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At Trócaire, we’re always in awe of our amazing fundraisers. Every year, people from all over Ireland take part in events and challenges either with their community or on their own to raise money for Trócaire projects all over the world.
Every now and then, a fundraiser approaches us with plans that blow us away. Dermot Higgins is one of those fundraisers.
Dermot is from Rush, County Dublin, and has devoted his professional life to education. In July he retired after 35 years teaching. Then that same month, with only a bag on his back, Dermot set off from his school and he’s been cycling ever since.
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At 55, Dermot aims to be the oldest person in the world to travel around the globe by bicycle. He aims to cover the required 40,000 km in under nine months.
Dermot enjoys a challenge. Over the past ten years, he has paddled the length and breadth of Ireland’s waterways, hiked the majority of the mountain trails and undertaken some of Ireland’s most challenging long distance cycles.
As a keen supporter of Development Education, Dermot hopes to use this adventure as an opportunity to draw attention to the United Nations Global Goals. As well as this, Dermot will use this life-changing challenge to raise money for Trócaire: “A global charity which shares my interests and ideals”.
Since July, Dermot has cycled from Dublin all the way to Kuala Lumpur, that’s over 15,000 km!
He’s made many friends along the way and has built up hundreds of stories. Dermot even managed to stop by the Trócaire office in Myanmar to say hello!
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Dermot has been keeping a record of his adventures on Facebook.
From Kuala Lumpur Dermot reports:
“This is definitely the most difficult place that I’ve cycled in. It’s a maze of motorways and it’s almost impossible for the cyclist to get through. Having covered the first 160km in less than seven hours, I spent a frustrating three more, in between heavy showers trying to find my way to the hostel where I hoped to stay. Then, after getting there at last I was dismayed to find that it was closed. My phone had lost its charge so I had to go to a restaurant to recharge and find alternative accommodation. It was while I sat in the grotty restaurant that I noticed the vermin – I’m not exaggerating when I say that the cockroaches were as big as mice and the rats as big as cats. I hate cities!”
It’s well worth taking the time to follow his journey on Facebook, and if you’re as inspired as we are, perhaps you’ll sponsor him too!
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