Imelda and Ian Hanratty receiving their certificates
Couple complete The National Famine Way walk 165km trail
A couple have received certificates from the EPIC Irish Emigration Museum Dublin having recently completed The National Famine Way walk.
The National Famine Way is a 165km trail that traces the footsteps of the Strokestown tenants, men, women and children who were marched from Roscommon to Dublin in a forced eviction in 1847, the height of the Great Famine.
Imelda and Ian Hanratty gradually completed the trail over a number of weekends since March this year.
The couple from Kilnamanagh, both aged 67, began taking walking trips after qualifying for the Free Travel Scheme when they turned 66 last year.
They have already completed walking the length of the Grand Canal, approximately 132 km, over a couple of months by walking most weekends.
“We used our pass on the Luas, train, bus and Local Link to get to each connection,” Imelda explained.
“For the Royal Canal, we started in March, and we did a couple of weekends.
“We did a couple before the summer, and then we were away on our holidays during the summer, and then when we come back around August, September, we finished it off, over a total of about 10 to 12 different weekends,” she said.
After a few legs of the walk, Ian and Imelda noticed signs along the route indicating that it was actually part of The National Famine Way.
“We applied for the official National Famine Way Passport which you get stamped along the route covering counties Roscommon, Longford, Westmeath, Meath, Kildare and Dublin.”
Ian and Imelda were awarded with their certificates for completing the walk on September 16 at the EPIC Irish Emigration Museum Dublin, where the trail ends.
Imelda, who works at An Cosán in Jobstown as a coordinator of University of The Third Age Group (U3A), is encouraging anyone with a Free Travel Pass to make the most of it, during Age Action’s Positive Ageing Week, September 26 to October 3.
The greenways alongside the Grand and Royal Canals are both “suitable for easy walking” she said, and can be traversed over a few weekends with a little bit of planning around public transport.
“You could just go for one trip, like to Hazelhatch, or different places on the train, just have a cup of tea and take a stroll along the canal.”
