169 YEARS OF LIFE, 2000 YEARS OF WAR

2 days left to walk on Wainwright's Coast to Coast Walk, and they should be relatively FLAT! We have reached Great Broughton and during today;s walk, which was decidedly not flat, we should have been able to see the sea. But as we have been in mist for most of the day, we have seen very little, except an endless series of long climbs and sharp falls.

Here are a few pics from the past couple of days. One is of the monument in Bolton on Swale churchyard to Henry Jenkins, who lived an immense amount of time, having been born in 1500 and pottered on until his death in 1670. He had not quite reached his 170th birthday when he shuffled off the mortal coil\

Another picture is of a police tank parked up in Reeth. The people in that part of Yorkshire must be very naughty indeed.

Just outside Richmond is the "cutout" memorial to 2000 years of war, showing soldiers from the Roman Empire, World War One, and the modern era. We are no doubt starting on another 2000 or more years of increasingly vicious and technology-based warfare.

Continuing Endeavours

More pics from the Coast to Coast. We are in Richmond. 10 days down and 4 long ones to go. And it's raining.

Gladstone in the pulpit\

Gay on another bridge

Gay on the bridge, but not of the Endeavour

The Endeavour in Orton. There seem to be more Australians doing this walk than any other nationality

FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA

Starting Off From St Bee's

Ennerdale. My Mother's Homeland. Heard About It All My Life, First Time I have Seen It

Gay With The Lovely Horses

We have just completed Day 7 of 14 on Wainwright's Coast to Coast Walk.

The first few days were very hard. I had come straight off a viral chest infection with no time for recovery. It was very hot and humid. The underfoot was all broken stone of various sizes and my eyes, which now excel in vertical distortion, could not cope, sending the wrong messages to my brain. For the first time in my life I wondered if I could finish something I had started.

Fortunately the footing has now improved, with much more grass. The weather cooled slightly today and looks as if it will be turning quite wet for the rest of the walk, which will make it all quite unpleasant in other ways.

If you would like to support me in this endeavour, please make a donation to Pancreatic Cancer UK through my Just Giving page:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Vic-Heaney2

VIC'S BIG CRAWL for Pancreatic Cancer UK

CAN I DO THIS? CAN YOU SUPPORT ME? CAN YOU SHARE THIS FOR ME?

I am rapidly approaching (July) my 76th birthday. I am visually impaired. In the past two months I have been prevented from walking by a) a back injury, b) a foot injury caused by my partial sight, c) another back injury, and d) a viral lung infection resulting in my GP imposing a total ban on exercise.

The ban expires on Tuesday 31st May. The very next day, June 1st, my wife Gay and I set out to do Wainwright’s Coast to Coast Walk, which, as you may know traverses the Lake District, The Pennines and the North Yorkshire Moors on its way from the Atlantic to the North Sea. This will be part of my current fundraising and awareness raising effort for Pancreatic Cancer UK.
As you can see, I have not had the ideal preparation for this upcoming task. I thought my biggest problem was going to be the eyesight, and had prepared the title “Vic’s Big Stumble”. Now this could become “Vic’s Big Crawl”. It may be my swansong in the athletic arm of my fundraising, although the writing and speaking will hopefully continue.

I am an experienced walker but this will now be very hard. If you have had pancreatic cancer in your family or circle you will know why I am proceeding. This is not something you want in your family.

We must find a cure for the scourge that is pancreatic cancer. If I, at my age and with the difficulties listed above, can put myself through this supreme effort, can I ask you to support me by making a donation, large or small, to Pancreatic Cancer UK on my JustGiving page? If so, I thank you. If not, I hope to see you at one of my speaking events soon.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Vic-Heaney2

Vic's Big Stumble

VIC'S BIG STUMBLE - Coastal Way Plus Coast to Coast

Gay and I will be walking the Lancashire Coastal Way (a four day walk from Freckleton to Silverdale) in early May 2016, followed by Wainwright's Coast to Coast Walk (14 days) starting on June 1st. Both events are part of our fundraising efforts for Pancreatic Cancer UK and if you would like to help you can donate on this page:

https://www.justgiving.com/Vic-Heaney2/

The Coastal Way is largely flat, after negotiating the first tricky few miles along the river bank, but the Coast to Coast is much more arduous, going over the Lake District, the Pennines and the Yorkshire Moors. As I am now officially sight impaired, this will be extremely interesting - I can not walk along a pavement without falling over the hills, and Gay has to point the kerbs out to me.

NEW BANNER SIGNALS ANOTHER ARM OF MY FUNDRAISING FOR Pancreatic Cancer UK

The picture shows Nikki Carter, of 2am, handing over to me the magnificent roll-up banner designed and produced for me by that company as part of their sponsorship of my fundraising.

The banner is to be used at a new offshoot of my fundraising program, in which I do book signings without an accompanying talk. For instance, on Sunday 3rd April I will have a stall at the tabletop sale organised by J&L Events at Newton with Scales Village Hall. I expect to do more such events and will be probably also be found in supermarket foyers, et cetera. Possibly also "busking" in the street. At all these events I will be available to chat about my walks, my talks and my fundraising. And to sign copies of my books.

My fundraising activities are not confined to the Fylde. I have done talks in Cheshire, Yorkshire, Middlesborough and have been asked if I would go to Reading and other "foreign parts".

Please contact me for details.

ANOTHER STRING TO MY FUNDRAISING BOW

Since the last post I have continued to present talks to Probus Clubs, Rotaries, et cetera. I have more lined up, including  several more library talks. Every event raises awareness and funds for the vital work of Pancreatic Cancer UK.

I am also branching out in another direction. I have been asked to take a stall at table-top sales. In fact Gay and I did one, but we felt we needed something to attract people to talk to us. At events like these, I am not giving a talk but rather sitting there with copies of my books - and information about Pancreatic Cancer UK - on a table, and talking to people who come up, about the books, about pancreatic cancer. Some people will take a signed copy of one of the books (knowing that every penny is a donation to PCUK), some will take information about the appalling plague which pancreatic cancer is, and some will give me a lead or even a date for a talk to their club or group. Some will walk on, which is fine.

Clearly we could do more such events, or do the same thing, by arrangement, in supermarket foyers, shopping centres, car boot sales, maybe even in the street.  But as I said, we needed something to attract the punters. Some time ago I homed in on the idea of one of those roll-up banners but they are rather expensive to have designed and produced.

Now http://2ammedia.co.uk/ have kindly offered to make such a banner for me and it is pictured above. It is about 6 feet tall and 3 feet wide. We will be going to their offices on Tuesday for the handover. I am very grateful to them and hope the collaboration will do good things for both their company and for Pancreatic Cancer UK.

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At the age of 70 I walked from the French Pyrenees to Blackpool.

I then wrote a book about the walk.

I wrote another book, about the 8 years Gay and I lived in Cyprus.

I give talks about the walk project.

All of this to raise funds for Pancreatic Cancer UK. ALL proceeds of my books also go to PCUK.

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Contact me for a signed copy of either book or to arrange a talk for your club or any other gathering.

victalksthewalk@gmail.com

Signed copies of the books are also available at any of my talks.

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Get an e-version of either book from Amazon Kindle or iBookstore, Kobo or any of the main e-book websites.

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Make a donation:

https://www.justgiving.com/Vic-Heaney2/