Sunday 3 May 2020

FREE FIRST CHAPTER





Like everybody else, I have been affected by the Covid-19 emergency. All the talks which were booked up until my 80th birthday in July have been postponed.

Like all charities, Pancreatic Cancer UK has suddenly lost most of its income. One source of the funds I raise for them comes from the royalties from my books. Every penny of the royalties goes directly to the charity, not to me.

I am printing the first Chapter of Vic's Big Walk below. If you want to carry on reading, for the price of a cup of coffee you can download the book from Amazon Kindle, iBookstore, Kobo, Barnes and Noble or almost any other e-book supplier. You won't need a Kindle to read the book - you can download (free) a Kindle simulator into your computer, tablet, phone or other device.  Just Google "Kindle for PC" or "Kindle for tablet".

Here is the first chapter of Vic's Big Walk from SW France to NW England". This was a 70-day walk at age 70. Two-thirds of a marathon per day for 70 days.



Chapter 1

Day 1 Puivert to Mirepoix. Letter from Nicola. Why am I doing this?



I step onto the Voie Verte, the old railway line between Lavelanet and Mirepoix in the Languedoc area of the South of France. I have walked 10 kms since I started out at about 8 this morning. There are only about 1,990 kilometres left to go.

My objective is to reach the house where I was born, in Northern England, in 70 days time. This will be exactly 70 years to the day after my first appearance there. I am walking back through my life, from my home near the Spanish border, to the very beginning.

This is something that has been in the planning, preparation and training for 2 years. It is a massive undertaking and I only hope that I can achieve the objective. My initial plans were to do the walk quietly and unobtrusively and not tell too many people about it. But that changed when I decided to raise money for charity. Obviously publicity is likely to increase donations so I have maximised the exposure as much as I can.

In Puivert, the small French village in which I live, people have gradually become aware of what I am doing and a small crowd turns out this morning at 8 o’clock to see me off. Most of them accompany me for the first kilometre or so. Among them is my wife Gay, who will now lock up the house for three months and leap into the motor caravan which is our back-up vehicle and our home for a while. I will meet her again at the end of today’s walk.

Some time ago an old friend suggested that the start would involve bands, speeches, roars of appreciation and acclamation from the crowd. On the day, there are no bands or speeches but there is some cheering. Things have moved on a bit from the original idea to slip quietly out of town. It is touching to see that so many people have dragged themselves out of their beds to see me off.

During the first 10 kms, two people from the village catch me up, one on a bike, one in a car, to wish me well, which is kind. That is when I am walking on roads, but for the rest of this first day’s walking, to Mirepoix, I will be on the old railway track where there is no traffic allowed and in fact where I rarely see people walking or cycling, which is a shame because that is what the track is for.

This chemin de fer existed to service local communities, to bring in raw materials and take away the finished goods. Although it is now a splendid resource for walkers and cyclists it is sad to see that it no longer exists as a railway. I say this not as somebody who has any nostalgia for railways as such, but because all the towns that I pass on this track have lost their industry, which is why the trains no longer run. The first town I pass is Chalabre. Here they used to make everything for people to wear – they could dress you from head to foot – hats, shoes and everything in between. Now nothing is made here. The weekly market in Chalabre used to stretch all over town, in various streets. Now you are lucky if the Saturday market can muster 10 stalls. That is obviously a sign of the disappeared prosperity of this town, which is clearly a sorry shadow of its former self. The same applies to several of the smaller communities which I pass during this first day’s walk.

As I walk past the extensive apple orchards of Sonnac sur l’Hers a runner comes towards me, going at a good pace. He is wearing a huge beret. As he approaches he shouts, “Good luck, Vic, see you in August”.  I met this runner only this morning. He is a journalist who was outside my house at 8 this morning to cover the start of Vic’s Big Walk for the Independent and the Midi Libre newspapers. He says we used to run in the same races when Gay and I were competitive runners. He has also seen me out training for this walk but today was the first time we had a conversation and, blow me down, here he is again a couple of hours later.

I emerge from the second of the railway tunnels – fortunately both have lighting installed – and find myself crossing a bridge high above the road at Camon. Camon offers itself as a miniature Carcassonne and includes the old Abbaye Chateau which has been renovated and is now a splendid hotel and restaurant. It is a bit of a stretch to compare Camon with Carcassonne, which is a stunning, complete, mediaeval walled city.

