Nick and I are standing by the old Norman tower on the sacred isle. “We would come on the pilgrimage when we were kids,” he’s telling me. “Walk all around the island with thousands of others. All the cousins and friends doing the stations of the cross.”
We wander behind the tower, and in the trees are ribbons, cards and photographs. “It’s a bit pagan now,” he says, “but still very popular.” He’s a volunteer, helping to establish a new footpath, the Wexford-Pembrokeshire Pilgrim Way, which links south-east Ireland and Wales. I’m on my third day along the new footpath and have discovered that my route coincides with this more traditional Roman Catholic pilgrimage site at Our Lady’s Island near Rosslare, a venue that attracts around 50,000 pilgrims every August.
