Croagh Patrick
For my first few days in Ireland, the weather was terribly rainy and windy.  We were
scheduled to climb up Croagh Patrick for the first hike but, due to the bad weather,
we were going to give it a miss.  Ironically, the weather then got so bad that we had
to go up the mountain because the other hikes were washed out.
    

Stay off the mountain on foggy and/or wet days?

  

  

  
I guess we didn't listen.  The wind was fierce and it was soooo cold.  When I had left home, it was over 100 degrees.

  

The group on the summit.  Don't stray too far, you're likely to get lost in the fog.

  

  

  
Me, on the summit.  Nice view, eh?

  

After finding the chapel in the fog, we used it
as a wind barrier so we could eat lunch.

  

  

  
Half way down the mountain, the sun came
out and we finally got a view of Ireland.

  

Journal Excerpt:  12:30 PM - The Miracle of St. Patrick
     At the top, the fog was so thick I didn't even know I was sitting about 20 meters from a large, white chapel.  When the others arrived, we located it and explored a bit.  I got a few photos of the mist-shrouded summit, then went with some of the others to peek inside the church.  It was all we could do with the view blocked.
     At the chapel door was a small opening in the concrete wall.  The sign above it read "Offerings."  I had come 3,000 miles, hiked up a steep trail in the rain and wind and fog to see nothing but rocks, so I had no reason to feel charitable.  Still, I took a pound from my pocket, set it on the edge of the hole and let it roll in.  As soon as I heard the clunk of the coin hitting the offering box, the sun broke through a rend in the clouds.  I scrambled back up to the summit and, as I watched, the mist opened, revealing Ireland's green hills and silver lakes.  It lasted for the briefest of moments and I was the only one to see it. 
     I guess that's what a pound to St. Patrick gets you.  I should have slipped in a fiver.

   

         
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