I have never seen this track as muddy and wet as it is today. I walk the Voie Verte regularly, although never before in this direction – I have saved that for today. Almost every week I walk from Mirepoix to home (34 kms) on this same route, as part of my training. I have used it at all times of the year, including midwinter, but I have never seen it in this condition. Yet we are five weeks from the high point of summer. This morning the weather started out reasonably fine, although clearly it was never going to be warm. The maximum temperature forecast was 11 degrees. I don’t think it has reached that.

Most of the old stations along the Voie Verte have been converted into houses. Everywhere there was a station, there is now a placard telling you something about the village the station served and the products which were made there.

One of the communities I pass is Lagarde. There is a Chateau of Lagarde, dominating the landscape a couple of kilmometres away. The placard informs that it was often referred to as the Little Versailles of the Languedoc. Although it looms over the surrounding terrain it is more or less a ruin. It is allegedly under restoration with the prospect of returning it to its former glory, but from where I can see it there is no sign of any work. Nevertheless, it is a dramatic sight.

Other communities with informative signs I pass along here include Moulin Neuf, which used to be a water-milling centre, producing flour. There was a railway turntable here, which is where my route turns sharply left and another branch of the railway – I am not sure whether it is now used as a track – swings right to Bram.

As I reach Roumengoux, very Italian-looking on its hilltop, which is 6 kms from my finish in Mirepoix, it starts raining heavily.

I feel a bit tired after the first 25 kms or so. That doesn’t sound a good omen for 70 days walking, but during training I have already experienced that some days one feels good, other days, for no apparent reason, even on the same route, one feels weaker. I think it is called being human.

Today is one of the longer sections I will walk. I am trying to average 30 kms a day. This leg is 34 kms. Most of my stages are planned to be about 30 kms, some are more, and I am trying to ensure when I have done a “more”, I try to do a shorter one the next day to even things up. This is not always possible because the terminus of each day’s stage is really dictated by where there is a campsite – ideally a campsite close to the tracks I will walk.

Lots of trees have fallen down over the track in the past few days, making it quite difficult to negotiate. I don’t know how cyclists manage. Unusually, there is a group of cyclists about today. They keep going off the track to explore then reappearing. They have passed me three times and have learned more about my project each time.

Some of the trees are broken and some are completely uprooted, the whole tree falling over. I think this is a result of the ground being so wet that the root system is weakened, which makes the trees susceptible to the high winds and snow we suffered last week (May!).

I arrive at Mirepoix feeling fine if a little tired, but have I bitten off more than I can chew? What will it be like walking like this for 70 days, without a rest? Like most older people, I am not really aware of my age. I feel no sense of trepidation. Maybe my mind is protecting me from being aware of what a mammoth task this is. I was stunned to receive this e-mail yesterday from my daughter Nicola.
Dad,
Only one day to go.
I think I must be feeling much more emotional and agitated than you are. Or than you seem to be, anyway.  I have spent the last few days with tears in my eyes at the mere thought of what you are about to undertake, and I’m sure YOU haven’t been going around with tissues in your hand!! …
 the thought of all the energy and effort, both mental and physical,  you are about to put into such a mammoth task would be worrying for any daughter of a soon to be no longer 69-year-old man …

There was much more.

Gulp! Nicola is a very level-headed person, not given to dramatics. She seems to be horrified at what I am doing and clearly fearful of the outcome. What am I doing, and why?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It all started with a few simple words.

