Megan Murphy is following a 40 year old cycling journey laid out in her father’s lost and found journal
Peterborough native Megan Murphy and a small film crew flew to Ireland recently to film a documentary called Murphy’s Law. A documentary about a girl broken, her dead parents, a lost and found journal, an old bike, Ireland and hopefully a little redemption, Murphy’s Law will follow Megan as she cycles across Ireland.
Megan on her 2014 cycling tour of Ireland
Megan Murphy, daughter of well know Peterborough lawyer Marty Murphy and nurse Mary Anne Murphy recently left a relationship of six years and moved back to her parent’s Peterborough home. “…back to the support and succour of family. Except for one disconcerting fact—both of my parents are dead. At 35 I felt lost, broken and ready to surrender. Until…I found the diary.” says Megan.
The diary is one her father had written on a transformative trip around Ireland in 1973. Long believed to have been lost in a 1977 house fire, the diary chronicles the story of Marty’s coming of age trip to find himself. A trip Megan says that “…helped shape him into the man he had become. He even named my younger sister Kerry after the county on the west coast!”
Megan’s father Marty on his 1973 cycling tour of Ireland
Now, Megan too is feeling lost and in need of something. “And so I’m going. I’m taking his bike and his journal and I’m setting off on a quest of sorts. Perhaps if I go backwards and recreate his journey, I’ll actually be able to find my own path forward.” says Megan. And, she is taking a film crew along to document the story. Megan is writing a blog about her travels. The blog can be found at murphyslawfilm.net and is full of insights and observations about life, the universe and everything you might expect on a road trip like this (and more). Clearly, she is having a transformative trip of her own.
“If you’ve lost your spark, I hope this inspires you to find the whimsy in your life again. I have an incredible group of people helping me reach my goal, and I’m hoping that you’ll be an integral part of this mission as well!” says Megan.
Megan’s story in her own words
You can help
To help her reach her goal please visit her indiegogo campaign site at igg.me/at/murphyslawfilm The campaign is hoping to raise $25,000 by August 17th to help cover the costs of transportation, filming, and production of the documentary.
Postscript:
While we loved the insights about transformation, family and place in the blog, we wrote to Megan asking about the more bikey aspects of her odyssey. Clearly, she anticipated our questions with this post on her blog. Loving the bike (let’s not talk about chamois and balm)! We especially like “By hour 6, I fall into a meditative pace. It’s just me and the road and the bike.” Ah, the essence of hoops and tubes (we liked, “We’re growing up. Together.”, too).
Content and images courtesy of murphyslawfilm.net