Croagh Patrick Mayo
Croagh Patrick, known as the Reek by the people of Mayo, is Ireland's holiest mountain, a quartzite cone rising to 764 metres above Clew Bay in County Mayo whose annual pilgrimage on the last Sunday of July attracts tens of thousands of pilgrims in a tradition of Christian devotion that has been maintained for over 1,500 years. St Patrick is believed to have fasted on the summit for forty days in 441 AD, and the tradition of barefoot ascent that many pilgrims maintain connects the modern observance with the penitential practices of the earliest Irish Christianity.
The view from the summit of Croagh Patrick across Clew Bay, with its extraordinary collection of approximately 365 drumlin islands created by the last Ice Age glacier, and across the full extent of Connacht visible on clear days from the Mayo mountains to the Galway coast, is one of the finest in Ireland. The ascent, a serious mountain walk of approximately two to three hours, involves considerable height gain on a rocky path that becomes a pilgrimage route of intense focus on Reek Sunday when the summit is crowded with walkers of all ages and degrees of fitness.
The modern visitor centre at the foot of the mountain provides interpretation and the small chapel near the summit provides the spiritual focus for the pilgrimage. The view of Croagh Patrick from the south shore of Clew Bay at sunset, the perfect cone reflected in the still water of the bay, is one of the most frequently reproduced images of the Mayo landscape.