Kilted in Ireland? Any Irish X-Markers?

[thanmuwa]

I intend to travel to Ireland soon and would like to hike Crough Patrick kilted. Would an AmeriKilt seem out of place in Ireland? How about the Irish national tartans, etc.

Good on you. You know of course the traditional way to climb the Croke is barefoot? If you want to be even more traditional, buy a stick from the tinkers that hang around the bottom for a pound (probably 2 euros now), abandon it halfway up, and watch them sell the same stick to someone else on your way back down. Lovely mountain to climb by the way, the views on a clear day are stunning.

As to which kilt to wear, if you could find an Mayoman who could tell the difference, I'd be surprised. You might get more (positive) comments with the Irish national cos of the colours, but it would probably be the first time most people have seen a kilt for real. My uncle lives in Castlebar, not too far away from Westport and the Croke, so if you meet him he may say "my mad nephew wears kilts too", but you are unlikely to meet him unless you play golf :-)

Fantastic scenery around that neck of the woods, the beach under Croagh Patrick is where I spent many happy childhood summer days, Westport house is a lovely example of an old stately home (the ones still standing tend to be the ones where the aristocracy who owned them were at the very least sympathetic to "the cause" if not members themselves), Matt Molloy's pub in Westport (he was one of the Dubliners) is good and often has live music and you are also not far from county Sligo, the countryside that inspired Yeats (the Lake Isle of Innisfree etc)(please pronounce it innishfree by the way!) and the Galway Gaeltacht etc.