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“I am chair of the St Declan’s Way steering committee and a member of Knockmealdown Active.
St Declan’s Way is Ireland’s longest ancient pilgrim path. It is 115km from Cashel, Co Tipperary to Ardmore in Co Waterford. It follows the path taken by St Declan when he went to meet St Patrick at the Rock of Cashel when they were hosted by the High King of Munster in the fifth century.
They were essentially brokering a deal to work out who was going to bring Christianity to the region. Declan was already established in Ardmore and so, they agreedDeclan would continue to bring Christianity to the Déise, the area of western Waterford named after the Deisí people, which at that time included parts of south Tipperary.
This is the second attempt at re-opening St Declan’s Way as a walking amenity. The earlier attempt was in the 1990s, before long-distance walking trails took off in popularity. We are all flying off to do the Camino in Spain, but we have that here at home.
While the trail is waymarked in both directions, when we organise our annual pilgrimage, we start from Cashel and walk south to Ardmore. We completed stage one and two on St Patrick’s weekend when we walked from Cashel down to Cahir and the next day from Cahir to Goatenbridge.
Community volunteers
On each stage, up to 50 volunteers will help run the 5-day event, with up to 300 people walking from schools, community centres, churches and also individuals who are not connected to any group.
This year we have walkers from all over the country. They comment on the scenery - the rolling tillage and pasture land in Tipperary, the historic Cahir and Lismore castles - while walking along the Blackwater River towards Cappoquin. It is a mixture of different aspects of the Irish countryside.
This Easter Saturday, we will complete stage three; walking from Goatenbridge to Lismore. We don’t go over the Knockmealdown mountains; we go around, but we still get the great views. We continue on from Mount Mellary and onto Lismore. Mount Mellary is where the Cistercian order of monks are based. This is a very important part of the St Declan’s Way experience. This day and the final day, stage five (Aglish to Ardmore) are the most popular.
At the moment, we have between 50 and 60 landowners along the trail. The Way is impossible without them, they are hugely important and the walk is only possible thanks to their generosity and patience.
Work, rest and play
I spent years walking the hills, which requires a physical effort getting up to the mountaintop and is not the place where you’d have long conversations. Walking tracks and trails offer a chance to learn a bit more about your surroundings; talking with people you meet, making connections and still getting plenty of exercise.
I’m from Lismore and studied French and History at Trinity College Dublin. After that, I did a business diploma and joined Guinness (now Diageo) where I qualified as an accountant. I spent time with Britvic and Coca-Cola, and progressed to CFO (Chief Financial Officer) of Coca-Cola in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, where I was based for two years.
I suppose, after 20 years, the learning was starting to fade for me as an individual within the corporate environment. I was bringing other people on but I began to wonder how I was developing myself. I found I wanted to be more creative, to look beyond the short-term return.
I now work with an AI (artificial intelligence) medical imaging company in London. It is a small company and we work remotely, coming together for a day once every two months.This gives me the time to get involved in community initiatives.
Rural regeneration
It started with me getting involved in Knockmealdown Active in 2020. I had walked with them on events and agreed to go along to the AGM. That meeting led to my involvement with St Declan’s Way, then Waterford Leader Partnership and the Cappoquin Community Development Company.
All these groups have a slightly different purpose but really we are all about the one thing - rural regeneration. That in itself is a complex project. There are lots of facets to rural Ireland and each needs to be understood and sensitively incorporated into any plans.
Skill transfer
A lot of the day job is incorporated into my work with St Declan’s Way. When seeking funding, financial management comes into that. Presenting to authorities, I prepare PowerPoint presentations and include good clear pictures that bring people into what we have done, what it cost and our ideas for the future. That kind of output is important to give credibility to community groups.
Ultimately, we want to develop the Knockmealdown area for outdoor recreation. There is beautiful scenery and history all around us, it diverts the mind away from sore feet after a long day of walking.”
To learn more about the pilgrimage visit www.stdeclansway.ie
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