The Peasants and the Mariners

Storytellers, said Walter Benjamin, are descended from one of two tribes: the mariners or the peasants. We revel in the stories of the sailors. Sailors lure us with tales of exotic places and all the treasures that can be brought home. We love the stories of the peasants for a glimmer of the past, as remembered by the people who have stayed home and honored tradition. Brian Bouldrey, a vagabond, and his very organized friend Garth, two unlikely mariners, hit dry land with backpacks. Then they point their hiking boots down Ireland’s Ulster Way. Among the causeways and caves and publicans’ cups, these mariners seek faraway places revealed by the wisdom that only the peasant can offer.