“I’ve had an idea!”
Gay looked at me as if to say, “Oh dear, what is it this time?”
Previous “ideas” have resulted in us both giving up well paid jobs, going to live in France; then to spending the winters abroad – first in Cyprus, latterly in New Zealand. We were in New Zealand when I had this latest revelation. Some may think it an odd place to be inspired with the idea of a long distance walk from Southern France to Northern England.
In March 2008, we were staying in Alexandra. Each morning we walked along the Central Otago Rail Trail to Clyde. For me this walk had another objective, rather than just getting some exercise. The old Post Office in Clyde is now a café and restaurant. Their date scones are some of the best in the world. The café opens at 10 a.m. so we made sure to be on the doorstep at that time, so that we could both have a drink, I would have a date scone (Gay, being more sensible, having had breakfast before we set off), then we would walk back from Clyde to Alexandra along the banks of the mighty Clutha River, blue water from the glaciers, powerful and roiling despite being constrained by the massive Clyde dam. The round trip is 26 kms. Other more casual walking later each day brought the total to over 30 kms.
We kept this up for two weeks, alternating the direction of the daily walks, and an idea began to form in my head. Until then I had found walking very boring. A competitive runner all my life, I had recently been forced to give up my sport because of a knee injury. I had been in the habit of running 40, 50 or more miles per week. When the running had to stop, I found it very frustrating to walk even 4 miles because it was taking me 3 times as long to cover the same distance. Now with an objective – the splendid scone and coffee – what a simple soul I am – I was enjoying the walking, despite each trip taking four and a half hours. There was beautiful scenery, something to aim at, and a sense of achievement because, after all, the walks were pretty long.
That is part of what gave me the idea for Vic’s Big Walk. We had walked over 400 kms in two weeks. This fact was gelling with other thoughts already in my head.
Throughout my life I have read mainly non-fiction books. These included many accounts of people doing long-distance walks. I remember the tremendous coverage given by press and television to Dr Barbara Moore as she walked from Land’s End to John o’Groats in 1960. Long ago I read John Hillaby’s Journey Through Britain and have since read several other books about people doing that same trek in one direction or another. Others have undertaken walks that are more personal to them. The Sea On Our Left is about Shally Hunt and her husband walking around the coast of Britain. More recently I read The Man Who Broke Out Of The Bank And Went For A Walk In France, in which Miles Morland and his wife tramp from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, averaging, as it happens, 30 kms per day. I thought that if this really unfit couple could do it, so could I, although I would prefer to pick my own route. So even before the inspiration in NZ I had already thought that I would like to do a long distance walk some time but needed a point to point which was significant to me.
Quite separately I had also been wondering what to do to celebrate my upcoming 70th birthday. Most of my other big birthdays have been marked by dramatic changes in my career or lifestyle. At the age of 20 I had already ditched one “safe” career as a Merchant Navy officer. By 30 an even safer Civil Service job had gone. At 40 I left a well paid and established career with a computer manufacturer. At 50 I severed connections with the then thriving company which I had founded at 40. When I was 60 I celebrated by throwing the only birthday party I have ever had, and was living in a foreign country. What to do for my 70th?
While doing the scone marches in NZ I began to think again of doing a significant walk, then I thought of possibly connecting this to the 70th birthday. The Eureka moment came when my mind leapt to a very specific walk which would be absolutely unique, I knew nobody had ever done it before or would probably do it again. I would walk, setting off on my 70th birthday, from the house where I was born in Blackpool, to the house in Southern France where I now live. This would take me, in 70 days, along the journey which, at the first attempt, had taken me 70 years.
My feeble brain gradually realised that Plan A would have me on the roads of France at the busiest and hottest time of the year. I switched to Plan B. I would set off 70 days before my birthday from my home in France, so that I would arrive, very symbolically, at the house where I was born, on my 70th birthday.
I would walk backwards through my life, from the present to the beginning.
I told Gay what I was thinking of doing. She supported the idea, although she did point out that 70 days on my own did not sound like something I would enjoy. That is true. I am not a man who enjoys long periods of his own company. I would of course like Gay to accompany me on the walk but she was silent on that score. A few days later she said she would come with me.
I tried the idea out on some friends, partly to clarify the ideas in my own mind and to talk through some of the snags. The response was most encouraging, although this is when I was first asked whether I was going to walk across the English Channel or to swim it. I soon perfected the groan that question produces.
By the time we arrived back in Europe I was referring to the walk as Vic’s Big Walk or just VBW. Most comments from friends were encouraging, but I’m not sure about this one, “Its a most original way of spending a 70th birthday but then you were always a bit off the planet - in a nice way of course”.
Or from another friend (after I had mentioned the difficulties Gay and I, as vegetarians, would face eating away from home in France) . “Don’t be such a wimp Wickers ! The veggie Yogis of India have walked barefoot from Kerala to Rishikesh or the Kumbh Mela [and back] for centuries, negotiating the odd Tiger along the way. Honey, sunflower seeds, nuts, dates, figs, milk, water, juice …”
Having told so many people, I was now committed. But why was I doing this? I was born 23rd July 1940. So on that same date in 2010 I would hit 70. A walk of 70 days seemed an obvious idea, once I had thought of it. Obvious symbolism – 70 years of life, 70 days walking. 70 years getting to where I am now – 70 days to reverse it. The distance covered would be somewhere between 1700 and 2000 kilometres, depending upon the exact route chosen.
Why? I wanted to do something memorable (for my own memory, that is – I don’t expect it to go down in the history books) to mark the occasion and to celebrate the fact that at what used to be regarded as an advanced age, I am luckily still fit and healthy. I had been thinking for a while of doing something to celebrate my arrival (I hoped) at my 70th birthday in a reasonable state of repair. Vic’s Big Walk was now that something.
I also wanted to do something which would give me a sense of achievement and which would give me plenty of thinking time to dwell on the long journey from then to now.
I started a blog on the Internet (http://vicsbigwalk.blogspot.com), the aims being to receive comments, advice and help, not only from family and friends but also from anybody else who strayed onto the blog and who felt they had something to contribute.
A great deal of planning had to be done. Also a lot of thought about the perils and pitfalls, the roads and routes, the accommodation, the feeding and watering, whether this would be for my own satisfaction alone or if I should use it as an opportunity to raise funds for a good cause.





