On a sunny day, Ireland West Airport Knock (which is rather a grand title for what looked much like a couple of runways and sheds in a field in County Mayo) must surely have one of the most picturesque landing approaches in the world: all verdant green grass with cotton-wool sheep, azure blue skies and the theme tune from Father Ted. Unfortunately I encountered it on a storm-lashed day in late November: rain, wind and more rain, the same again and then some more.
That’s the Atlantic coast in early winter for you, I suppose. Perhaps it might have been more clement had I been heading to the shrine at Knock itself, where Our Lady appeared in 1879. Instead I was on my way to her cathedral in Sligo, which, as it happens, received an honourable mention in the Pointed Arch column in December. I’d accepted with delight an invitation to join two young friends for their nuptials; so having thrown my morning coat, stripy trousers and other requisites into an overnight bag, off I went.
