102. Run or Walk

There are many different paths and personal goals in life . Some of them converge right here in Dingle. Last Saturday over 3500 runners from Europe and beyond arrived here for the Dingle Marathon around the coastal perimeter of the Peninsula. Starting at the village harbor you could hear people ringing their cow bells in support of the participants. The race started with two wheel chair tricycles up front as the tip of the spear. Baby strollers were sprinkled among the serious runners. Most had a personal best to shoot for, even if that meant just finishing the race. 

Before the race I heard my name and was tapped on the shoulder by Rainer, a German man from Stuttgart that I had met on the bus from Tralee. He was here for the marathon. We kept running into each other, so that meant I had someone to root for. I had skin in the game, even though I didn’t have a number. Irish weather gave the race start perfect conditions - cool, cloudy skies, not hot. But after two hours Ireland blessed the runners with rain and wind in their face. It wouldn’t be any fun without that. Easy for me to say. I was having a cappuccino as moral support. 

But not everyone’s path here includes running. Others are pilgrims. My first night here I met a woman, maybe 80 years of age and a hundred pounds, tall and lean, who had just walked the pilgrimage route from Tralee to St. James Church in Dingle. It’s called the “Santiago Camino” of Dingle mirroring the much longer network of paths of the Santiago de Compostela in Spain ending at St. James Cathedral.

The woman I met traveled it in three days, 18 miles, then 15 miles and 12 miles respectively. Along the overland trail are markers with an icon image of an early Irish monk. His long hair and unshaven head indicates he has no allegiance to the rules of Rome, but a free spirit among the beehives of Ireland.

The Oratory of Gallarus, a “place of prayer for the stranger or pilgrim,” is a highlight along the way. It is a 12th century wonder, still intact and dry as a bone inside after centuries of Irish weather.

The Oratory is situated in a wider circle of stone marking a separation from the sacred and secular. The entrance faces West, while the inside window portal faces the East for dawn’s light. The outer thicker walls taper upward and inward displacing the tension and weight onto the outer base, like a keystone in an archway. I’ve been there twice with different trips across the interior of the peninsula, both times on wheels and not on foot.

But if you are not a pilgrim nor a marathoner, there is the Dingle Way for hikers and lovers of nature. It is a much longer trail that circumvents the peninsula. A much milder version of the Appalachian Trail. 

The other day, at a fish bar with clam chowder and hake fish bites, I was sitting next to a Mary Ellen from Philadelphia. She was embarking on a 10 day hike of the Dingle Way with planned stops at B&B’s along the way. This takes you out towards Slea Head, the tip of the peninsula. Like the Santiago de Compostela, you can arrange through a third party to organize accommodations and have your luggage shuttled ahead of you. My friend Francis in Massachusetts who is a sectional hiker of the Appalachian Trail would probably disagree with my comparison since he’s sleeping outdoors in a tent and packing his own food. No B&B’s on the AT.

But if you are like me, not a marathoner, not a long distance hiker nor pilgrim, then a beautiful sanctuary hidden away within the village of Dingle is perfect. Tucked away off Green Street are three beautiful prayer gardens. The first is flower and herbal. The second has a labyrinth of green to walk through. The third is a garden of trees mostly birch, planted to honor different families. 

The labyrinth is amazing. It’s a narrow path that tests one’s balance. But it does not simply spiral inward. The entrance leads you half way in, then it spirals back out to the exterior, then gradually returns you to the center. Like our lives it obviously does not go in a straight line. But also like us it leads you inward, then outward, then in again, until we find a balance. This was the perfect distance for me. And the best metaphor for my travel.

I discovered the gardens because of a traditional Irish music concert at St. James last Friday. A well known Irish pipes player, Owen, had written individual music scores to six different stain glass windows situated in a former convent next to the Prayer Gardens. Since I had purchased his CD I came to see the source of his inspiration - the windows themselves.

The stained glass art by Harry Clarke are an explosion of floral detail and color design. If the gardens were a tribute to Nature, the stained glass is a tribute to human creativity revealing the Divine. It’s best if I just share a few samples here to appreciate the artistry. I’ll present the luster of all six stained glass compositions in a post all to itself.

So here’s to all the marathoners, distance hikers, pilgrims and labyrinth walkers. Whether you decide to run or walk, all of the Dingle peninsula seems to spiral inwards to this point, centered in the prayer gardens and shining through the devotional windows above.