Sir, - We read with interest Mr Roger Garland's letter (August 12th) on the plight of the walkers of Ireland.
On Saturday August 9th, a group of six ladies, including myself, travelled to Borris Co. Carlow to walk from there to Glyn via the Old Railway Line, which we had seen featured on Off the Beaten Track with Olivia O'Leary, and armed with Kevin Cronin's book on the same subject. One lady had travelled from Sligo, three from Dublin and two from Kildare. We had anticipated the walk as being an easy eight miles and set off with a skip in our step.
After approximately one mile of the old track, it faded into a wilderness of thorns, briars and bushes, sided by a valley of deep muck. After emerging from a virtual jungle into a farmyard, much to the bemusement and with the consent of the owner and his family, we proceeded along the road, trying to locate the track, eventually finding it some miles later, only for it to fade once again into the surrounding landscape. Our walk turned into a survival course, causing us to scale walls, embankments and barbed wire fences, under electric fences and wade through rivers. Eventually, over three hours later, Nell McCafferty and Sean Ban having come to mind, we admitted defeat, having not even reached half-way, headed for the nearest landmark and called for help.
Thanks to the kindness of locals, we were suitably refreshed and ferried to the beautiful hamlet of St. Mullens, where shaming the reputation of all walkers, we booked into a B&B, partook of a beautiful meal and later retired to a licensed premises in Graigue for some liquid refreshment.
We would like to invite Olivia O'Leary to lead us on the walk which she talked so fervently about on the above programme, because we sure as hell couldn't find it. Did it occur to the Producers of the programme that some enthusiastic walkers might actually attempt the walk? - Yours, etc.,
Aideen Treacy & Friends,
Narraghmore, Co. Kildare.