Irish man reaches half-way point in trek across Europe to Armagh

An Irishman and his Austrian friend have reached the half-way point of a 2,500km trek across Europe to Ireland.

Eamonn Donnelly and Sepp Tieber, who are trying to raise funds and awareness for dementia research, have reached the mid-way mark near the town of Antheny in northern France.

They are making their way towards Calais from where they will catch the ferry to Dover in England.

Their journey will then see them trek across England and Wales, before taking another ferry from Fishguard to Rosslare. The final leg will involve walking northwards from the Co Wexford port to Mr Donnelly’s home in Keady, Co Armagh.

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The expedition entitled The Long Walk Home is inspired by the life of Mr Donnelly’s mother Margaret who died in April 2014 at the age of 71. She suffered from a rare and extremely aggressive form of dementia.

Mr Donnelly (50), who has lived near Graz in Austria since 1990 along with his wife and three children, teaches English as a foreign language.

“The journey so far has been marked by a mix of emotions. It’s been tough and yet it’s been amazing,” he said.

“We’ve experienced the extremes of walking in 35 to 40 degrees heat to facing the cold of the lower Alps.

“We’ve seen it all, breathtaking scenery at every turn matched with the beautiful, if not a little dangerous, forces of nature, especially throughout three days of heavy thunderstorms in the Alps.”

The two men are now six weeks into the trek and have covered more than 1,250km.

“The generosity and curiosity from total strangers about our adventure has been truly inspiring and has on more than one occasion been the extra motivation to wake up and do another 35-40km the next day,” Mr Donnelly said.

The pair plan to arrive in Dover on August 9th or 10th and hope to arrive in Ireland around August 29th. They hope to reach Keady on September 7th or 8th.

Information about the walk can be found at thelongwalkhome.wixsite.com/thelongwalkhomeor on Twitter @DementiaWalk.