Shannon Country

In August 1939 the Irish travel writer Richard Hayward set out on a road trip to explore the Shannon region just two weeks before the Second World War broke out. His evocative account of that trip, Where the River Shannon Flows, still sought after now by lovers of the river, became a bestseller. Eighty years on, inspired by his work, Paul Clements {u2013} author of Romancing Ireland, the biography of Richard Hayward {u2013} retraces Hayward{u2019}s journey along the river, following {u2013} if not strictly in his footsteps {u2013} then within the spirit of his trip. From the Shannon Pot in Cavan, 344 kilometres south to the Shannon estuary, his meandering odyssey takes him by car, on foot, and by bike and boat, discovering how the riverscape has changed but is still powerful in symbolism. While he recreates Hayward{u2019}s trip, Clements also paints a compelling portrait of twenty-first century Ireland, mingling travel and anecdote with an eye for the natural world.