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.