Marc Richard points to Ireland on his map which details his many cycle trips around the world.
Shoppers in a local supermarket probably didn’t notice a Frenchman by the name of Marc Richard walking along the aisles last Monday evening, and little did they know that the quietly-spoken man was stopping off in town during a bicycle marathon journey which has seen him travel through South America, the United States and Canada, and then on to Ireland, and with 14 months of pedalling in his legs he is now cycling up to the northern tip of the country, from where he will take the ferry to Scotland and then cycle down through the UK before travelling across the Channel back to his home in France.
Marc has now been on the road for 14 months, but it is not his first marathon cycle. He began his round-the-world adventures at the age of 22, and three decades later he is on his seventh journey, which has taken him to most of the continental land masses. In total he has pedalled about 144,000 kilometres and travelled through 103 countries, and when he eventually gets back to his home in France he will rest for a while before setting off again to another part of the globe, hopefully including a cycle along the Great Wall of China.
Everywhere Marc goes he likes to meet local people, and during his stop-over in Mallow this week he met Alan Farmer, who offered him his couch to rest up for the night, an invitation he gratefully accepted, and on Tuesday he visited the office of the
Mallow Star where he unfolded a huge map which detailed the many journeys has taken over the past three decades, after which he waited for the rain to clear away before setting off again on his bike.
To follow Marc’s progress, go to his Facebook pages Marc Richard Coleville, or Marc Richard Athlete.