O’Sullivan Bere trail is Ireland's Camino

IT WAS daunting. The assembly of a 500km route over mountains, bogland, fields, across rivers and through towns and villages took years.

That is the O’Sullivan Bere trek of 1602, from the Beara peninsula to Co Leitrim. It has been commemorated in an unrivalled walking route, one of the trekking gems of Europe.

Begun by the Ballyhoura Way Committee in 1990, the last links, in Cork and Roscommon, have recently been put in place. Twelve walking trails, across 10 counties, were incorporated into the route in a partnership between the four provinces.

The route now links Dursey Island in Co Cork to Blacklion in Co Cavan.

It is a walk to rival the famous Camino del Santiago, in northern Spain.

Donal Cam O’Sullivan Bere’s epic trek, from the Beara peninsula to Breifne, in Co Leitrim, in 1602, was not a pilgrimage but a survival trek for 1,000 people fleeing their lands and the English army led by Wilmot.

It evokes other, great historic marches.

I wanted to sample the trek. Where better to start than the rolling hills and mountains of Ballyhoura, the birthplace of the project and halfway on the route. Guide for the walk is Jim Flynn, of Ballyhoura Development, under whose watch the section of the walk from Ballyhea to Limerick Junction is maintained.

We drive a couple of miles outside Kilfinnane, in Co Limerick, through rolling pasture land and pine forests, to pick up the trail at a scenic spot looking down the valley.

Purple willow herb, dripping with moisture, and mountain ash with vivid red berries, provide an explosion of colour on this damp September day.

The views are wonderful, but were probably lost on the poor souls who fled for their lives through these mountains 410 years ago.

The track, at this point, is an easy forest trail, where Coillte lorries can drive, but, further on, and further back, the track is narrow and challenging.

It is worth pointing out, too, that the trail can be cycled, with small variations here and there.

The legacy of the walk lives on, says Jim.

In the nearby Castle Oliver, the O’Sullivan Bere family crest is installed over a doorway.

Members of several other clans, including O’Collins, McAuliffe, O’Rourke, O’Driscoll, McCarthy, and McSweeney, joined O’Sullivan Bere on the journey north.

Many of the trekkers settled along the route and came to be known in those localities as ‘the Bearas’. Jim says walkers can get their ‘walking passports’ stamped in 60 towns and villages along the way, as a way of recording their journey.

There are multiple information boards along the route, informing walkers of local history, and of flora and fauna.

By the time you arrive in Limerick Junction, you’re definitely half-way, says Jim. “Our section goes from near Kanturk to Limerick Junction, where the Multeen Way picks it up,” he says.

Sections can get flooded, banks of rivers can give way, bridges can get worn out.

They use metal bridges instead of timber ones, now. Stiles need to be replaced, occasionally, as does walk signage.

Overlooking the route, in the Ballyhouras, is the edifice of Blackrock, which gives its name to the local hurling team. The local walking group, The Ballyhoura Bears, make constant use of the route.

As regards the numbers walking the entire track, figures are hard to ascertain, as there is no fixed method of recording walkers unless they make contact with the Ballyhoura Development office — which they are not obliged to do.

The track leads off into the distance, an enticing, almost entirely northern-pointing way. Onwards to the Multeen Way in north Tipperary and Offaly, Galway, Roscommon, Sligo and Leitrim.

However, Donal Cam’s brigade had no such luxury of opting out. It was march on or die.

For this day-trekker, it is time to hang up the boots. Some other time. The Beara-Breifne Way project was backed by 11 county councils, Failte Ireland, the Heritage Council, the Department of Environment, Leader groups and private companies, as well as 60 community groups.

The entire route is overseen by the National Trails office, which carries out regular inspections to make sure direction arrows and signage, stiles, bridges and the paths are not broken or damaged.

By persuading and cajoling landowners, local authorities and other interested parties, the planners of this trek have pulled off a remarkable coup.

It was nearly as daunting as the original journey itself.

Ireland’s Camino del Santiago? If it had a scintilla of that popularity, it would be a massive success.