Friday 14 February 2020

FULL HOUSE - PEOPLE TURNED AWAY











When I started Vic Talks The Walk - a project to raise funds and awareness for Pancreatic Cancer UK just by speaking and selling my books, I said it was something I would do until my 80th birthday.

Well, that birthday is only months away and I have vastly exceeded the fund-raising target I set myself. The target was £8,000 and the achievement so far is 218% of that, at £17507 (in addition to the amount I raised while walking from SW France to NW England almost 10 years ago).

I enjoy doing the talks and would be quite happy to carry on but I think it is time I gave my wife Gay a rest. Not only am I totally reliant on her to get to the venues because my sight problem means I cannot now drive, but - spare a thought for her - she has now heard my talk about 120 times!

So I have only a few talks booked for this year. Yesterday we were at the Little Theatre in Thornton Cleveleys to present to Fylde U3A. The event was very successful, I raised £365 from speaker fee, book sales and personal donations, all of which has already gone to Pancreatic Cancer UK. The theatre was packed and I found out only this morning that some people turned up and were unable to enter the theatre because there were no seats left.

The talks remaining in my schedule are not local to Lytham (where we live) but Gay has just advised me that she is thinking of booking a hall and having one last fling to give local people, who have not so far made it,  a chance to see Vic Talks The Walk. It is likely to be ticket only and it will be before 23rd July.

Saturday 7 September 2019

RETURN TO HALE




We lived in Hale, Cheshire, until we went to live overseas in 1995. So we were looking forward to visiting on Thursday. We were there to give a talk to Hale U3A but we arrived early and had a wander around the village, marvelling at the changes which had taken place. Even more estate agents, cafes, restaurants, and several places to advise you what to do with your fortune, if you have one.

The last time we were in Bowdon Assembly Rooms, the venue, was for the prize-giving for the local athletics club, of which we were members. This time the room was packed with about 200 U3A members. There were even a couple of old friends in the audience.

My talk was, as always,  well-received. Many members approached me afterwards to enthuse about the talk and about the walk itself. I signed and sold 14 copies of "Vic's Big Walk from SW France to NW England" and my fundraising achievement jumped from 200% (reached only two days earlier) to 205%.

The E-book version of "Vic's Big Walk" can be downloaded from any reputable e-book source, such as Amazon, Apple, Kobo, et cetera. All proceeds go direct o Pancreatic Cancer UK.

Wednesday 4 September 2019

BANG ON 200%


Shevington, a farmstead near a hill called shevin, derives from the Celtic cevn meaning a ridge and the Old English tun, a farmstead. It is a hill slope settlement in the Douglas Valley recorded in documents in 1225 as Shefington.[6] Other recorded spellings include Scheuynton in 1253, Sheuington in 1277, Sewinton 1288 and Sheuynton in 1292.[7]

That was then, this is now. And yesterday Vic Talks The Walk rolled into Shevington, thanks to an invitation to speak to the Over 50s Club. I was invited by Gerald, a lone man - and prime mover - among the membership of women.

Thanks to the generosity of the members - a speaker fee, some individual donations and some book sales - My fundraising for Pancreatic Cancer UK rose to 200% of the target I set for July 2020.

The previous week I had reached 199% while speaking to Lancaster and Morecambe U3A in the Duke's Theatre in Lancaster. My slides, through the cinema projector, were filling the cinema screen and were dwarfing me as I strutted about, attempting to escape the blinding light.

Monday 12 August 2019

RUFUS, NO FLOOK





Last week we made the journey from Lancashire to Bedfordshire, stayed with our friends Rob and Judith in Ampthill and on Thursday morning we hopped over to the Rufus Centre at Flitwick.

When I was a lad Rufus meant only two things to me.

One was that King William Rufus had been killed in suspicious circumstances while hunting in the New Forest. An arrow from one of his own men was what did for him. An accident? Tell it to the marines - especially in the knowledge that his courtiers just left his body lying in the forest and went home to have a cup of tea.

