St Patrick's Purgatory

This is not a visitor attraction and cannot be treated as one. Station Island on Lough Derg has been a place of penitential pilgrimage since at least the twelfth century, when accounts of a cave here as an entrance to purgatory circulated across Europe and drew pilgrims from as far as Hungary; it appears in medieval literature and on early maps of Ireland. The three-day exercise, still performed, requires arriving fasting, going barefoot for the duration, keeping a complete twenty-four-hour vigil without sleep, taking one meal a day of dry bread and black tea, and walking a set series of prayer stations on the stone beds - the foundations of early monastic cells. It is physically demanding and is done for religious reasons. Shorter one-day retreats are also offered. Booking is required for everything; there is no casual visiting and no access to the island otherwise.

What you actually see

• The three-day exercise - barefoot, fasting, with a full night's vigil.
• The stone beds - early monastic cell foundations walked as prayer stations.
• The medieval reputation - a purgatory entrance known across Europe.
• The island - reached only by the pilgrimage boat, with no casual access.

When to go

The three-day pilgrimage runs from June to mid-August; one-day retreats run at other times in the season. Everything must be booked in advance.

Honest expectations

Not open to sightseers - there is no way to visit the island casually. The pilgrimage is physically hard: barefoot walking, one meal a day, and a full night without sleep. Undertake it for its purpose or not at all.

Nearby

Pettigo village is the mainland access; Donegal town and Lower Lough Erne are either side.