over three years’ hard work by the Croagh Patrick Path team. Thanks to them, access to the mountain will be safer and quicker: a real delight for walkers!
It was a colossal project. Excessive and a little crazy. But they made it.
The Croagh Patrick Path team has taken on the amazing challenge of hand-building a new trail to give hikers easier access to the summit of Croagh Patrick mountain.
Under the direction of Scotsman Matt McConway, the team of Bernard Burke, Frank McNamara, Tulio de Jesus and David Doyle worked tirelessly, braving the elements, to make the mountain safer and more accessible to hikers.
It was a titanic task, requiring them to climb the mountain almost 450 times, while manually moving thousands of tons of rock and earth to create a trail where many thought it was impossible.
The project was born of growing interest in the mountain among hikers. After all, Croagh Patrick is a place shrouded in legends linked to Saint Patrick, patron saint of the Irish. Considered a place of pilgrimage, the mountain welcomes some 120,000 people every year to gather at the summit.
Perpetual trampling and the accelerating deterioration of the access trail led the local community to launch the creation of a new footpath.
Work began in December 2020 with the commitment of McConway and his team. Considered a difficult project, the trail required dealing with many challenges, including the weather, the dangerous location, and having to shape this stone trail entirely by hand.
For David Doyle, who has been climbing Croagh Patrick since he was a teenager, working on the trail has been a rewarding experience, especially the daily commute to and from the work site.
The trail, 2 metres wide from top to bottom, presented some unique challenges, including finding suitable stones on the mountain. Despite the physical and meteorological difficulties, the team was encouraged by the constant support of hikers, the majority of whom were positive about the project.
Work on the trail, particularly on the cone section to the summit, was particularly demanding, spanning three summers and accounting for around 60-65% of the total time spent on trail construction.
This section represents about half of the ascent of Croagh Patrick, which can take up to three hours for the average hiker. Thanks to the new trail, ascents should now be faster and safer.
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