A Mayo teacher has decided to walk the Irish coast this summer, entirely in his bare feet.
Eamonn Keaveney (23) from Claremorris will embark on Sunday morning on the 2,021 km journey from his hometown to raise money for suicide prevention charity Pieta House.
His barefoot walk will take him from Galway, to Cork, Waterford, Donegal, across the Wicklow mountains and into Northern Ireland before returning back to Mayo.
Eamonn says if his barefoot walk goes to plan, it will be longest one on record.
The current title belongs to Michael Essign from Germany who walked 1,448 km barefoot back in 2013.
Eamonn says he already has barefoot walking experience having walked part of the Camino de Santiago route shoeless in Spain in 2014.
He also climbed Croke Patrick barefoot a few years ago.
“I thought it would be a cool challenge to climb the four peaks of Ireland barefoot but never got round to doing all four .”
"It all came together when I saw the Guinness World Records book in Eason's last year. I saw the record or the longest barefoot journey and thought I could beat that. I also thought it would be a good opportunity to raise money for a good cause," he says.
Eamonn says he chose Pieta House because of the problem of mental health in the country and the suicide rate among young people.
“I have an advantage over the current record holder because when I spoke to him he had not done any barefoot preparation whatsoever whereas I have. I walk around in my bare feet whenever I can, I go jogging barefoot and try to fit in the odd run so my feet are pretty tough,” he says.
He hopes to complete his trip in three months and has been preparing by walking barefoot as much as possible in the meantime.
He will carry only the bare essentials on his trip : a sleeping bag, cooking items, and a change of clothes.
“I will be camping out every night unless I’m offered a place to stay and only bringing what I can carry with me so it’s quite daunting,” he says.
Link to his fundraiser page here
If you or someone you know needs someone to talk to, contact the Samaritans on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org; www.yourmentalhealth.ie has a directory of mental health services. The number of Console’s 24-hour helpline is 1800-247247 or find your nearest Pieta House at www.pieta.ie