Northern Ireland

John McAreavey and new wife take part in pilgrimage to Spain following wedding

John McAreavey and Tara Brennan pictured on their wedding day
John McAreavey and Tara Brennan pictured on their wedding day John McAreavey and Tara Brennan pictured on their wedding day

JOHN McAreavey and new wife Tara Brennan took part in a pilgrimage to Spain for their honeymoon after marrying in Co Meath earlier this month.

The widower of the late Michaela McAreavey celebrated his wedding to Tara at the luxurious Ballymagarvey Village, near Slane, surrounded by close family and friends.

The 34-year-old from Co Down shared a photograph of himself with his new wife, an accountant from Maynooth, Co Kildare, on his Facebook page on Saturday. The snap was simply captioned with a heart symbol.

The happy couple are believed to have travelled to Spain for their honeymoon where they walked the popular pilgrimage, Camino de Santiago de Compestela.

Thousands of people take part in the pilgrimage every year to the shrine of the apostle St James the Great in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in north west Spain, where tradition has it that the remains of the saint are buried.

Many take the route as a form of spiritual path or retreat for their spiritual growth.

The wedding comes five years after John was left heartbroken by the murder of Michaela, daughter of Tyrone GAA manager Mickey Harte, on their honeymoon in Mauritius.

The 27-year-old school teacher from Ballygawley was found dead in the bathroom of their suite at the five-star Legends hotel in the resort of Grand Gaube in January 2011.

The widower is believed to have begun a relationship with Tara after meeting on a night out in Dublin in 2013.

News of their engagement became public last year when Tara appeared alongside John at a premiere event in Belfast for the new James Bond film Spectre, sporting an engagement ring.

John previously spoke about finding love for a second time with Tara, who had shown him “the beauty of life again”.

He told an audience of 1,000 people at the Knock Shrine in Co Mayo earlier this year that five years on from Michaela’s shocking death, he was “able to love again”.

He also described how his faith and Tara had helped him find forgiveness and rebuild his life.

“It is only in recent times, in the last year or two, that I rediscovered the faith and the real energy in my life and that the world is a beautiful place,” he said at the event in March.

“And coming from a situation where everything was dark and gloomy, with no light, it is a wonderful thing for me to be able to say that I am able to love again.

“My fiancée Tara has shown me the beauty of life again, all the good things about life and what I have learned is that I am able to deal with anything that life puts in front of me because I know that I will always have God at my side.”