Pathless Land

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A01=Tim Hannigan
Author_Tim Hannigan
Britain
Category=WQH
Category=WTL
Culture
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_travel
famine
Folklore
forthcoming
Geography
Hike
history
Ireland
Land wars
Landscape
Memoir
Narrative
nature
penal laws
personal story
public access
right to roam
Travel
Travel writing
Walking
Wildlife

Product details

  • ISBN 9781035908455
  • Dimensions: 153 x 234mm
  • Publication Date: 03 Sep 2026
  • Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
  • Publication City/Country: GB
  • Product Form: Hardback
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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.

Tim Hannigan, was born and brought up in the far west of Cornwall. After leaving school he worked as a chef for several years in busy Cornish restaurant kitchens. He escaped the catering industry via a degree in journalism and a move to Indonesia, where he taught English and worked as a journalist and guidebook writer. He is the author of several narrative history books, including A Brief History of Indonesia and the award-winning Raffles and the British Invasion of Java, as well as the critically acclaimed The Travel Writing Tribe. He's also an academic, with a research specialism in contemporary travel literature. He divides his time between Cornwall and the west of Ireland.

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