Apologies are in order I guess. I haven’t posted for close on a month now. I have been in hospital since the 9th of March undergoing tests. Nothing of a serious nature I may add. Since I was a child, I have had epilepsy and it has been more or less controlled with medication. However, the last two years has seen it getting progressively worse, to the point where my quality of life has been diminished. I wanted to get to the source of the problem. So, I asked to be admitted to the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit in Dublin’s Beaumont Hospital. It is a state of the art 4-bed facility with round-the-clock care. The aim while there is to provoke or induce seizures by reducing medication and depriving sleep while being video-monitored. Twenty days later, enough information was gathered and I was discharged yesterday with a plan, hopefully making life a bit easier for me. I can’t thank the technicians and nurses enough for their dedication and care.

The Camino was as far from my mind as it could be, but can now focus on my upcoming return to Spain in September, ¡gracias a Dios! I am already looking for yellow arrows!

I’m not one for countdowns (ok..I am!) but it is just under 3 months before I wander to the south of Ireland and start the Kerry Camino. This is a relatively short trail compared to the ones I am used to in Spain and Portugal but the thought of just walking with a pack is liberating. I write this while Storm Ciara does her worst outside but hopefully in May all this mad weather will have abated.

Being in Ireland, you just can’t predict what weather you are going to get, especially in May. So the best thing to do is prepare for all seasons. I really can’t see my kit changing that much. I suppose the only parts that will test me is where the trail goes “off-road” or where it is super-mucky after a rain shower! I’m so used to road-walking, or walking on flat trails on the Camino, that I get put off by any bit of descent or ascent. And this is where a good stick comes in. I always buy one before I walk a Camino. Not the metal or ultra-light type. A good wooden one. I will have some time in Tralee before I start out so I can look around for one. It is great for support, not just physical.

My brother is coming along and we have reserved some accommodation in advance. It was just an idea as Tralee and Dingle are usually very busy. I had planned on walking this route alone a few years back luckily the brother was really eager to come along this time. Below are the list of accommodation we have reserved. You might leave me a comment and let me know what you thought of them:

• Tralee: Glenfort House
• Camp: Finglas House
• Annascaul: Dingle Gate Hostel (looking forward to the South Pole Inn)
• Dingle: Rainbow Hostel

The days are pretty short, 15km to 20km each day, I don’t have a guidebook but www.kerrycamino.com has great information and maps. The traditional arrow you see on the Camino is replaced by a sign and a picture of a little man walking. There are many stamping stations dotted around the trail and when you arrive in Dingle you will be awarded with a certificate. The Kerry Camino is one of the Celtic Caminos and walking this plus walking from A Coruna to Santiago will earn you with a compostela.

But, I have three months to go. I have much to do. Follow me here as I prepare for this Camino in May. Buen Camino!

Some say I’m a dreamer. In the past, It has gotten me into some trouble. Looking out windows wishing I could be somewhere else, only to focus on the task at hand. I used to think it was a habit but in my formative years, it wasn’t the case.

Last week, I turned another year on the calendar. I usually take a day off work to celebrate. However, the week before I wanted to celebrate the day by giving something back. What could I do? I could walk! I am good at that!

The Saturday beforehand I created a birthday fundraiser on Facebook with all funds going to Epilepsy Ireland. Epilepsy is a condition I have lived with for nearly 30 years and Epilepsy Ireland do great things spreading awareness and provide assistance to those with epilepsy and their families.

I saw the weather forecast for Monday, the 16th, It was due to be sunny but cold. Perfect walking weather. So the decision was made. I would walk from Dun Laoghaire in the south of Dublin to Howth Harbour, 24kms in total. Dublin’s own coastal Camino. We also call it the Sli na Slainte, the Harbour to Harbour or Celtic Camino. For me, it was just an opportunity to give back.

I got off the 8.30 am train at Dun Laoghaire, tired. It was frosty but quiet at the Harbour. I started to walk northbound with the sea on my right-hand side. The route hogs the coast until it reaches Seapoint where it diverts to the town. At every given opportunity, I reached back to the sea. I passed a few Martello towers, built by the British during the 19th century, for defensive reasons.

I arrived at the River Liffey and the Northside close to midday but I was nowhere near finished at this stage. I had 11km completed, although I had the drab East Wall road to walk down. This was the heart of industrial Dublin.

One of the nicer parts of the northside is Clontarf and it was a joy to walk along the coast here. There is a good area for walking and cycling right until Bayside – another 5 km away.

Just after 2 pm, and 24km later, I arrived in Howth. I must admit I was tired but very content. I didn’t stick around and returned home for some rest.

I just want to thank everyone who gave a few euros for the fundraiser. Together we raised over €200 and I’m super proud of that. I might make this an annual thing and walk a different route each year, who knows? This was a win-win for everyone. I got to witness the beauty of Dublin one more time (I have walked this route many a time) and helped a great cause.

If you are in Dublin, take a walk from the Liberties, past the Guinness Storehouse, past Thomas Street, keep walking until you see Christchurch Cathedral standing tall in front of you.


This is the Dublin Camino and the direction medieval pilgrims walked to board their ship bound for Spain. During your same walk, keep an eye out for the symbols of the Camino…arrows, shells, place names, is anything familiar?

