Meet The Two Irish Lads Embarking On A World’s First Kayaking Journey To Istanbul
Words: Dray Morgan
Johnny Coyne and Liam Cotter are no strangers to adventure, however, the challenge of Kayaking from Ireland to Istanbul is ramping up to be the most demanding so far. 5000 kilometres, through 17 countries, over 5 and a half months, to become the first people in the world to travel the entire width of Europe by kayak.
Johnny has been a close personal friend of mine for some years. Crossing paths at raves in Kinsale from 2019 onwards, a strong bond was harboured between all that attended. The seaside town in Cork lay home to a college which taught drama, permaculture and outdoor education. Looking at this, it inevitably attracts a certain clientele of students and with that came a free world like I had never experienced before.
Moving out of our teenage years and entering our early 20s, most of my connection with Johnny has been through my screen. His documentation of wild adventures for which he is drastically underprepared, has been a spectacle which is genuinely the highlight of my year. Bitesize daily uploads, spanning months of drama in remote parts of the world and always punctuated by a smile and a goofy giggle from Mr. Coyne.
In previous ventures, Johnny has cycled to Portugal with the cheapest bike he could find and three days of preparation, walked the entire length of Nepal through tiger-infested jungle and most recently cycled from Canada to Costa Rica, without a word of Spanish to his name. So forgive me for barely raising an eyebrow when he announced his plan to Kayak the width of Europe, crossing two seas and finishing in Istanbul.
I’ve never met anybody quite like Johnny. Laser-focused, infectiously positive and powered by the mysticism of manifestation, he has accomplished feats like no other. Seeing his shaved head pop up on a Zoom call, I instantly knew Johnny was in his element.
The last time I had seen Johnny was by chance on New Year’s Eve two years ago. I was walking through Drury Street and saw a longish-haired figure almost haplessly roaming. I thought it surely couldn’t be him, as Johnny lives 250 kilometres away in the village of Clonbur, Galway, population 300. I tapped him on the shoulder and we exchanged hugs and had a pint. Little did I know that this would be the last time Johnny touched a drop of alcohol and would be a marker for a drastic change in his life.
“Right now, we’re in Carnlough in The North, getting ready to cross over to Scotland tomorrow.” One of the most anxiety-inducing parts of the trip, as the duo is about to embark on their first venture into the open sea. “I picked this journey because nobody had ever done it and it was completely different to any adventure I’d done before. It’s intense but in the best way possible.”
Liam and Johnny are traversing the waterways of Europe with Kayaks, carrying all of their belonging on boars. Freeze-dried food, litres of water, tents and a change of socks will be their world for the next few months. Currently covering about 25 kilometres per day, the duo hope to ramp that up once they hit the more forgiving canal systems of Western Europe. Each night, the ambiguity of where the two will sleep, means you are at the mercy of the river banks to provide a soft bedding.
“I’m addicted to adventure”, was Johnny’s reply to my questions posed about finding pleasure from the physical and mental toll these journeys take. “There’s a balance between pain and perfection and you’ll only achieve that if you leave your comfort zone.”
Johnny shone a light of wisdom on his perspective of this lifestyle. “It’s a very simple life. I kayak, I sleep, I eat”. In comparison to the creature comforts of the city life, this adventure fulfils the primal urge of survival which maybe we stray from more than we realise. However, it has taken Johnny years to achieve this level of satisfaction with such simplicity.
“Back in the day, I used to be a big party-goer”, he says with a knowing look to me. “From the age of 13 onwards, it had been a big part of my personality until I realised that it was the centre of all the problems in my life.” In the quiet town of Clonbur, much like many other rural areas of Ireland, a lack of youth resources turn children towards alcohol and drugs to fill their time. “I want to show younger people that if there is nothing to do around you, make something to do.”
“I’m happier without it and I know I can achieve my goals without it”
The maverick behaviour may be explicit on social media, however Johnny was keen to stress that hours on a bike or kayak can be boring. “The silence is almost like therapy, it’s a form of meditation” he explained, “all of the ideas I’ve had for an adventure have been during the silence in a previous journey”. Nerves do not exist in Johnny’s world, “I don’t get nervous, my only worries are money and time.”
Having a difficult upbringing, Johnny’s father passed away at X years old and was introduced to adventure through a TUSLA programme which immersed young people in the outdoors. “I have a level of anxiety when I go back to Ballinasloe, where my school was”. There was an element of escapism to Johnny’s adventures, leaving a colourful past behind and being free to carve out a path for the future. “Adventure started for me as an escape. There’s definitely a sense of running away, I always feel the itch for adventure growing”.
“The more you immerse yourself in nature, the happier you’ll be.”
Some may think that the summer would be more fitting for an expedition of this magnitude. However, in the summer months Johnny is busy with his business ‘Lough Corrib Adventures’. Initially started to fund adventures in the off-season, it was a brainchild which has expanded into water tours of Galway’s scenic Lough Corrib which has seen the likes of Katie Taylor and actor Chad Michael Murray waterbound in the west.
“I surrender to the challenge and embrace it completely.” This journey is ramping up to be the largest challenge that Johnny has undertaken so far. For the first time on his travels, a production company are following him to professionally document his struggle, with the vision to produce a movie.
This is still only the start for Johnny, “I think about my legacy a lot, I want to write a book one day. I also want people to know that I’m not special, anybody can do this.”
“All I want to do is inspire people. This is my purpose.”
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