An Irish adventurer dubbed the ‘lawnmower man’ has become the first to fly from Ireland to Africa by paramotor writes Eoin English.

Oisin Creagh from Cork finally got a break in the weather this morning and took off from Spain, crossed the Straits of Gibraltar, and touched down in Morocco earlier with his lawnmower engineer-powered back-mounted propeller aircraft and parachute-style wing.

Oisin, who set off on the epic 3,000km fundraising flight for Gorta from Northern Ireland last month, posted a simple message on Facebook page this morning confirming he had made it.

“I have landed in Africa,” he said.

Mr Creagh, an architect based in Cork, took on the paramotor challenge to raise funds and awareness for Irish-based international development organisation, Gorta-Self Help Africa — a charity which is working in drought-stricken Ethiopia where crop failures have ravaged the food supplies of 20m people this year.

He set off from Northern Ireland late last month and has flown through Scotland, along England’s eastern seaboard to Dover, from where he flew unsupported across the English Channel to Calais.

His ground support, John Drew, returns to Ireland tomorrow and will be replaced by Glandore-based paramotor pilot Mel Bendon.

Mr Creagh is one of a handful of paramotoring enthusiasts in Ireland and one of the country’s most experienced paramotor pilots.