As part of its millennium project, the Heritage Council is reopening medieval pilgrim paths as walking routes. Fiona Murdoch recently completed 200 miles of them
In 1997 the Heritage Council chose, as its millennium project, to develop and reopen five medieval pilgrim paths throughout Ireland. Only one, in fact, was ready to be officially launched in 2000, two others have since been opened and another two have yet to be completed.
Cosán na Naomh on the Dingle peninsula, St Kevin's Way in Co Wicklow and a pilgrim path at Lough Derg are all now clearly sign-posted and a guide to each path has been produced, which includes detailed maps and information about heritage sites along the routes. The council hopes that St Declan's Way in Co Waterford and Slí Mór in Co Offaly will be completed sometime next year. In addition to those paths, the council has helped to upgrade Tóchar Phádraig in Co Mayo and Turas Gleanncholmcille in Donegal, which were already in regular use.
The delay in the completion of the project can largely be put down to the fact that no individual was designated to work on it full-time. To have ensured the opening of all the paths in the millennium year, as was the original intention, would have required the full-time effort of a team of enthusiasts. Instead, it was simply added to the duties of Walks and Greenways Officer and Marine and Coastal Officer, Beatrice Kelly.
"Setting up walking routes is not straightforward - it takes much longer than you'd think - and we didn't really appreciate that at the start," says Kelly. "Circumstances change and different problems arise. It was never anybody's specific task and we were reliant on the hard work of voluntary committees and the goodwill of landowners."
The council ploughed €250,000 into the project in its initial stages, including grants of €90,000 from Fáilte Ireland and €50,000 from the Millennium Committee. This went on surveys, booklets, furniture (signposts, stiles and, bridges) and labour costs. A further €20,000 is spent on maintaining the routes each year.
The aim of the project has been to raise awareness of different aspects of heritage, built and natural, along the routes while contributing to sustainable tourism and community development. The paths follow quiet roads, country paths and tracks in spectacular corners of the country.
Earlier this year I joined a group walking St Kevin's Way. We were guided by Rev Michael Begg, a member of the local St Kevin's Way committee who leads "Celtic journeys and pilgrim walks" from Avelin, his retreat centre in Ballymore Eustace. Even though the weather was far from kind, standing among the hillside ruins of Tampleteenawn Church and at the top of the Wicklow Gap, where flagstones from the original pilgrims' road can still be seen, was particularly memorable.
Having enjoyed the experience so much I decided to tackle the other pilgrim paths (at that stage I was unaware that the other routes weren't all officially open). The path at Lough Derg was an easy one to start with - a 12km forest track from Station Island visitors' centre to the shore opposite Saints Island. There, peeping out of the water, are stones that almost certainly formed the foundation of the wooden bridge that would have brought medieval pilgrims across to the island.
St Declan's Way was considerably more of a challenge; there were few signposts and three places along the route were totally impassable. I draw the line at fighting my way through seven-foot high walls of nettles and brambles. Logistical constraints and time pressures meant having to resort to bicycle at times, following the route as closely as possible by road. However, these problems ought to be overcome by the time the path is officially opened as scheduled by the Heritage Council next year.
The council plans to open the route from Ardmore as far as Lismore, although Ardmore Enterprise Co-Op developed St Declan's Way from Ardmore to Cashel (a distance of 94km) 10 years ago and this was the route I attempted to complete. Siobhan Arnold, an 86-year-old writer from Ardmore, and her son, Richard, were instrumental in developing the path and each year they hire a bus and organise a "day out" for people to walk a section of the route. "It's a wonderful road and I think it's a shame that many people don't know anything about it," says Arnold, who two years ago penned a book, Along St Declan's Way.
SLÍ MÓR, WHICH goes from Ballycumber to Clonmacnoise in Co Offaly, has yet to be signposted, although it is possible to complete the route, as I did, by bicycle on quiet country roads. The plan is to take much of the route off-road, however, and, where necessary, build a boardwalk across the bog.
One sunny August day I enjoyed a fabulous walk from St Colmcille's church up the Glen Head in Glencolmcille, which forms the first section of Turas Gleanncholmcille. The last section of the route crosses private land, however, and the only way to access it is by getting in touch first with Oideas Gael. Up to 100 people complete the stations of the Turas on June 9th each year, when local landowners leave their gates open. But at other times local man Paddy Gillespie guides people of all persuasions - and none - along the path. He can remember back to the 1950s when "everyone, but everyone" from the area participated on the feast day and emigrants often made a special trip home.
The Cosán na Naomh (Way of the Saints) path, which stretches from Ventry strand to the foot of Mount Brandon on the glorious Dingle peninsula, winds its way among fuchsia-hedged fields and boasts a number of heritage sites along the way. These include the famous Gallarus Oratory, a corbelled structure that may have been built to shelter passing pilgrims, and which Seamus Heaney once described as "a core of old dark walled up with stone a yard thick".
The Tóchar Phádraig was reopened by the Augustinians of Ballintubber in 1998 and as many as 3,000 people are guided along the path each year in small groups. The route wends its way from Ballintubber Abbey to the foot of Croagh Patrick via the village of Aghagower, where there is a round tower, a holy well and St Patrick's Bed and "Bath". It also passes Lankill where a raised stone altar with a small cross-inscribed stone on top probably dates from the early Christian era. The Heritage Council recently helped upgrade the route by providing funding for new signs and for plaques along the route, which outline historical anecdotes and offer inspirational quotes to encourage weary pilgrims.
I WAS AMAZED at how few people I met on the pilgrim paths and I suspect that many people simply do not know they exist. The Heritage Council acknowledges that the routes are probably little used at present and warns that, unless they attract a "sustainable quantity of users" over the next few years, they may well not be maintained in the long-term.
As Beatrice Kelly says, "The paths go to great places and they go through parts of the country that people wouldn't necessarily otherwise visit." So let's, for goodness sake, make use of them.
Fiona Murdoch completed 320km (200 miles) of pilgrim paths as a fundraiser for the Billy Riordan Memorial Trust which is building a clinic in Malawi, in memory of a young Dingle man who drowned in Lake Malawi. Donations can be made on www.billysmalawiproject.com or at the Bank of Ireland, Dingle, Co Kerry: account no 85770070, sort code 90-57-07.
Take a hike: Pilgrim Paths
Cosán na Naomh An 18km (11 mile) path on the Dingle peninsula, Co Kerry. Well maintained and signposted.
St Kevin's Way From Hollywood to Glendalough, Co Wicklow; 30km (18 miles). Easily accessible and well marked.
Lough Derg A straightforward walk along forest track to the shore opposite Saints Island, Co Donegal; 12km (7 miles).
St Declan's Way From Ardmore to Lismore, Co Waterford; 39km (24 miles). Signposting is incomplete and the route has yet to be officially opened.
Slí Mór From Ballycumber to Clonmacnoise, Co Offaly; 18km (11 miles). Limited signposting; a considerable amount of work has yet to be done before the route is opened.
Tóchar Phádraig from Ballintubber to Croagh Patrick, Co Mayo; 35km (22 miles). Excellent signposting and maintenance. Register first at Ballintubber Abbey (5). Tel: 094-9030934.
Turas Gleanncholmcille (left) A 7km (4.5 mile) route within the valley of Glencolmcille, Co Donegal. The annual pilgrimage on June 9th is based on the goodwill of local landowners. To walk the route at any other time contact Oideas Gael on 074-9730248.
For further information see www.heritagecouncil.ie. Tel: 056-7770777