Medieval pilgrims would walk to Dublin Docklands, gather, before taking the arduous journey to Santiago. One place in the Docklands, called Misery Hill, is what is left of a medieval hospital run by monks to assist pilgrims bound for Santiago. And this is where this Bernadette Cunningham’s book comes in.

I have only recently started to appreciate that pilgrims from Ireland made the long dangerous journey in the middle ages. So this book has opened my eyes. It probably ranks as one of the more important books on the Camino due to the amount of research and time that has been spent. I have written a review for Shamrocks and Shells and have reprinted it below.

Dr. Bernadette Cunningham (Four Court Press)

All of us who have walked any part of the Camino in Galicia will notice that there is a medieval feel to it, but some of you may have asked, have many Irish people been here in medieval times and if so, why did they go there?

Dr. Bernadette Cunningham’s “Medieval Pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela” explains that from the 12^th to the 16^th centuries, the promotion of the Camino de Santiago was linked with the idea of penance, repentance, and indulgences. The shrine of St. James was first promoted by Archbishop Diego Gelmírez who got papal sanction to issue indulgences to pilgrims. Santiago de Compostela became on a par with the other big Christian pilgrimage cities of Rome and Jerusalem. Pilgrims from medieval Ireland almost certainly made the pilgrimage to Santiago in jubilee years, when the feast of St James (July 25th) fell on a Sunday and special indulgences could be earned.

For a sea-going nation like Ireland, the geographical position of Santiago de Compostela was a major element of its’ attraction for pilgrims. Part of the journey from Ireland always had to be made by sea and the key to understanding how they got there is to understand the trade routes that already existed – the regular merchant ships of the day were used by pilgrims.

In the 13th century, the first ships were Anglo-Norman bringing pilgrims from the South and East of Ireland and those people would have crossed to Bristol or Plymouth and looked for a ship before heading to Spain from there. The ships used in the 13th century were those used in trading fish, hides or wine and were not very large. The main departure points were Dublin, Drogheda, New Ross, and Waterford. The book provides detailed maps showing towns scattered all over Ireland, the routes to the southern ports, and the long sea voyage that some undertook to get to Santiago, by way of the port of A Coruña.

The first named pilgrim was Richard de Burgh from Clonmel who went to Santiago in 1320. He probably sailed first from Clonmel over to England. Once across the English Channel in France, pilgrims generally used horses for transport until arrival in Santiago. Richard de Burgh is representative of the first pilgrims to be found from Ireland – they were wealthy Anglo-Norman townsmen or bishops with strong English connections.

By the 15th century, we find evidence from other parts of Ireland, from Gaelic lordships in the North and West of Ireland, heading to Santiago. Also, by the 15th century, direct transport in bigger ships along the Bay of Biscay became the norm. For those making a direct crossing to Iberia, the port of A Coruna was normally used. In the 15th century, merchant ships travelling on this route could carry between 100 and 200 passengers.

By the 15th century, it was not unusual for elite women from Gaelic Ireland to undertake long pilgrimages. One of the best-known was the journey taken to Santiago by Margaret O Carroll in 1445. Most pilgrims returned safely, however, there were several hazards which resulted in deaths while abroad, such as, the lack of clean water and fresh food on ship and storms at sea.

In the absence of pilgrimage, the scallop shell is one of these things that will endure through almost everything. Scallop shells are turning up in archaeological excavations throughout the country and all of these are documented in this book. So, we get a snapshot of pilgrimage from Kinsale, Fermanagh, Tuam to more recently the excavations in St. Thomas’ Abbey in Dublin.

Today, the creation of the Celtic Camino from A Coruña reminds us that in middle ages, the port of A Coruña was a major point of arrival for pilgrims from Ireland and other northern European countries.

Dr. Bernadette Cunningham has produced a significant book, as it gives us a fascinating insight into how and why men and women ventured from Ireland to Santiago de Compostela in the Middle Ages. A tremendous amount of research has been undertaken on the subject and this book is a must for anyone with a keen interest in the Camino de Santiago.

Bernadette Cunningham is author of Medieval Irish Pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela (Four Courts Press, €17.95). A three-day conference on Ireland-Galicia links through the ages takes place in Santiago on May 9th-11th. See irishsettlement.ie

Let me apologise! The intention was to keep you updated a little bit more than this but I was busy over the weekend. Here goes…

The Camino Society held their first monthly walk of 2019 in Glencullen. There are tonnes of trails there and the Dublin Mountains Way runs through it. I won’t go into it in too much detail as I wrote a piece about it on their newsletter here. Go check it out, the photos are excellent.

Anyway, the day started well with the sun shining in Donabate. I had a good feeling about the day. I brought the rain gear ‘just in case’. However the further south I went, the darker the sky got and the first drops could be felt at Johnnie Fox’s pub, our meeting point. Not to worry. We marched on regardless.

With a full pack and thirty-something other pilgrims, it was close enough to being on Camino. It was just what I needed with my May Camino quickly approaching. After the walk, we returned to base (Johnnie Fox’s) for some food and music.

The following day, Sunday, marked 100 days before my brother and I travel to Ferrol to start our Camino Ingles / Celtic Camino. From now on, it’s all double-digits and even though I have done this many times before, it feels new this time. Maybe because it is a new route? May 7th we leave for Ferrol and we hope to be in Santiago by May 14th. We have flights booked for May 19th which gives us room to decide to walk to Finisterre or stay in Santiago.