Taking The Rocky Road To Dublin

The big city… THURS6NOV25

he road has been part of many a mythical journey, an emblem of moving on, facing challenges and getting to a new place in your life.

Which is possibly why Temple Carrig School students Jamie Flynn, Paddy Rogan and Noah Fortune decided to get their walking boots on to trek over 18 miles for local mental health charity Jigsaw.

It was actually 18.6 miles, to be precise, the three buddies taking on the challenge yesterday of a hike and a half from Greystones all the way to Grafton Street.

Which is in the big city, for those of you who haven’t left Greystones in a while.

Part of the lads’ Transition Year experience, their initial target of €500 was quickly passed. And then doubled. And then doubled again. So, hey, let’s help them hit €2,500.

In the meantime, the trio kept a diary of their Jigsaw hike…

8am We met at the Greystones Community Mental Health Awareness mural at the North Beach, where we were greeted by some lovely members of the Rise At The Cove, who had kindly gifted us hot drinks to set us on our way.

9am We were on our way, heading toward Bray, with about 30 more kilometres ahead of us.

9.45am The Jigsaw crew had kindly offered to meet us in Bray at their Jigsaw Wicklow facility. They gave us a break and some chocolate to fuel us.

11.30am This was the most challenging stretch of the journey. We faced a long road with narrow paths and minimal interaction as we passed through Killiney.

2pm We entered Blackrock. While we were there, we asked three women to take a photo of us, and they recognised Jigsaw. When we told them about the cause, they all donated together — a total of €60.

3pm The home stretch: after the Blackrock boost of pride from the donations, we started picking up our pace (or at least attempting to).

4.30pm Grafton Street! We made it after 8 hours, 33.34 kilometres, and 41,667 steps in total. We knew that reaching Grafton Street was more than just a walk — it was a movement.

We would also like to praise Jigsaw for their kindness and support throughout this project.

And thank you to every single person who donated or who will donate before and after the journey.

There is still a stigma around mental health in Ireland, especially among teenagers, and we believe this is a real turning point. It is okay not to be okay. You are amazing.

Ah, thanks. You can still donate to Jamie, Paddy and Noah’s Jigsaw fundraiser right about here.