The Adventurers
Rich, (the wise older one) Senior Lecturer in Outdoor Studies at University of Cumbria with a lifetime of messing around on crags, mountains and in boats is planning his next trip. A journey where he hopes to circumnavigate Ireland in a vessel inspired by traditional canoe construction interacting with coastal communities along the way and exploring layers of meaning through exchanges of storytelling. He wants to see something of Ireland and its’ marvellous people.
Rich had the boat but needed someone to join him…
Johan, (the youth of the team) A super talented ball of enthusiasm who loves being at the bleeding edge. A kite surfer, sailor, kite skier, coach and outdoor activities business entrepreneur. Johan said ‘yes’ when asked to have a go at canoeing round Ireland…nuff said!
Both are coming to terms with advancing age by canoeing round Ireland.
Meet Ronan…
Ronan (the star of the show), is a skin on frame canoe built for purpose in Ireland by John Wilkinson at Valkyrie Craft in a manner similar to today’s curragh, a design whose heritage extends into deep history, probably predating Viking clinker boats, with UK examples being excavated from bogs dating back thousands of years.
Known for their light, flexible qualities providing performance and ease of construction, skin-on-frame or 'pointed basket' boats were once common workhorses linking people and places around the vibrant coastal fringe of Britain and Ireland. Testament to their seaworthiness, it is thought that 500 years before the Vikings 5th century ‘St Brenan the Navigator’ probably visited America in such a vessel. An epic journey recreated by Tim Severin in 1977 traveling by ox-hide clad curragh from Ireland to Newfoundland via Iceland.
Small boats plied the coast of Ireland for millennia and skin-on-frame canoes were common, yet modern materials and the migration of life inland from the coasts make this a journey of imagination into the past, giving an amnesia-infused sense of first.
The Route
Starting from somewhere, heading north or south, following the coast, hopefully ending up back where we started.