The other Rufus in my knowledge then was the little boy in the newspaper cartoon "Flook". Rufus, in a dream of the stone age, rescued a baby woolly mammoth, Flook, from where he was cowering in a cave from some sort of persecution. When Rufus woke up, Flook was there with him and they proceeded to have adventures for many years.

I am not sure who the Rufus Centre is named after but Wikipedia lists an astonishing number of well-known (more or less) individuals with what I thought was an unusual name.

The Rufus Centre is an excellent conference and function centre and last Thursday it was being used by Flitwick U3A for their monthly speaker meeting, starring yours truly and his tale of an epic 70-day walk. The organisers apologised before the meeting because they thought numbers might be down, what with August being the epicentre of the holiday season. Seating capacity was 200, in superb banked formation. There were not many empty seats.

The talk went well, excellent reaction from the audience, many signed copies of my book changed hands and many individual donations were made to Pancreatic Cancer UK. A total of £292 was raised, taking me to 196% of my target for this phase (raising funds jusr by speaking) of my fundraising.

Rob and Judith, who during the Big Walk popped up in central France to take us out to dinner, came to the performance, as did our other great friends in Ampthill, Mike and Ann.

My next performance will be in The Dukes Theatre in Lancaster.

Thursday 14 March 2019

Hospitallers and Hospitality



                      Beconsaw. Sable a cross formy argent, in the sinister quarter an escallop of the second.



The village of Hesketh-with-Becconsall was at one time in the possession of the Knights Hospitaller until Henry VIII decided otherwise. It lies almost directly across the Ribble estuary from our apartment in Lytham. Probably no more than 4 miles away, it took us almost an hour to drive there this morning. 

We went to Becconsall to Talk The Walk to Becconsall U3A in the coldest hall in which I have yet performed I think it was colder in than outside. I suggested that we abandon the talk and do an exercise class instead so that everybody could cast off their overcoats and stop huddling. This seemed to meet with general approval but maybe they thought it was a joke so I reverted to the talk. 

The talk seemed to go down well, as usual, with bursts of laughter and general enthusiasm. We raised a decent sum for Pancreatic Cancer UK and I signed a few books into slavery. As usual, we met some lovely people and had some interesting conversations before and after the meeting.

We were pleased to note that the Community Hall is to be rebuilt soon, hopefully with adequate heating. 

I have abandoned Facebook, so this blog will from now on be the only public means of recording my progress.

I am now at about 176% of my fundraising target for, again, this phase of fundraising - since we came to live back in Britain. The £25,000 I have raised in total is just a drop in the ocean compared with the millions needed to fund the research to find a cure and a reliable method of diagnosis for this most deadly and savage type of cancer.

You don't need to attend one of my talks to help me in this task. You can donate by clicking on the "Justgiving" button on this page. No amount is too small (or too large).

Do you have an e-reader - a Kindle, Kobo, iPad or some such? Wherever you buy your e-books, you can buy a copy of my book about the Big Walk for the price of a coffee. Just search for "Vic's Big Walk from SW France to NW England". About £1 will go directly to Pancreatic Cancer UK.

Thursday 7 March 2019

THE BEATLES BEAT ME TO IT



Yesterday I Talked The Walk - about my epic 70-day footslog from the French Pyrenees to North West England - to Barnston Women's Institute.

The venue was the WI hall in Barnston, on the Wirral. Proudly displayed on the outside wall is this plaque, which records that the Beatles played here 3 times in early 1962, just before the height and frenzy of their fame.

My talk went down very well, to a packed house. I have now given it to more than 10,000 people. I raised a substantial amount of money for Pancreatic Cancer UK and have now raised almost £14,000 from this phase of my fundraising - just by speaking and selling autographed copies of my books.

I am now at about 170% of my fundraising target for, again, this phase of fundraising - since we came to live back in Britain. The £25,000 I have raised in total is just a drop in the ocean compared with the millions needed to fund the research to find a cure and a reliable method of diagnosis for this most deadly and savage type of cancer.

You don't need to attend one of my talks to help me in this task. You can donate by clicking on the "Justgiving" button on this page. No amount is too small (or too large).

Do you have an e-reader - a Kindle, Kobo, iPad or some such? Wherever you buy your e-books, you can buy a copy of my book about the Big Walk for the price of a coffee. Just search for "Vic's Big Walk from SW France to NW England". About £1 will go directly to Pancreatic Cancer UK.