Birds of a feather fight together

WALKING is the flavour of the season.

In an interview on RTÉ’s Nationwide last week, I was glad to be able to say that the farmers of Ireland, whose reluctance to allow passage over their land I’ve often criticised, have swung in behind local initiatives to create maintained, waymarked routes and will be helping our beleaguered economy by doing so.

Perhaps some of the English, who love walking, will come. I hope that my book, Scenic Walks in West Cork, published last week by The Collins Press, will help seduce them to ramble in Ireland. It’s a pretty book, well-bound, with many colour photographs. Each of the 21 walks is accompanied by a commentary on the natural history, human history and prehistory of the area.