The Accidental Pilgrim
My first book, published by Hodder Headline Ireland in early 2005,
follows my 2000-mile bicycle journey across Europe in pursuit of Celtic
Saint Columbanus. A short synopsis runs like this:
“When an Irishman, an Englishman, a man with an identity crisis and an inexperienced cyclist are all the same person, scaling the heights of the Alps on a cheap tourer seems as reasonable a way as any to get to the bottom of things . . .
After one Silicon Valley project meeting too many, David Moore returned to Dublin with too much money to get a real job, and no idea what to do next. The Accidental Pilgrim follows the recovering dotcommer as he rides two thousand miles across Europe in pursuit of himself and the Celtic saint Columbanus – the Roy Keane of the early medieval Church. A bad-ass early Irish saint who wouldn’t stand for such ephemeral notions as identity crises, if anyone could sort the craic-loving but well-mannered young man, Columbanus would.
On the way to the saint’s final resting place in northern Italy, there are bee-stings in Malin Head, melting roads along the Loire, and instant celebrity in eastern France. A freewheeling traveller’s tale with a dash of medieval history thrown in, The Accidental Pilgrim presents an unlikely double-act and a rewarding journey. “
More information on the Accidental Pilgrim website.
The Book that never happened – ?The Red State Blues?
In the summer of 2003, I got back on the bike (this time a swanky Titanium steed, with some help from bike manufacturer Airborne) and rode all the way down the Mississippi from northern Minnesota to New Orleans, Louisiana.
2000 miles, 11 states, three punctures and countless bottles of water. I wrote at least one draft of this book, then planned some revisions, and then . . . I got married, moved country, had an awesome daughter, and the book never happened. As I write in 2020, the files are still sitting on my computer waiting for something, but I’m not sure what.