{"id":532427,"date":"2026-07-04T08:40:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T08:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/532427\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T08:40:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T08:40:14","slug":"70-year-old-to-walk-from-donegal-to-kinsale-for-ms-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/532427\/","title":{"rendered":"70-year-old to walk from Donegal to Kinsale for MS Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A 70-year-old man will set off from Donegal on a 450+ kilometre trek to raise funds for MS Ireland.<\/p>\n<p>Tony Merrigan says that the trek will mark &#8220;one last adventure&#8221; as he gets ready for the journey to begin in 10 days&#8217; time.<\/p>\n<p>Setting off from Donegal Town on Monday the 13th of July, he will be on the road for 20 days &#8211; planning to arrive in Kinsale, County Cork on Saturday the 1st of August.<\/p>\n<p>Tony, who turned 70 last year, is currently living in Nerja in Spain, roughly 40 minutes east of Malaga.<\/p>\n<p>Despite tearing his achilles 18 months ago, the septuagenarian is getting in shape for the walk.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-640239 in-content-img not-prose w-full\" height=\"1273\" width=\"auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/70-year-old-to-walk-from-donegal-to-kinsale-for-ms-ireland.jpg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have great opportunities to get fit between now and then. We have mountains and lots of walks right there available to me. In fact, I have started walking now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>His motivation to take on the charity walk for MS Ireland stems from his daughter, Laura.<\/p>\n<p>She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at the age of 27, but thanks to support from the charity and her medical team, is able to live a full life now at the age of 46.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-sans font-semibold text-xl md:text-[30px] leading-9 text-primary w-full\">\n        You may also be interested in\n    <\/p>\n<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.donegaldaily.com\/news\/paddy-mcdaid-honda-run-comes-to-a-close-after-10-special-years-640294\" class=\"block w-2\/5 shrink-0\" aria-label=\"Paddy McDaid Honda Run comes to a close after 10 special years\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/paddy-mcdaid-honda-run-comes-to-a-close-after-10-special-years.jpg\" class=\"max-w-full w-full h-full object-contain relative z-10\" width=\"150\" height=\"84\"  alt=\"Paddy McDaid Honda Run comes to a close after 10 special years\" \/><\/p>\n<p>            <\/a><\/p>\n<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.donegaldaily.com\/news\/donegal-tweed-takes-centre-stage-at-international-workshop-in-sweden-640249\" class=\"block w-2\/5 shrink-0\" aria-label=\"Donegal Tweed takes centre stage at international workshop in Sweden\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/donegal-tweed-takes-centre-stage-at-international-workshop-in-sweden.jpg\" class=\"max-w-full w-full h-full object-contain relative z-10\" width=\"150\" height=\"84\"  alt=\"Donegal Tweed takes centre stage at international workshop in Sweden\" \/><\/p>\n<p>            <\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy daughter Laura, unfortunately, at 27, she was diagnosed with MS,\u201d Tony said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe has a full life now. She\u2019s 46. She\u2019s had a child since. She lives a full life, but she gets tired and she has her moments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been something that\u2019s been on my mind to do for this particular cause because of that situation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>His gargantuan walking route only includes one rest day in Limerick, but for him long-distance treks are familiar, having previously completed an 800+ kilometre walk from France to Santiago de Compostela.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to do this walk. It\u2019s probably my last adventure given my age, so I\u2019m quite happy to do this particular walk as my last big adventure,\u201d he said ahead of the walk.<\/p>\n<p>He will have some support from his family on the way into Limerick, but he is also welcoming anyone who wishes to join him for part of his journey.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnybody that sees me on the road, beep the horn or indeed join me. They\u2019re more than welcome. I would love that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He is raising the funds via MS Ireland&#8217;s Enthuse platform, meaning that all donations go directly to the organisation.<\/p>\n<p>To support Tony\u2019s fundraiser, you can visit: <a href=\"https:\/\/multiplesclerosisofireland.enthuse.com\/pf\/tony-merrigan\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/multiplesclerosisofireland.enthuse.com\/pf\/tony-merrigan<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Tony\u2019s route is as follows:<\/p>\n<p>13 July: Donegal Town to Ballyshannon<br \/>\n14 July: Ballyshannon to Grange<br \/>\n15 July: Grange to Sligo<br \/>\n16 July: Sligo to Coolaney<br \/>\n17 July: Coolaney to Curry<br \/>\n18 July: Curry to Kilkelly<br \/>\n19 July: Kilkelly to Claremorris<br \/>\n20 July: Claremorris to Tuam<br \/>\n21 July: Tuam to Claregalway<br \/>\n22 July: Claregalway to Ardrahan<br \/>\n23 July: Ardrahan to Crusheen<br \/>\n24 July: Crusheen to Newmarket-on-Fergus<br \/>\n25 July: Newmarket-on-Fergus to Limerick<br \/>\n26 July: Rest day in Limerick<br \/>\n27 July: Limerick to Croom<br \/>\n28 July: Croom to Charleville<br \/>\n29 July: Charleville to Mallow<br \/>\n30 July: Mallow to Blarney<br \/>\n31 July: Blarney to Innishannon<br \/>\n1 August: Arrive in Kinsale<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 70-year-old man will set off from Donegal on a 450+ kilometre trek to raise funds for MS&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":532428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-532427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532427","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=532427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}