Croagh Patrick, a soaring cone-shaped peak that rises above Clew Bay in Co Mayo, is where the Irish have always turned for guidance and reassurance before the harvest. People have been coming for well over 3,000 years, since our Neolithic ancestors first recognised its potency as a sacred site. Later, people come to worship the Celtic sun god, Lugh, and then in 441AD the site was cannily co-opted by St Patrick, who reputedly fasted here for 40 days and nights before banishing the snakes from Ireland.