Johnny Coyne and Liam Cotter will undertake the gruelling challenge in aid of Daisy Lodge children’s cancer charity.
Mr Coyne has previously cycled from Clonbur in Galway to the Algarve in Portugal; he has walked across Nepal; and cycled more than 7,000km from Canada to Costa Rica. Now, he’s swapping the land for the water.
“We’re starting in Dublin and going along rivers and canals after we get to Europe. So we’re going from Dublin to Rosslare which will take about four days,” he told the Irish Independent.
“Then we’ll cross over to Wales, Saint David’s Head. That’s about a 13-hour crossing and will be the longest stretch we do for the whole journey. We’ll be waiting for a calm day to do it; we won’t be crossing unless it’s perfect weather.
“Once we get to Wales, we’ll follow the coastline to Bristol. Once we get into the rivers and canals in England, we’ll be sticking to them until we come out of the River Thames.
“Then we’ll be going across the English Channel. After that, we’ll be following the rivers and canals all the way through Europe, before going from the Black Sea coastline to Istanbul.
“We’ve been planning it for a year and a half. We have expedition kayaks and we will be bringing from 10 to 14 days worth of dried food packs.
“I’ve done cycling trips before and there’s only a certain amount of planning you can do to be honest. We’re going with the flow, we’re not going to know where we’ll sleep every night, we’re not going to know where and when we’ll stop. We’ll be sleeping in tents most nights.”
Mr Coyne also credits Dúshlán, a nine-month therapeutic adventure-based programme for 15 to 17-year-olds, for changing his life for the better.
“Adventure started for me as a teenager. I was in a Tusla programme for troubled teenagers called Dúshlán,” he said.
“It was a nine-month programme. Instead of school every Friday, I did outdoor activities, and it was a bit of an escape.
“As I got older, I started to struggle with addiction, so this was an escape for me. When I was 21, I woke up one morning and felt like I needed an escape because I was drinking too much.
“So, I bought a bicycle and I just started cycling. I ended up in Portugal three months later.
“Every year since I’ve been creating different ideas for adventures, and this is the biggest one yet. When I did that first adventure, I realised I wanted to do it all the time.
“I came back and set up a business called Lough Corrib Adventures. It’s a seasonal business. I start in April and finish it in September, I make all my money throughout the summer then I go away for the winter.
“Nature has been the biggest healer for me since I’ve had mental health problems. Starting that programme when I was a teenager was the beginning of that.
“Ever since, I’ve just realised that being out in nature and becoming a part of it, really helps you feel connected. I want people to see and be inspired by this.
“They don’t have to go and cycle in a couple of countries, but I’d like for them to know they’re able to make a change, do something more positive with their lives and there’s opportunity out there for everyone.”
