OPINION (AN COLUN): Walking a pilgrim trail is an excellent way of marking Easter

There are a number of appropriate ways of marking the Easter season. One of them is meeting up with family members you mightn't have seen for a while, perhaps sitting down with them for a roast dinner on Easter Sunday.
Another is to absorb the religious liturgy as much as you can by attending as many church services as you feasibly can.
A third way is to join walking groups as they tackle a number of Ireland's pilgrim trails.
For example, on Good Friday April 15 there is a fully guided ascent of the magnificently scenic Cnoc na dTobar Pilgrim Mountain near Cahirsiveen in Kerry.
On Holy Saturday there are a number of options. There's a guided walk of the Cosan na Naomh from Ventry to Mount Brandon in Kerry; a guided walk of St Kevin's Way to Glendalough in Wicklow. There's also an opportunity to follow St Declan's Way from Goatenbridge via Mount Mellaray Abbey to the historic town of Lismore. On Easter Monday a group will be following the ancient Tochar Phadraig in Mayo.
The Pilgrim Paths of Ireland are a collection of ancient religious routes with well-documented claims of having been used by pilgrims since ancient times. Pilgrim Paths Ireland is the national representative body for Ireland's pilgrim paths. It was founded at a meeting in Nenagh to represent Ireland's principal penitential routes. Its objective is to promote greater awareness and use of these historic routes.
Early Christian pilgrims visited Clonmacnoise, journeyed to Lough Derg in Donegal and Glendalough, travelled across the sea to Skellig Michael or ascended Croagh Patrick.
Despite this long pilgrim tradition, there was, until relatively recently, little footfall on Ireland's penitential trails with the country not regarded as an important destination for pilgrimage. The foundation of Pilgrim Paths Ireland in 2013 greatly raised awareness of the country's routes and created a more general appreciation of Ireland's Christian heritage. Since then the ancient Pilgrim Paths of Ireland have echoed to ever increasing footfall.
I walked a number of the trails with groups last year. This included St Finbarr's Pilgrim Walk in West Cork which I loved. The inspirational talks, camaraderie and magnificent scenery made this a very special experience. The route is a 40 kilometre two day walk and the weather was divine. West Cork is very hilly with magnificent views across the mountains and out to the Atlantic. On bad weather days it can be a challenging place to go for a walk up the hills in, with bleak and unforgiving moorland on the tops buffeted by strong winds and covered with low visibility cloud. But on a clear day you really do feel you have died and gone to heaven. It sometimes feels as if it as close to paradise as we are going to get in this world. St Finbarr's Pilgrim Path is well signposted throughout, and experienced walkers might like to walk it under their own steam. If you are less experienced you could join one of the guided walks along the route during 2022, including this Saturday and Sunday April 23 and 24.
I spend a lot of my time walking on my own, and sometimes walking with a group can be a pleasure and a welcome change; sometimes not. On the occasion that I walked St Finbarr's Path the atmosphere was friendly and the mood was sometimes spiritual. This was a great group of people. One of the guides suggested to us that a pilgrimage walk is an opportunity to reflect on your life. “We live in a fast changing world,” he said, “but there is something in the universe which is unchangeable, which is always there." Another of the guides (a landscape artist from Dublin), as we stood at 500 metres above sea level beside a gigantic rock in the midst of the heather-covered hillside, spoke about what the landscape is whispering quietly to our souls as we walk through it. “The landscape is telling our souls,” he remarked, “that we are only passing through and it will be here long after we are dead and gone.” We are all pilgrims in life, he added, heading towards the one destination which is death. We all share that in common. However, he continued, some of us believe that death is not the end, that there is another place we go to after we die. He spoke about our secular world, the rejection of the framework of faith, and the invaluable nature of the spirit of forgiveness.
I believe that the rising popularity in Ireland of pilgrim paths like St Finbarr's are evidence of a spiritual hunger gnawing away at our insides during this excessively materialistic age. The people who are walking these trails instinctively feel that there's more to life than logic, science, deadlines and your productive output.
Walking the trails is a real pleasure. They are a combination of beautiful scenery, and, if you decide to join one of the guided walks, friendly people. For more information have a look at www.pilgrimpath.ie