In the early 1860s four young men left their family's smallholding in the West of Ireland and set out to walk the 120 or so miles to Dublin. This was the first leg of a journey that brought them to New Zealand, where they found themselves at the centre of an extraordinary story. Nearly a hundred and fifty years later the author set out to walk the same route, and in doing so he found time to consider the story of the four Flannerys and their achievements. This fascinating book details the author's trek across Ireland, first tracing the Royal Canal to the Shannon, and then continuing onwards to the West Coast in Mayo. The book will be of interest to anyone who wants to walk either the Royal Canal Way or the longer coast-to-coast route.
All proceeds (author royalties and publisher's margins) to the Aurelia Trust, an Irish NGO working in Romania with abandoned and at-risk children.