Discover the true history behind St. Patrick’s Day on an 82-mile walk in honor of Ireland’s patron saint

St. Patrick’s Day is an excuse for silliness. My mother is Irish and on March 17, like many, I will raise a glass to the man who rid the Emerald Isle of snakes. But that’s my only knowledge about Ireland’s patron saint.

So I decided to explore the Saint Patrick’s Way, an 82-mile hiking trail from Armagh to Downpatrick in Northern Ireland.

I start with a Guinness in Rafferty’s Bar.

“You know St. Patrick was part of your destiny,” the bartender says, adding calmly. ‘English.’

‘English?’

He nods.

St. Patrick was born in Roman Britain, kidnapped by Irish pirates and sold into slavery before fleeing to France, where he studied religion and eventually returned to Ireland as a missionary.

One of his first converts was Chieftain Daire, who gave him land to build a church on a hill outside Armagh.

The Saint Patrick’s Way starts at St Patrick’s Cathedral of the Church of Ireland. I will see many more churches bearing his name.

They’re like Murphy’s bars, but without the Guinness.

The route winds through the orchards of Armagh, a source of tangy cider and crisp apple pies, before passing through the Bainbridge linen-weaving center and along the Newry Canal.

The 82-mile route starts at St Patrick’s Cathedral (pictured) in Armagh

Above, a stained glass image of St. Patrick

From Newry to 18th-century Rostrevor I walk along country lanes with views of sparkling Carlingford Lough.

Located on the coast, Rostrevor is the birthplace of Robert Ross, the British major general who burned the White House during the 1814 war between Britain and the US.

It was also a favorite spot of Belfast-born CS Lewis, whose inspiration for Narnia was the snow-capped Morne Mountains, providing a backdrop to the city.

In Kilbroney Park I notice that I am not the only one looking for the cupboard door, the starting point of a Narnia Trail through the forest.

When I get to the lamppost, a little girl asks, “Have you seen Mr. Tumnus?”

I’m going towards the mountains. These imposing masses of slate and Silurian grauwacke (a coarse sandstone) are where Saint Patrick converted the local mountain people.

Wild, windy and wet: this part of the route requires good navigation skills, but you don’t have to fear snakes.

Along the way, Lizzie passes Tollymore Forest (photo), known as the setting in Game Of Thrones on TV

A hiker I met at the top of Butter Mountain said Patrick never finished one. It was a metaphor for cleansing Ireland of its pagan ways.

I go through the beautiful beech Tollymore Forest, known as the setting in Game Of Thrones, to the seaside resort of Newcastle. I know a real pilgrim eats potatoes, but why settle for langoustines, turbot and plaice on the menu?

The next day I continued to Down Cathedral, in Downpatrick, where the saint is buried under a large slab of granite with the single word ‘Patrick’ on it.

In Downpatrick, Lizzie visits the grave of St. Patrick (pictured) in Down Cathedral

At the nearby Saint Patrick Center I learn that Patrick was never officially canonized.

So the patron saint of Ireland was neither Irish nor a saint, nor did he drive away snakes! What he did do was change the course of the island’s history.

Without the return of Saint Patrick, it might have remained the pagan and inhospitable place that the Romans did not consider worth conquering.

The path is a walk through the history he created and through an area of ​​beautiful landscapes. To be sure, that is an excuse to raise a glass to Saint Patrick on March 17.