Pilgrim Paths

Usually, I walk alone. 

Clipped to my jacket is a satellite tracker with an SOS button. I have found a cellphone, while valuable as a camera, is worthless for communicating on remote paths. In my hand is a walking stick to keep me from sinking into the boot-sucking mud or slipping off the limestone integral to the paths. 

I am doing my best to walk safely. 

There are nine official pilgrim paths in Ireland, gateways to the country’s spiritual and cultural heritage. Found in Counties Wicklow, Kildare, Waterford, Cork, Kerry, Clare, Mayo, and Donegal, the paths can be physically challenging as well as spiritually rejuvenating. Pilgrims have walked these paths for centuries following in the footsteps of Saints Kevin, Finbarr, Brigid, Declan, and, of course, Patrick. 

In many ways, I am like a pilgrim, walking hard miles, open to whatever I am meant to experience. However, few of my selected trails are official pilgrim paths. My choices are based on: 

• proximity to where we are staying—as my beloved chauffer is not fond of these narrow, “one-way roads with two-way traffic.” 
• the force of the day’s wind that, I have discovered, can easily blow me off sidewalks and mountaintops if I am not mindful.
• the surprising limits of this seventy-three-year-old body that could put me in harm’s way. I have learned I am strong, but not invincible.

Drenched with enthusiasm, I walk this land of emerald pastures divided by hand-built walls of limestone cleared from the fields; among ancient ruins of forts, churches and castles; through bogs and towering mountains void of vegetation; alongside fast-flowing rivers and calming lakes, tide-influenced bays, and the mighty, mesmerizing ocean. 

I walk because I can. While I can. And when I reach the parking lot where my husband is waiting to drive us home, gratitude prevails.