Superb weekend in west Waterford on St Declan's Way
Stages 5 and 6 of the St Declan’s Way Annual Pilgrimage took place in midApril, with 380 pilgrims walking from Lismore to Ardmore over two days.
The weather was superb, the pilgrims travelled from all over Ireland and the west Waterford communities rallied together to create a wonderful experience for everyone involved.
Beginning in St Carthage’s Cathedral in Lismore with a pilgrim blessing from Dean Paul Draper, the walkers travelled along the River Blackwater to Cappoquin and onwards to Villierstown via Dromana, finishing in Aglish. The next day, Sunday, they walked from Aglish to Geoish, then onwards to Ballycurrane NS before crossing the River Lickey on a combination of stepping stones and a pontoon. Several grassy boreens followed before the group reached the warm waters of the beach in Ardmore. The extra energetic walkers continued around the Cliff Walk with local guide Tommy Mooney, learning lots of interesting local facts on the history of St Declan and Ardmore.
It was a huge voluntary effort to stage the event and great credit must be given to Knockmealdown Active, to the team in Ballycurrane NS led by principal Kevin
Gough, the landowners, the Irish Coastguard, the Red Cross, the Select Vestry of St Carthage’s Cathedral Lismore and Dean Paul, the Lismore Men’s Shed, Cappoquin Tidy Towns, Triona and all in Aglish Community Development CLG and the team in Ardmore including Terri, Ber, Tommy and all in Halla Déagláin and Ardmore, TidyTowns. We must also thank the team in St Paul’s Church of Ireland Ardmore who provided fabulous tea and cakes after Tommy’s guided tour on the Cliff Walk.
St Declan’s Way is a real engine of economic growth for south Tipperary and west Waterford. Saturday alone saw 24 Americans from Los Angeles start the trail in Cashel, to walk over five days to Ardmore with Celtic Ways Ireland. 65 IMRA ultra marathon mountain runners also ran a 65km Ultra Marathon in the Knockmealdowns on Saturday, using St Declan’s Way as their route onto the high peaks of the mountain range and all of this while the annual pilgrimage was taking place from Lismore to Ardmore.