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, July 20, 2009

Day 13 19th July 2009 Tomatin to Moor of Alvie

At the B&B in Tomatin had the best English breakfast so far. It set me for the whole day (I needed it)!

The walk was harder than I expected - it was uphill all the way to Slochd, the highest point on the A9, I think. I took a photo and also one of the railway's highest point, also in this area.


30+ cyclists passed me, the track being National route 7 for bicycles.

I deviated at one point and took a short cut on to a mountain biking track - at least 4 mountain bikers passed me including Alan who stopped for a chat. Alan, normally a hill walker, had a day off mountain biking.

Having taking the detour, I climbed approx 600 metres and walked along the ridge hoping to see the path to the east - I didn't find what I was looking for, but could see Aviemore in the distance. I didn't want to head directly there as I thought it would add a few more hours to the days walk. I put a couple oy way points into my GPS and headed off country. This was reasonable streneous alternating between bog and heather. I did finally come across where the path and track crossed but decided to carry on cross country. I crossed a river , climbed another hill and when I got to the top of the saddle I saw Moor of Alvie. Just two more hours!

Really good campsite - Darradale - when they heard that I was trying to raise funds for a charity, gave me back my camp site fee (to go to the charities). I had about a 30 min walk to the nearest pub for my evening meal. Made sure I filled up as my next two nights are planned to be in bovies!

It was great to have navigated across country using the GPS (gave me a bit of a high!) - but I was a little anxious that I may have made the wrong decision. All that ends well etc. !!!

2 comments:

  1. Hope all is going well Richard it was nice to meet you at the Rowantree Hotel at Loch Alvie.

    Wishing you all the best on your journey

    Amanda Mark and Archie the Dog

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  2. Hi Mark,
    thanks for posting. It's the chance meetings with people like yourselves which make the walk so interesting. Sorry for the delay in replying to your comments but I only get to see them when I get to an Internet Cafe.

    I dictate my blog extracts to MLSW and she then types them up and gives them to my son to post.

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