Saint Patrick’s Way: the pilgrimage route promising a very personal journey

Tone suitably set, our band of merry visitors follows guide Rosaleen Litter along the leaf-strewn path around Navan Fort, or, in Gaelic, Emain Macha. She shares the history of this site, where, in 95 BCE, a revered Celtic temple was erected that later became the ancient seat of Ulster chiefs. It’s a place swirling in mythology that, as Rosaleen says, “has given it a palpable aura”.

It’s also the starting point on the 132-km-long (82-mile-long) Saint Patrick’s Way, and where my Pilgrim’s Passport, free from the visitor centre, collects its first stamp. Opened in 2015, the route is broken into seven waymarked sections, ranging from 5km (3 miles) to 38 km (24 miles) and comprises 10 featured landmarks, each with its own, sometimes well-hidden, embossing stamp.

It was founded by the late Alan Graham, a local artist and keen walker inspired by his adventures on the Camino de Santiago in Spain. He wrote, “I thought Saint Patrick should be honoured with a pilgrim route… [it is] ideal for those who want to have the experience of nature and time to themselves.” Cutting through ancient towns, over fields and along waterways of County Armagh and County Down, time to yourself is all but a certainty.

I venture into Ireland’s ecclesiastical capital, Armagh City, where I meet local guide Donna Fox. From the formidable-looking 18th-century former gaol, where Republican women were interned during The Troubles, we stroll through The Mall public park.

She talks of Archbishop Richard Robinson, who spearheaded Armagh’s distinctly Georgian architecture, the importance of lace-making and the tragic 1889 Armagh Railway Disaster, memorialised in a moving statue. I hear tales of the Irish goddess Macha as we push up the steep market square to the Anglican Cathedral Church of Saint Patrick.

It was here that Patrick built his first church in 445 CE, which has since been rebuilt 17 times. It sits just half a mile from the Victorian-era Saint Patrick’s Roman Catholic Cathedral on an adjacent hilltop, which leads me to probe into his role for Ireland’s different denominations. “Saint Patrick is for everyone,” Donna tells me. She adds, “People of all faiths and none walk Saint Patrick’s Way.”

Having pressed two more stamps into my passport, I step into the wood-panelled interior of popular Keeghan’s Bar for a welcome pint of local draught cider. The day ends with a flaming sunset, the blaze of orange melting into the navy of the night as I ponder spirituality.

I wake to the tapping of rain on my window and head for the village of Scarva, where Victoria Canavan from Bike Mourne, which offers rentals and tours, is waiting. I’m soon astride a flashy e-bike that promises to make cycling the Newry Canal towpath an absolute breeze, despite the damp.

Victoria tells me how Britain’s first summit-level canal, opened in 1742, transported coal until 1946. We pedal peacefully for a couple of miles, taking in the information boards, swans and various ruins that accompany the route to the canal’s summit at Lough Shark before resuming our electrified meander towards Newry, 10 miles on.

Here, the canal winds into the Newry River, which bisects this endearing 12th-century cathedral city. We visit the Newry & Mourne Museum in Bagnel’s Castle, which among many artefacts has robes from the Order of Saint Patrick. It’s also where I rather reluctantly hand back the bike.

Following a brief stop at the prosperous Victorian town of Rostrover on Carlingford Lough and a foray into Kilbroney Forest Park, whose mystical Mourne woodland was the inspiration for CS Lewis’s Narnia, I make for the resort town of Newcastle. It was from these shores that Patrick is said to have banished the snakes.

Situated within the Mourne Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and loomed over by Northern Ireland’s highest peak, Newcastle is a capsule of the Victorian seaside; ice creams, promenade, arcades and all. I’m staying at the mountain’s red brick namesake, Slieve Donard, whose roaring fireplaces, plush guest rooms and popular lounge bar are more than the preserve of golfers heading for the Royal County Down Golf Club.

Later I’m plonked in Avoca Hotel’s rustic bar with a settling Guinness and mussels on the way. I muse over my day with remarkable barrister-turned-nun-turned-guide, Elaine Kelly. Elaine and her fellow nun and friend, Martina Purdy, a former BBC journalist, have teamed up to offer insightful guided tours along Saint Patrick’s Way.

We’d spent the afternoon following the leafy paths of Tollymore Forest Park, which Elaine says "gives you a sense of the kind of landscape that Patrick would also have passed through”. We talked politics, religion and nature, Elaine educating me on the difference between shamrocks and clovers, adding that they encounter many people on the trail who have no specific faith but love the beauty of the area.

The final leg of my quest sees me settle into the 17th-century inn of Denvir’s in Downpatrick. At The Saint Patrick Centre, home of the world’s only permanent exhibition on Ireland’s patron saint, Martina is waiting for me as I retrieve the last stamp and collect my ‘Certificate of Achievement’. I follow her through town to Down Cathedral and the granite slab marking the grave of Saint Patrick.

Martina explains how Saint Patrick’s Way can be combined with elements from the slightly longer, although different, 92-mile Saint Patrick’s Trail, which ends in Bangor. To this end, we visit the hilltop statue of Slieve Patrick. At 10 metres high, it’s the tallest dedicated to the saint in the world, and from his feet, I scan miles of vibrant green fields and the grey expanse of Strangford Lough.

“A pilgrimage is a journey within a journey,” Martina says. “The power of nature means it can be a very spiritual experience for walkers, regardless of religious beliefs.” Her words confirm what I’d suspected, that the route means different things to different people. For some, it’s a journey rooted in religion; for me, it was about nature, exploring a little history, and delving into a corner of Northern Ireland I knew very little about.

How to do it

Fly or take the ferry to Belfast, from where you can take public transport or a taxi to Armagh. From here, you can walk, cycle, or even piece together sections of the Saint Patrick’s Way via public transport to get to Downpatrick.

For more information, visit ireland.com/northern-ireland