About my blog

CLL is the acronym for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia. CLL is the most common cancer of the blood. However, unlike many other leukaemias, CLL is incurable. Innovative research is desperately needed to provide treatments which are more effective than the derivatives of chemical warfare agents currently in use. Research however costs money.

In 2009 I walked from John o'Groats in the north east of Scotland to Land's End in the south west of England. Hence the acronym JOGLE. The purpose of my walk was to make more people aware of this insidious disease and to encourage them to sponsor me by donating to the research groups I was supporting. It was a most enjoyable experience and I met some wonderful people. Together we raised over 2000 pounds for the cause. Thank you everyone!

In, 2010, the blog was being continued for those who may have be interested in following my walking holiday in Wales. This was not a charity walk.

Sadly this year, 2013, Alan Frost, a senior member of the Wednesday Loafers, our cancer support group, passed away. Many medics will tell you that CLL can be cured by a bone marrow transplant. Alan had battled with the cure for many years. More research is needed, but significant progress has been made since I started this blog.


CLL is still killing my friends. The organizations listed at the side of this blog would welcome any contributions you would like to make towards their research.

Please feel free to pass on the details of this site to anyone you think may be interested. The link is www.cancerwalker.com
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Monday, August 30, 2010

Day 19. Sodom to Prestatyn.

Preamble: Over the last two or three days, at times, I've had difficulty getting my leg over. Even Shiel commented on it. I think it is something of which the Offa's Dyke Association should be made aware. Although most stiles have steps of sufficient height that one's boot reaches over the top board on the stile, the stile is sometimes too narrow to accommodate the length of leg from knee to boot. This results in an unstable crossing of the stile when one's boot hits one of the upright supports. The stone stiles on the last day, although of interest in their own way, were particularly plagued with this problem. This is not a trivial matter. Our landlady a few days ago told of one group that had to abort their walk because one of their party broke an arm whilst attempting to cross a stile.

The Walk: We had an early start, 8:40am, in clear but cool weather. I was wearing my polypro for the first time. We started to climb shortly after leaving our B&B (Fron Hall), and within about 10 minutes I decided I also needed my windproof jacket. We had good views back over yesterday's route at this time.

It was a good pull to the top of the hill, Cefn Du, and I was glad we stayed at Sodom and not further down the hill in Bodfari. Climbing out of Bodfari to Cefn Du on a full stomach does not bear thinking about.

Just as we reached the summit the skys darkened, the rain came and the wind intensified. We put on all our wet weather gear. Needles to say, what might have been extensive views were seriously curtailed. The wind rose to almost frightening proportions and in crossing one field, near Rhuallt, we heard an almighty crack and saw a large branch break off an oak tree. Fortunately it was about 30 metres away. By midday the rain eased and the views improved but the wind was still horrendous.

The route into Prestatyn is quite imaginative, and climbs high above the town giving great views out to Snowdonia, and north to Lancashire, but we spent most of our time trying to keep upright in the gusting wind. As Shiel said, 'Now we know why they've sited a wind farm offshore here.' Fortunately the wind was blowing us onto the hillside, and not off it or the walk would have been impossible. On a calm day it must be a really impressive end to the walk. Full marks to the planners.

Having now done the walk I would recommend a south to north crossing to anyone contemplating the walk. Finishing in Sedbury would I think be an anticlimax compared to finishing in Prestatyn.

As we passed our B&B we popped in to report our progress, but continued, fully kitted, to the water's edge in Prestatyn. It was still very windy and it felt like one was in a sandblasting machine. We didn't hang around but took a few photographs and then returned to our B&B (Plas Ifan Chapel. Plas Ifan also have camping facilities and will even provide a breakfast if requested. We met two young guys there who had had great difficulty finding a campsite in Prestatyn until a publican had referred them to Plas Ifan Chapel.



This one is for Graham at RDA. It might help place where we are.

Monday. Walk over. Where are we? Here is a clue.

Shiel st the end of her first long distance walk. Note the smile!



Sculpture on the beach at Prestatyn.

2 comments:

  1. Well done, R+S, it sounds as if you are having another enjoyable trip to the UK.
    I'm down in Devon next week, but around from 18-23 Sept, should you fancy a stroll in the Peak District.
    Have a nice relaxing time before you go home....?!
    Martin

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Martin,
    Sorry for delay in replying but I didn't get the email
    notification about your comment until yesterday! I've been
    reading my email on a cell phone which means I have to push
    and drag text around to see the full web page on my small
    screen. At some time I must have touched the 'sender' title
    on the main email page which them meant my emails were
    sorted in alphabetical order rather than 'most recent', date
    order. I wondered why my last emails were always from Alan
    Frost and Alamo car hire but I didn't twig it then as we'd
    just hired a car.

    We are in Skipton at the moment but will be heading towards
    Oxford for next Friday and could pass through Derby area if
    you want to meet up for a walk.
    Cheers
    R&S

    ReplyDelete