In this week’s edition of The Third Degree John McGroary chats to Paul about his interesting career change from a Garda and a UN peacekeeper to a tour guide and winning this year’s Walking Tour Guide of the Year award.
Hi John, thank you for doing this interview. Congratulations on winning the Walking Tour Guide of the Year award in the LUXlife Travel & Tourism Awards.
What do you do that you think helped you win that?
Wow, a good question. There are many great tour guides and people working tirelessly in the Irish tourism industry who would deserve such an award. I think what helps towards an award like this is that the customer must feel a connection with the area and the activity they are undertaking. I think that my customers want to hear more about my life and growing up in Donegal. Sure, they do want to hear about the history and stories about the places we visit, but they also want that information to be linked into what life is like here. If they left me feeling that I just gave them the statistics about a place, such as the height of Sliabh Liag and the type of rock on it and didn’t tell them about what it’s like for me to hike to the summit and my connection with the mountain, and the local people etc. then it would just be a basic tour and, while they may enjoy it, they wouldn’t leave feeling a genuine connection with the place. This is how I like to present my tours or hikes and thankfully my customers seem to want and enjoy that approach.
You already had an interesting career, as a Garda and a UN peacekeeper. Was there a temptation just to relax, or had you always fancied a job in the outdoors?
I got involved in hiking back in the mid-90s when a couple of friends and I started the Bluestack Ramblers Walking Club. That was a very enjoyable pastime in the beginning. Then in 2000 the Ramblers got a chance to take part in what I believe was the first Tour Guides Course in Donegal which was organised through the Tourism College in Killybegs now part of ATU. After doing that and qualifying as guides we were often asked to bring groups into the Bluestacks and other mountains. This was still a leisure thing, but I simply loved it. Given a chance to show people parts of Donegal they wouldn’t otherwise see and be able to talk about Donegal was just something special. And I commented many times through those years that if I wasn’t in An Garda Síochána I would have loved to have been in tourism.
In my last year in An Garda Síochána, I was lucky enough to be one of the 2014/15 contingent picked to work at UNFICYP (United Nations Force In Cyprus). A couple of weeks into my mission in Cyprus I was appointed to the position of United Nations Police Liaison Officer. This was a position which required me to very quickly learn everything about the 180km long buffer zone between Northern and Southern Cyprus and to liaise between the two police forces on either side. As I was coming close to completing 30 years’ service with An Garda Síochána thoughts were emerging about possible retirement although I could stay in the force until I was 60. But near the end of the mission, I was detailed to explain and show the U.N. Buffer Zone, to a U.N. Representative from New York. This was done by helicopter and as I was doing this, the thought struck very clearly that what I was doing was being a ‘Tour Guide’!
That thought persisted and came back home with me and going back to my earlier thoughts of being involved in tourism, I made the decision to have a go at a new career. So, to answer your question, No, there was no temptation to relax on retirement from An Garda Síochána.
Do you miss the life and routine of An Garda Síochána?
There are certain things that I do miss. My job as a tour guide is very solitary in some ways, as like lots of business you work for yourself and unlike An Garda Síochána where you have colleagues you work with on a daily basis and some of them you may work with for many, many years. I suppose that working with colleagues and the craic and banter between colleagues is something that most people miss on retirement.
While in An Garda Síochána there is a roster which you work by, I’d say that there was very little routine, in that you never knew what the shift would throw up or how that tour of duty was likely to go. In guiding it’s kind of similar in that you are meeting someone completely new every day or every few days and no matter how detailed I plan an itinerary the customer will always want to amend it in some way which is great and stops you becoming complacent. So, in my mind I never had routine and that’s something I’ve loved about both careers.
Where do most of your customers come from?
Most of my customers are from the U.S.
You have set routes across Ireland and Donegal, but do customers also come to you for bespoke itineraries too?
Each customer will want something different. They may want to visit specific sites or maybe visit some ancestral location. So I’d work with customers long before they arrive in Ireland and each group is different so it’s not possible to have set routes.
What is it that people look for on a walking tour? Is it just the most efficient route, or the best scenery, or is local history and mythology important too?
Most will not want to do a full day hiking. They will look for trails that are mostly moderate in classification. They will want scenery along that trail but it’s the stories which they want most. Europeans will want information about what they are seeing while U.S. customers will want that too but also want personal and folklore stories.
Do you think the weather in Donegal gets in the way of more people walking the county? Because it’s perfect for all kinds of hikes when it stops raining.
The only people who are bothered with the weather in Donegal are local people. Visitors know about our weather in advance and are usually well prepared. It is more disappointing for me when the weather is poor because the visitors cannot see Donegal in all its glory. I remember one hike a few years ago with a lady from Canada, through the Bluestacks, and in my mind it was one of the wettest days I was ever out. But halfway through the hike she stopped me and said ‘’John this hike is just full of ‘’wow’’ moments for me’’.
Outside of work, do you walk much yourself? Any particular treks/pilgrimages you’ve enjoyed (or plan to tackle)?
Normally I walk with some friends. I have in the past hiked quite a bit with the Bluestack Ramblers but at present, although I’m still a member I don’t get out with the club that much. I’m more inclined, when I have a day off, to call up a friend or two and suggest something randomly. For example, in December ’21 myself and two others walked the length and breath of Donegal over 12 days. Not consecutive days though. That was from Tullaghan bridge to Malin Head and then from Lifford bridge to the lighthouse on Arranmore. A few of us often come up with random challenges such as that and just go and do it.
Any major plans for the future?
Having already done Kilimanjaro and attempted Everest base Camp (but failed!) I would like to hike the Camino in Spain and The Inca Trail in Machu Picchu, Peru.
Are there any local issues you would like to draw attention to?
We have lots of great walking trails in Donegal but the local communities don’t know that they exist. We have at least 32 high quality, National Waymarked trails and approved local trails in the county. We need more local promotion and awareness of these facilities as they are all great assets to each local community. Not alone that, we have a cycling version of the Wild Atlantic Way right around the coast of Donegal called EuroVelo 1 and again most people aren’t aware of this.
Your perfect night?
A couple of pints of Guinness and a singsong especially in my local ‘’O’Neill’s, Letterbarrow
If anyone else would like to take part in this interview, to raise a profile or an issue, or just for fun, please contact Paul at Dnthirddegree@gmail.com
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