A Reason to Walk and Walk......

           

An Irish author once said to me - "Don't think of writing a book as a big MOUNTAIN that you have to climb, just write a little word and that will lead you on to a sentence. The next thing you know you have a paragraph and before you know it you've got a book. Everyone has a book in them, in truth; it doesn't matter where you start as long as you do."

I wrote this daily travel diary of our Ireland walk in 2016 as my sister, Sue and I walked through the centre of the Emerald Isle. After arriving home I decided to put pen to paper or in this case finger to computer, so sit back and enjoy our rambles. I hope my thoughts and travel hints will be useful to some other walker.

I wrote it in memory of our brothers Kerry and Lloyd and brother in laws John and Dennis who did not get the chance to travel. They battled Cancer for many years before finally succumbing to the hideous disease. Sue and I decided in the beginning that we needed a reason if we were to walk and put our bodies through pain and sheer exhaustion so decided to walk for Cancer Queensland. We promised to raise $5000 but we did much better and finally raised $11,300 for Cancer Research Queensland.

In 2014 it was suggested to me by Michael Ed O'Sullivan, the Irish O'Sullivan Chieftain that I should walk the walk. That walk was the O'Sullivan March. I knew nothing of this walk even though I was an O'Sullivan descendant and after many sleepless nights and much googling I decided to give it a go. What had I taken on? I was not a walker.

In the beginning I would wake up in the middle of the night and stare at the ceiling, wondering if I can do it. Maybe I should just call it off and bail, but people were counting on us. Do I spend a bunch of money on the gear to do the walk? Yes, I can do it, I just need to keep training and eating correctly. I have talked myself into the walk AGAIN.

This will tell the story of our walk and a travel guide for those who also wish to take up the challenge. We decided to walk the Beara Breifne Way in reverse from Leitrim to Castletownbere, County Cork in four weeks, a distance of 500klms and we would walk it for Cancer Queensland. Sue and I would be the first Australians to walk the Beara Brefine Way in reverse and the first Australian women to walk the complete walk so we had set ourselves a great challenge. Could we do it? 

This dream took us fifteen months to pull together and finally the courage and determination to complete it. Come and walk with us.