The Pathless Land

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. The Pathless Land offers an important new perspective on contemporary debates about extending the “right to roam” in Britain, and asks important but neglected questions about the most practical mechanisms for public access to the heavily agricultural British and Irish landscapes. This is also a deeply personal journey for the author, Tim Hannigan. Born in Britain, but of Irish ancestry and living in County Galway, there are awkward questions about landscape and identity, and about the connections between walking and belonging, to be answered as he struggles to find his way across a pathless land.