The following article was published in the Clare Champion, a regional Irish newspaper. It accompanied the photograph and poem entitled 'John O'Donohue's Rock'

 by Jessica Quinn - Thursday, 07 April 2011

The former social worker from Manchester was diagnosed with the disease 14 years ago. He has since moved to Maam, Connemara, where he happily lives with his two dogs, benefiting from what he believes are the "health-giving" properties of nature.

"About four years ago, they were buying a wheelchair, now I'm climbing mountains. That for me is the magic of living here; living by nature and being happy and being in love with life ", he says.

​

A keen photographer and writer, Robin is currently in the process of putting together a book of his poetry and photographs along with meditations and music.

"I consider Parkinson's to be a great teacher because since I've been diagnosed, I've gone on to do lots of different things, it's meant I had to change my way of life. One of the reasons I ended up in Connemara is that I think living close to nature benefits me. Illness teaches you what you need to learn in life and what you need to do to redress the balance of what's wrong, "he says.

Robin is influenced by the Celtic spirituality of the late John O'Donohue. "I was very touched by the poems he wrote, I like the way he can talk very simply to people. I find a very strong echo in his system of beliefs and his passion for living so close to nature. For me, it's a whole way of life, it's not just an intellectual concept. "

​

The strength of John O'Donohue's message even drew Robin to walk in the late priest-turned-poet's footsteps by climbing the hills of Connemara.

"Walking, I think, brings you very much in contact with the natural world. I wanted to see what he could see when he was walking from his house. I believe we all leave our footprints everywhere and Connemara more so than any other place because it is so un-spoiled by development."

Robin was inspired to write John O'Donohue's Rock.

"We used to live on the other side of Rosmuc and John O'Donohue was well known there. The postmistress told us where he used to live. I just decided that I just had to go to a place where he was, what he would have felt. I was walking down and stopped by this rock, and it just felt natural to take a break there.

"I thought to myself, he must have been here at times and looked out and wondered, letting his thoughts be touched by the landscape. Or maybe he just had a rest, who knows. "

Robin took a picture of the rock, which he used when he came up with ideas for the poem. "I take a lot of photographs, it's one of the great things I love about where I live, turning that into beauty," he explains.

"I had the photograph and it just occurred to me to call it John O'Donohue's Rock. When I'm writing, the ideas germinate, when a poem comes to me, it just comes in me and then it comes out. Sometimes I can just write it straight away, it's like working on a sculpture and you're just chiselling away at it. This came to me over a few weeks but it actually took five or six drafts before I was happy with the final version, "he explains.

Robin has previously written for a magazine about Parkinson's. However, he is now plans his first book. "It's at the draft stage at the moment. It's all about walking in the mountains in Connemara with stories about each mountain as I walk it, along with meditation and music and pieces about how I look at life, and photographs". 

​

​