What a Difference a Day Makes: Eamonn Keaveney — It’s the trip of a lifetime, just with sore feet

Irish adventurer Eamonn Keaveney has been walking barefoot across Europe for the past eight months, breaking a Guinness World Record on the way. He tells Helen O’Callaghan about the ups and downs, the state of his feet — and why he’s doing this for Jigsaw, Ireland’s youth mental health charity, and for Friends of the Earth

Eamonn Keaveney: "Walking every day I’ve a lot of time to think. Reflections on the nature of people mainly. No matter where I go, what country, people have been very helpful, offering me food, water, lifts I had to refuse."

This walk I’m doing, barefoot, is on the back of a 2,000-kilometre walk I did in 2016 around Ireland — at the time a Guinness World Record for the longest barefoot walk. That was for Pieta House, for suicide and self-harm prevention.

Ever since finishing that I wanted to take on another big walk. I considered walking across the US but there was something not quite right about it. Sometimes an idea has a sort of pull — walking across America didn’t, it never fit.

I was living with a bunch of people in Drumcondra, most from Brazil. In a random discussion one day about how many continents there are, they understood five, with America being all one from Canada down to Chile — and Eurasia being all the one continent too.

It made me think of where Europe meets Asia, historically held to be Istanbul, Turkey. I thought: 'that’s the walk — if I walk from Istanbul to Ireland I’ll have walked the continent of Europe'. These things take a lot of planning, a lot of money, it’s a self-funded trip. I felt a bit daunted, but it felt right.

I started walking barefoot at college, I heard it had health benefits. I’m not a barefoot purist, there’s plenty good reason for wearing shoes... Doing a barefoot challenge attracts attention to the cause. I’m doing it for Jigsaw, the youth mental health charity, and Friends of the Earth.

I started on March 4 in Turkey. I’ve gone through Bulgaria, Romania. Hungary took a long time — I wanted to do some trails, which I enjoyed. I’ve come through Austria. I’ve done more than 3,800km. The only border with a lot of checks was Turkey into Bulgaria. It’s a nice milestone, moving into another country — another chunk’s behind you, you’ve a sense of achievement.

I’m not going to sugar-coat it, it’s been difficult. The very first day I stubbed both big toes, cut them badly. Just days before coming into Bulgaria, going past a farmyard a very angry dog bit me on the backside... a frightening enough experience. Luckily I was close to a town with a hospital, they were very good to me. I had to get a full course of four rabies jabs over two weeks. It made life awkward, making sure I was passing a hospital at specific times.

My feet aren’t in the best state — worn down from a lot of walking on tarmac recently. Just as rubber on shoes wears away, so does skin on feet. It grows back, stronger, but doing too much mileage quickly wears it down too fast, it doesn’t have time to regenerate. I’ve had to slow the pace.

Gravel’s the worst, it slows you down, batters the flesh. Any kind of muddy dirt track, ideally dry, that’s the nicest but you won’t get anywhere fast. Hungary had a good bit of that.

My average daily distance is around 25km, the longest day was 40km, the shortest five.

I’ve been camping a lot. I’m mildly terrified that winter’s coming, the cold. I don’t know how feasible camping will be… I tell myself I’ve made it past obstacles already, chances are I’ll make it past the next ones.

Why Jigsaw? It provides free services to people least capable financially of accessing services. Where Pieta House helps at the crisis point, Jigsaw helps before people get to crisis point — both do much-needed work.

And Friends of the Earth — I’ve seen in real life the effects of climate change. Walking through Hungary, the country’s drying out. They’ve had several heatwaves, people told me this used to happen for a week, now it’s happening for three months. The earth’s so dry in places you see huge cracks in the ground. Many streams and rivers are reduced to a trickle or gone entirely.

Walking every day I’ve a lot of time to think. Reflections on the nature of people mainly. No matter where I go, what country, people have been very helpful, offering me food, water, lifts I had to refuse.

Also shoes — outside a shop in Bulgaria, a bunch of men gathered talking to me. We couldn’t communicate much, but one went off on his moped. He came come back with a pair of shoes! I had a job convincing him I didn’t need them!

Just yesterday in a café, I went to pay for a coffee, a pastry and they said it was on the house.

My partner, Ellie walked with me for six months — wearing shoes — as far as Vienna. I miss her. It’s more difficult on your own.

It’s probably changed me in subtle ways. I’ve certainly been struck by the common humanity of everyone. And there’s a sort of quiet strength in doing something you weren’t sure you’d be able for, and overcoming it.

I’m looking at crossing Germany now, then heading north to Calais, taking the boat to Britain, heading to Wales, Rosslare — I’ll be on the home stretch then. I’ll go to Dingle, Europe’s most western point, and then to Claremorris, County Mayo.

It’s the trip of a lifetime, just with sore feet.

https://www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/BarefootAcrossEurope Barefoot Across Europe 2025 — Eamonn Keaveney's journey from Istanbul to Claremorris

• Since being interviewed more than a month ago, Eamonn has walked a further 800 kilometres and is well on the way towards Reims in France. The weather “hasn’t got too cold yet” — his feet are “doing alright”. He broke the Guinness World Record for the longest barefoot journey when he passed 3,410kilometres.
• Donate to Jigsaw and Friends of the Earth Ireland at idonate.ie/fundraiser/BarefootAcrossEurope