Séamus O'Sullivan

I grew up in County Cork, and I've got my grandfather to thank for this whole path. He was a retired shepherd, and some of my best childhood memories are walks along the Beara Peninsula with him. That's where the obsession started — I was maybe seven or eight, and he'd point out things I'd never noticed: how the landscape changed, why certain paths existed, what the old stone walls meant.

In 2008, I finished my degree in Geography and Environmental Studies at University College Cork. I wasn't interested in sitting in an office, so I took a role with the Irish Tourism Board as a landscape consultant. That job let me do what I actually wanted — get out on the trails and document them properly. Over six years, I logged more than 200 walking routes across nine counties. No shortcuts, no copying other guides. Real fieldwork.

The breakthrough came in 2015. I'd spent two years obsessing over the Wicklow Mountains — walking every major ridge, every valley route, every alternative path. When I published the field guide, it just connected with people. Educators started using it as their standard reference. Serious hikers trusted it because I wasn't selling them anything — I was just sharing what I'd actually learned on the ground.

That's when fleurdelishotels Limited approached me to lead their walking routes content. Over the past six years, I've focused entirely on creating detailed, accessible guides to Ireland's most significant walking destinations. The Cliffs of Moher paths are treacherous in ways people don't always understand. Dublin Bay has gentle walks most tourists never find. Wicklow's got routes for every fitness level, and the Wild Atlantic Way is huge — so I focus on the sections that actually matter.

I've now walked over 8,000 kilometers across Irish terrain. Every article I write comes from that lived experience. Not theory. Not borrowed content. Real time on real trails, in real weather, figuring out what actually works and what doesn't.