During the first term, Transition Years from Presentation College travelled as a group to Westport in Mayo to face the challenge of climbing the mighty Croagh Patrick.

Upon arrival, the climb seemed quite intimidating. As the trip progressed it proved not to be as daunting as we first expected. With great team work and perseverance, we overcame the many challenges that lay in our path.

Fr. Alex Kochatt led our retreat as we followed in St. Patrick’s footsteps and reflected on his spiritual guidance. Overlooking beautiful scenes of the West, we enjoyed mass at the peak celebrated by Fr. Alex who was a great mentor every step of the way. Through mist, fog and many cut knees we worked as a team to eventually complete our spiritual trek.

We spent the night in the Croagh Patrick Hostel singing songs and playing many group bonding games. The following morning we were pleasantly awoken by a breakfast buffet kindly provided by the friendly staff of the hostel.

The bus journey home was filled with many humorous stories of our Transition Year retreat. We look forward to many more adventures coming our way during Transition Year.