The word

Author Hilary Bradt on a transformative trip

IT REALLY WAS THE TRIP THAT CHANGED ME.

It was the first time I had travelled on my own since my marriage had ended, and I had to build up my confidence and cope with the responsibility of looking after an animal as well. It had been 40 years since I’d owned a horse, and a few years since I’d even ridden one. I gradually learned to relax and take every day as it came, and to enjoy the challenges. I grew confident about finding cross-country routes, rather than sticking to the roads (there were few decent maps of Ireland in the 1980s). I also became a lot braver about asking for help and directions when needed. I had to: every evening I needed to find accommodation for myself and the pony, and even had to hitch a lift, for the two of us, across the River Shannon.

THERE’S ALWAYS SOMETHING NEW TO DISCOVER IN IRELAND.

I’m fortunate to have a wide range of interests, so I was as elated to study the Book of Kells in Dublin as to spot an otter or a medley of seabirds.

IRELAND WASN’T SO DIFFERENT TO LATIN AMERICA AND MADAGASCAR, WHERE I’D SPENT TIME TRAVELLING.

The similarities were striking: hospitality, curiosity and some reluctance to change the way of life that had worked for previous generations. It was a couple of years before the Irish government was able to encourage the Celtic Tiger boom, which characterised the next two decades. There I was, clip-clopping through a country that was much the same as the Ireland my parents had enjoyed on holiday, where there were few cars, many farms and small-holdings were self-sufficient, and a good moan about the government made everyone feel better.

MY FINAL GUIDEBOOK WILL BE ABOUT SOCOTRA, AN ISLAND OFF YEMEN ABOUT THE SIZE OF CORNWALL.

It’s one I produced with my friend and co-author Janice Booth last year. Now, the thought of tackling somewhere like Madagascar, with all the work involved, makes me feel exhausted. That said, I have loved doing the three Slow guides to Devon, and there’s still a chunk of mid-Devon that’s undescribed, so never say never...

A Connemara Journey: A Thousand Miles on Horseback through Western Ireland, by Hilary Bradt, is published by Bradt Guides, RRP: £12.99. INTERVIEW: SARAH BARRELL

A Connemara pony near the Twelve Bens mountains, County Galway