A few mates and myself had an idea of heading down to Mayo, climbing Croagh Patrick, and getting a few beers in Westport.  we headed down on the Friday, and the journey took roughly 4 hours.
We got set up in the place we were staying, and headed into the centre of town, got a feed, and got a few beers while taking in some Irish music, the atmosphere was electric in Matt Molloys, a definite must check out place if you are down around this part of the world!
The following day, we went up Croagh Patrick, at first, we were a bit knackered, and struggled to get up the first part of it. Then, somehow, we got a second wind, and although I wouldnt say it was easy, but its definitely doable, as long as you have reasonable fitness. At the top, it was really blowy, but the views around were spectacular, definitely worth the effort.  There’s a wee chapel at the top too,  if you feel inclined to say a wee prayer or two.
Only thing I noticed was that it was very gravelly, and was a bit awkward on the way down. After coming back down Croagh Patrick, we headed back to Westport, and got showered and headed to the first bar, got a feed while watching the Tyrone vs Mayo game, and headed somewhwere else tow watch the rest of the match, and just done a pub crawl of Westport, ending up in a nightclub.
To be honest, I felt seriously out of place at times, once or twice I felt like an old man, luckily enough, we found a bar in the nightclub place where people were of similar age to us. The following day, we drove back out to Croagh Patrick, and visited the famine memorial, and some wee church nearby.
It was a longer drive home, as there was some kind of tractor parade along the way, and the traffic in Enniskillen was horrendous. Still, a good weekend was had, and I would heartily recommend visitng Westport and Croagh Patrick, a beautiful part of Ireland, and indeed, the world.
celtic traveller blog 