Following in my friend Dervla Murphy’s footsteps: ‘She was always ready for a bit of craic wherever she went’

In 1956, legendary travel writer Dervla Murphy wrote about cycling in Spain for the Irish Independent. Sixty eight years later, in an emotional journey, her friend and editor retraced her steps...

Travel writer Dervla Murphy cycling in Barcelona in the mid-1950s

Ethel Crowley

A solo trip to cold north-east Spain in the middle of January wouldn’t normally rev my jets, but it had to be done. I was on a mission. The spirit of the mighty travel writer Dervla Murphy urged me onwards.

I was lucky enough to have been very good friends with Dervla for the last eight years of her life, until her passing in May 2022. She’d invited me to her home in Lismore, Co Waterford, after I sent her a copy of a book of mine. We formed an instant connection, and I became a frequent visitor. She once wrote that “friendship is not to be measured temporally” — a view I share.