Peace, beauty and silence on pilgrimage along the St. Finbarr's Way

It wasn’t a promising start. It was a morning of driving rain and misty drizzle as our bus headed through West Cork on the way to Kealkill. Whatever else it was it definitely wasn’t a morning for a pilgrimage. However with a simple prayer we began our 18km walk to Gougane Barra in honour of the feast of St. Finbarr.

We had a really great group of twenty four people from a variety of backgrounds, most of whom had never met each other before. There are few things in life that are as effective as pilgrimage for getting to know one another. Nothing breaks the ice like seeing someone careen four feet down the side of a hill before landing with a mucky splash and then helping them up.

Thanks be to God the rain soon stopped, the sun came out and it turned into a beautiful day. We took our first hill in our stride and stopped for lunch on the way up the second. When we got to the top of Gougane valley we celebrated a simple Mass, looking down on the lake. It was something very special. We had the sky for the ceiling of our church, the soft earth for the floor and the boulders as our walls. After that is was all down hill to the Church of St. Finbarr and then off to the hotel for a well deserved drink. By the time we got back to Cork we were wrecked, but happy and we’re looking forward to a good night’s sleep. Guaranteed! All in all a wonderful day.

We began our pilgrimage with this piece from Caroline Adams:

Your life is a sacred journey. And it is about change, growth, discovery, movement, transformation, continuously expanding your vision of what is possible, stretching your soul, learning to see clearly and deeply, listening to your intuition, taking courageous challenges at every step along the way. You are on the path… exactly where you are meant to be right now… And from here, you can only go forward, shaping your life story into a magnificent tale of triumph, of healing of courage, of beauty, of wisdom, of power, of dignity, and of love.

Next stop the Camino de Santiago de Compostella!

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