An unusual trek around Ireland, a century ago - from hospitable Cork to magnificent Glengarriff  

Recounting a century-old journey made by witty man Harold Speakman, Robert Hume writes the American sought out a donkey and cart when he landed in Cobh so that he could see more and get ‘just as near as I can to the heart of everyday people’

Harold Speakman arrives in Cobh on RMS 'Baltic' on 1 June 1924, depicted here on a postcard.

A hundred years ago today, an American artist was in Cork city, trying to buy a donkey with enough oomph to get him round the whole country.

Without knowing a single person there, 36-year-old artist Harold Speakman spent summer 1924 travelling around Ireland – not by train, motorcar or bicycle, but by donkey and cart. That way he could see more, and get “just as near as I can to the heart of everyday people”.