Fr Tony Coote To celebrate five years since the passing of Fr Tony Coote, a walk of remembrance is being organised for the ‘Camino de Santiago’ in Northern Spain. Dates and details are still to be announced.
Fr Coote died on August 28, 2019 due to motor neurone disease. To support research and awareness, the priest took part in a fundraising walk for The Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association (IMNDA) in July 2018.
The walk called ‘Walk while you can’ started in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal all the way to Ballydehob, Co. Cork, covering a distance of over 550 kilometres. Fr Coote did the walk in a wheelchair with the assistance of the pilgrims.
That walk still happens every year raising funds and awareness to the cause. “I suppose this is part of Tony’s enduring legacy,” said Kieran Coote, Fr Coote’s brother.
Mr Coote is organising the second pilgrimage in the Camino for this year. Last year, celebrating the fifth anniversary of the first ‘Walk while you can’, the walk in the Camino raised €10,000, said the priest’s brother.
The walk will start in Triacastela and end in Santiago de Compostela, and happen over the course of six days covering 140km.