Ireland has launched a new walking trail covering 45km of culture and heritage in Ireland’s southeast, following in the footsteps of St Columbanus, a sixth-century Irish missionary who went on to found churches and monasteries in France, Italy and elsewhere.
Sponsors of the trail, starting in County Carlow, have signposted the way, including two feeder routes, but it’s only the beginning of their ambition: they hope to extend the route to Bangor, in County Down, making a total of 530km.
While religious pilgrimages such as the better-known trails to Santiago de Compostela are less common these days than in centuries past, walking the pilgrimage paths for health and history is still increasing in popularity, and the promoters of the Columban way are hoping to catch that wave.
And it could be a long wave: If extended to the saint’s wanderings in Europe, it could eventually lead to a trail of more than 6,000km across and around the continent.
