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The Pathless Land

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What to expect

An epic journey on foot from Dingle to Burr Point in search of Ireland’s lost footpaths, and a quest to unravel the complexities of countryside access in Ireland and Britain.

Ireland is a pathless land. Public access to the Irish countryside is more limited than almost anywhere else in Europe – no right to roam, no network of footpaths across the landscape and minimal legal protection for existing rights of way. When Tim Hannigan discovers a forgotten web of paths recorded on an old map of Ireland, he sets out on an epic journey to find out how the country lost its ways.

As well as an evocative travelogue and a fascinating exploration of the turbulent history of the land in Ireland, The Pathless Land also offers an important new perspective on contemporary debates about extending the “right to roam” in neighbouring Britain, and asks vital but neglected questions about the most practical mechanisms for public access in heavily agricultural landscapes.

This is also a deeply personal journey for the author. Born in Cornwall but living and raising a family in County Galway, he must confront awkward questions about landscape and identity, and about the connections between walking and belonging, as he struggles to find his way across a pathless land.

Critics Review

In The Pathless Land, Hannigan brings luminosity, clarity and rich research to tell an evocative and fascinating story of land and access in Ireland. Hannigan is a perfect traveller on foot - curious, empathetic and questioning. I couldn't recommend The Pathless Land more.
Jack Cornish
To walk is to know… Hannigan engages in deep and beguiling conversation with the Irish landscape. He, and the reader, emerge richer and wiser for the experience.
Max Adams
With every footsore step, Hannigan brings Ireland’s troubled past hauntingly alive.
Ian Crofton
A brilliant travelogue, balancing observation and history, The Pathless Land has ingenious structure and a humane mission: the author, realising that Ireland has few public footways, sets off to experience walking across a land that often wants to make his journey difficult. It is a finely written account, with keen insights on every page, all the keener for being gathered on the eye level and pace of a walker. In parallel, the book also delivers a history of Ireland’s relationship to the land, a story that is perhaps the best way to understand the country and its people.
Garrett Carr
Praise for Tim Hannigan:

Absorbing and insightful... skilfully interweaves geography, geology, travel memoir and history.
The TLS
The best kind of traveller, Hannigan is brimful of boundless curiosity... a beguiling book that throbs with passion.
The Irish Times
A magnificent work of travel and historical deconstruction – deeply personal, meticulously researched and hugely enjoyable.
Philip Marsden
Author Tim Hannigan
Narrator Stephen Perring
Duration 10 hours
Release Date
ISBN 9781035928736
Format Audiobook
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing
Genre Local history, Travel writing
Availability AU, GB, IE, US

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