Tuam man completes 26 county walk for suicide awareness

Date Published: 27-Jul-2011

A Tuam man is on the final leg of a marathon walk in which he covered the 26 counties, stayed with families he never met before and heard some heart wrenching stories during a memorable adventure across the country.

And when Colm Farrell arrives back in Tuam on Sunday afternoon he will be greeted by hundreds of supporters who will accompany him on the final five kilometres of his journey – all to raise awareness of suicide.

The former publican – known locally as Hazard – set out on his journey last May and in the past eleven weeks he has visited every county and has been received with open arms. And he never failed to be accommodated on every night of his epic journey.

Hotels, guest houses, hostels, student accommodation but mainly private houses threw their doors open to Colm along the route and he never once had to dip in his pocket to pay for a place to lay his head.

Four years ago Colm first came up with the idea of walking the 26 counties to raise awareness of suicide but because of work, he could never get around to it. The 45 year old pulled out of the pub trade last year and planned on embarking on the walk in aid of the establishment of a Pieta House in Tuam.

It is a suicide prevention centre that will accommodate those contemplating taking their own lives or inflicting self harm and will serve the Galway, Mayo and Roscommon region.

“Now that I had more time on my hands, I decided to do it and to be quite honest, it has given me a great buzz meeting people from all walks of life, hearing their stories, staying with people I have never met before and even hotels giving me the royal treatment”, Colm said of his experience.

At the moment Colm is in the South Galway area and his plan is to head to Oranmore and Claregalway over the coming days and will then walk down the N17 towards Tuam where he will be met by his many friends, family and ten year old daughter Saoirse who actually joined him on the walk when he was in Donegal and again in Ennis but has been ringing him every day of the journey.

On May 7 he headed off from Tuam armed with two mobile phones, five chargers, a laptop, dictaphone and some clothes that included essential wet gear for the unpredictable summer weather and they certainly came in handy along the route.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.