At the age of 50, author and long-distance runner Adharanand Finn embarked on an extraordinary quest: to traverse the entire island of Ireland on foot. What began as a personal challenge evolved into a profound 10-week pilgrimage, covering 1,400 miles and offering an intimate, ground-level portrait of the land of his forebears.
The Call of the Ancestral Land
Finn, the child of Irish parents, had visited Ireland many times during his youth. Yet, he felt he knew only a fragment. Seeking a deeper connection and a unique way to travel, he devised a route starting in his mother's birthplace of Dublin. He would run south through the Wicklow Mountains to Cork, then trace the famed Wild Atlantic Way north past his father's birthplace of Galway, through Donegal and Northern Ireland, before looping south to finish back in the capital.
For nearly ten weeks, he averaged over 20 miles a day. His wife and 15-year-old son provided crucial support, travelling in a motorhome to meet him each evening. The journey was a relentless physical endeavour, but it quickly became about far more than mileage.
Landscapes of Solitude and Spectacle
The running revealed an Ireland of immense, often empty, spaces. Finn traversed rolling farmlands, dramatic coastlines like the Cliffs of Moher, and mountains where he sometimes saw no one all day. He ascended Knocknadobar in Kerry, one of Ireland's holy mountains, where the Stations of the Cross mirrored his own struggle, leading to a moment of transcendent clarity atop the peak.
He discovered hidden gems like the Beara Peninsula, with its pointy, lush mountains and the rare native forest of Glengarriff Nature Reserve. In Northern Ireland, the otherworldly Giant's Causeway and the fantastical rocky outcrops around Ballintoy Point left lasting impressions. Cooling dips were found in serene spots like Poulanassy waterfall in Kilkenny and on the white sands of Derrynane Beach.
The True Heart of Ireland: Its People
While the scenery was breathtaking, it was the people who defined the journey. The famed Irish welcome proved to be no cliché. Locals frequently joined him for stretches of running, making the miles disappear in conversation. The family was regularly invited into homes for food or offered a bed.
One incident perfectly captured the national character. When their motorhome's fuse blew, Finn knocked on the door of a closed hardware shop—an act he'd never contemplate in England. The owner happily helped, finding the right part and refusing payment. In villages, pubs lost in time hosted spontaneous trad music sessions, creating a warm, inclusive atmosphere that felt like the soul of the country.
The journey culminated in Dublin, where 30 runners joined Finn for the final leg along the River Liffey. Singing 'Molly Malone' at the top of their lungs, they finished at Ha'Penny Bridge, before celebrating in a pub with a well-earned Guinness. Finn concluded that his pilgrimage gifted him an impression of a nation at ease, generous with its time, tea, and music—a country that had taken him in and looked after him every step of the way.
