Search Results for 'Reek Sunday'

Next Sunday, the last Sunday in July, is Reek Sunday which celebrates the national pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick, Ireland’s Holy Mountain. Several thousands of people are expected to make the arduous climb, which can take over two hours to get to its summit. If it’s a clear day the views across Connemara, and along the coast line, are spectacular. If the climb is made in misty weather, then it becomes an adventure of another kind. Whatever the weather there is a real sense of camaraderie, and shared humanity; a feeling too that to take a few hours out of our busy lives, to concentrate on the effort of the climb, and support our fellow travellers, is ‘to experience a life time in miniature.’

Sunday week, July 26, is Reek Sunday, or Garland Sunday or Garlic Sunday or even Crom Dubh Sunday, and I am sure there are many other names to describe the  famous pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick, when many thousands climb to its rocky summit.

Members of Mayo Mountain Rescue battled through some of the worst conditions their team have ever experienced on Croagh Patrick on Wednesday afternoon to rescue a man who was seriously injured in a fall near the peak of the popular visitor attraction.

Upwards of 30,000 pilgrims are expected to flock to Croagh Patrick on Sunday for the annual Reek Sunday pilgrimage on the holy mountain. While the thousands of pilgrims make their way up the mountain, the Mayo Mountain Rescue team will be co-ordinating a massive effort on the ground to ensure that any climbers who get into difficulty on the mountain will be quickly taken off the slope.

A walk is taking place on Reek Sunday, July 27, to retrace the footsteps of St. Patrick himself on one of Ireland's most ancient pilgrimage routes.

A woman was airlifted off Croagh Patrick on Monday evening having suffered lower leg injuries and hypothermia near the summit.

The annual pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick, known locally as Reek Sunday, is one of the major events in Westport and will attract over 25,000 visitors to this unique and historic event.

The last few weeks have been among the busiest in the history of Mayo Mountain Rescue Team. Team leader Mary Walsh noted that since Reek Sunday, at the end of July, to September 7, the team have responded to 14 call outs. “It is unprecedented in the history of the team that we have had such a concentration of call-outs in the last number of weeks,” she said. Similar sentiments were expressed by deputy team leader Declan Conway, who remarked that in all his years on the team, he had never seen such a demand for its services.

Members of Mayo Mountain Rescue were recently honoured as guests of President Michael D Higgins and his wife at a garden party in Áras an Uachtaráin. The occasion was to acknowledge the hard work done by all the voluntary rescue services in Ireland.

There’s festival fever in Mayo this summer and what a county this is for staging innovative and crowd pleasing events season after season.