{"id":285997,"date":"2026-02-07T17:21:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T17:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/285997\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T17:21:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T17:21:11","slug":"irish-man-finishes-30000km-cycle-from-roscommon-to-australia-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/285997\/","title":{"rendered":"Irish man finishes 30,000km cycle from Roscommon to Australia \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A stint in Australia<\/a> has become the well-travelled path for many young Irish people, but for Fergal Guihen the route to Sydney has been anything but traditional. <\/p>\n

The journey began in March 2024 in his hometown of Arigna, Co Roscommon<\/a>. Despite having \u201cnever rode a bike before\u201d, the 27-year-old saddled up and cycled across three continents, 28 countries and 30,000km of often challenging terrain. <\/p>\n

The goal was to raise money for two charities close to his heart: Mayo Roscommon Hospice<\/a> and NorthWest STOP.<\/a><\/p>\n

Guihen\u2019s \u201cstory of emigration\u201d came to an end on a sunny Saturday afternoon at the Sydney Opera House, where friends, family and supporters gathered to witness his final pedal stokes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I originally believed would take one year ultimately became a two year adventure and, without question, the toughest thing I have ever done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"FergalFergal Guihen’s family at Sydney Opera House, where Guihen’s 30,000km cycle came to an end on Saturday. Photograph: Jody Coffey \"AA large crowd gathered at Sydney Opera House on Saturday for Fergal Guihen. Photograph: Jody Coffey <\/p>\n

The buzzing crowd caught the attention of passing tourists and locals, unaware of the distance travelled and emotion involved. Guihen said the sense of achievement was yet to fully sink in.<\/p>\n

\u201cCycling in there, with such a big crowd, thinking back to when I left home, to think that this many people would\u2019ve followed along and been interested in this journey and just the support I got was unbelievable,\u201d he said, adding that having family and friends on hand to greet him was \u201creally special\u201d.<\/p>\n

Guihen worked as a general nurse at Sligo General Hospital before he became known as \u201cRossie to Aussie\u201d. <\/p>\n

His experience of people relying on the vital services provided by the charities, and knowledge of how much the organisations require public donations to continue providing them, was the \u201cwhy\u201d behind his fundraising odyssey. <\/p>\n

Guihen\u2019s great-grandmother was cared for in Mayo Roscommon Hospice and \u201cit was unbelievable to be able to pass away so peacefully\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing a nurse, I guess I know how important palliative care is,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

He became familiar with the work of NorthWest Stop, a provider of suicide prevention services, due to family members having \u201cpassed away with suicide\u201d. The subject is something he believes needs to be spoken about more openly. <\/p>\n

est <\/p>\n

Along the way, Guihen experienced temperatures that dropped to as low as -22 degrees in China<\/a> and crossed treacherous terrain. He relied on personal motivation, a secondhand bike, a tent and the kindness of strangers. He said his worldview has been forever changed by the warmth and generosity he encountered during the journey.<\/p>\n

\"FergalFergal Guihen near his hometown of Arigna, Co Roscommon <\/p>\n

\u201cMy original route wasn\u2019t meant to go through countries like Iran or Afghanistan, but as I built confidence the further I went, I met people that would\u2019ve come through Iran, Iraq,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy initial reaction was, \u2018You can go through these countries and not die?\u2019. All I had seen was the news about [them]. So, I had that immense fear that anyone would feel going through countries like that, but only to be met with an amazing amount of kindness. <\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t put up my tent. I couldn\u2019t even put out my camping stove. There were people handing me food, bringing me into their houses. And I hope it\u2019s the same back in Ireland. Years ago, we would\u2019ve done the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guihen said he has learned that \u201chuman nature is the same everywhere\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe all want to take care of each other. People are people, and governments are governments.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his travels, he made connections with Irish communities living in Europe, Asia and Australia, finding little pockets of hospitality and home at every turn, including being welcomed with open arms by a group of Irish expats in Thailand on St Patrick\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n

These moments of kindness far outweighed the lows of the two-year adventure, of which there were many. Guihen said he was drugged and attacked while cycling across Iran, which has become one of his \u201cfavourite countries\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just such a pity that such an awful incident happened there,\u201d he said, adding that the aftermath was probably when he came \u201cclosest to quitting\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut all I knew is once I got back on the bicycle, and once I got one pedal stroke after the next, the momentum was going again. It was almost easier to keep going than it was to quit and having the support of everyone back home and the two charities, thinking of them got me through that as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guihen\u2019s Rossie to Aussie fundraiser<\/a> had brought in donations of more than \u20ac145,000 as of Saturday for the charities. <\/p>\n

Mayo Roscommon Hospice chief executive Martina Jennings said the organisation is \u201cbeyond grateful and so, so proud of Fergal for choosing us as one of his charities for his challenge\u201d.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cNot only has he raised amazing funds, he has also raised awareness for Mayo Roscommon Hospice and the work we do. We couldn\u2019t fund palliative care services without people like Fergal.\u201d<\/p>\n

These donations will be the building blocks for Ireland\u2019s first children\u2019s hospice outside Dublin, Jennings says.<\/p>\n

There will be plenty for Guihen to look back on, but on Saturday he was looking forward to celebrating with the Irish community in PJ O\u2019Brien\u2019s Pub in Sydney, where a pint of Guinness will seldom have tasted so good, and a rest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A stint in Australia has become the well-travelled path for many young Irish people, but for Fergal Guihen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285998,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[986,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-285997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-australia","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285997"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285997\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}