Mayo man's 2,200km walk to Rome nearing its end

A Mayo man walking the 2,200km ancient route across Europe known as the Via Francigena will reach his end destination this week.

Cathal Kelly from Swinford took on the epic challenge to raise funds for two charities very close to his heart - Children's Health Foundation and the Mayo Parkinson's Association.

Cathal departed from Canterbury in England on June 16 and will end his journey at the Vatican on Thursday.

Along the way he's been joined by friends from back home for various legs of the walk and also boosted by many messages from people at home.

This morning Cathal posted an update on his kellyswalk2rome Facebook page, where today (day 116) he's on the road early with heavy rain and thunderstorms coming in later.

Tomorrow he'll start seeing the outskirts of Rome and on Thursday he's be arriving into St. Peter's Square in Vatican City.

“If the Pope's looking out the window he'll see an emotional, big hairy Mayo man singing the Green and Red of Mayo,” he said.

Find out more about Cathal's walk and to donate here: https://www.kellyswalk2rome.ie/.