AN OMANI national and DCU student has completed a major challenge of walking a staggering 2,016km around Ireland.
Ammar Salim al Badi has been living in Dublin for five years and studied engineering in DCU. He was involved in the Hiking Society in DCU – a good start for his trek around Ireland.
He’s also done his fair share of travelling around North Dublin; having lived in Ballymun, Whitehall, Santry and Coolock and he’s currently living in Finglas. He says the areas were all nice to live in, but he likes to move around.
Howth, Malahide beach and Northwood are all included in some of his favourite places to walk or run in Dublin.
He started his journey around Ireland in Dublin and headed north to Drogheda, Dundalk and Belfast. From there, he went to Letterkenny, Mayo, Galway, Kerry and then continued east until he arrived back in Dublin once again. He posted pictures to his Facebook page throughout, sharing images of his travels.
And what about Ireland’s unpredictable weather conditions?
“I survived! It was Irish… I had a 12 hour shower and 12 hours of sunshine,” Ammar joked. “The toughest part of the trip was negotiating the Dingle peninsula.”
One of the highlights of his walk was the interesting people he met from all around the world, and the friendly Irish people he came across.
Ammar recalls a funny story that happened on his first day, just outside Dublin on his way to Drogheda.
“A farmer saw me walking on the road and he asked ‘where you walking?’
“To Dublin,” I answered.
“You’re going the wrong way, you know,” he said.
“I’m going the long way,’ I replied and kept walking north.”
But all great adventures must come to an end and Ammar finished his in style.
“My goal was to walk 2,000km around the country in 40 days, but in my final week I decided to walk an extra 16km and finish my walk in front of the GPO to send my thanks to the Irish people in a historical way,” he explained.
The goal was certainly achieved, despite Ammar being very exhausted.
“In the last few days, all that I was thinking about was the ice bath I’d have when I was back to Dublin,” he said.
Ammar summarised Ireland and his trip as “lovely people, great history and nice nature”.
He isn’t planning any major walks at the moment but stated that “you never know what the days will bring.”
REPORT: Róisín Nestor