Welcome to my JustGiving Page for my solo walk from Ipswich to the Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona for the F1 Spanish Grand Prix.  I decided to take on this challenge to mark my 60^th birthday in May 2019 and to raise money for three cancer charities including Trekstock.

I’m setting off on the 27^th March 2019 and the walk is a total of 838 miles at an average of 25 miles per day and will take 42 days to complete allowing for rest days, my arrival date is the 8^th May.  My route takes me from Ipswich to Newhaven on the south coast and across to Dieppe in northern France.  It’s almost a straight line south from there via Rouen, Limoges and down to Perpignan and then across the Pyrenees (at a very low point) to the circuit at Montmelo just north of Barcelona.  To date I’ve walked over 800 miles in training and worn out two pairs of walking shoes and I still have 200 training miles to do!  I have never done anything remotely like this before so it really is a major challenge for me as you can imagine.  For more information and updates on what and where I am up to please visit my blog at https://www.bigdavesbigwalk.com

Recently someone close to me, Hattie, was diagnosed with breast cancer at just 27 and has become a key part of my focus for doing this (you can read a bit more about Hattie’s story below).  Also it has made me reflect on how many people I have known over the years that have been affected by all types of cancer.  From grandparents and siblings to friends and work colleagues there have been so many, and I thought what better thing could I do for my big birthday than to raise as much money as possible for some of the wonderful charities that help and support people going through this.

Trekstock gets young adults in their 20’s and 30’s moving again when cancer puts their lives on hold, it delivers practical and social support programmes tailored to the needs of young adults, to give them a better chance of living well through and beyond cancer.  For further information please visit https://www.trekstock.com

Now please read on below for a bit more of Hattie’s story.

“I was diagnosed with breast cancer on the 30th July 2018. Since then it's been a whirlwind of emotions but I am keeping sane by sharing my journey through the powerful tool of social media - Instagram! Feel free to give me a follow on @breastiesandbesties to follow all the ins and outs.  Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, with one person getting diagnosed every 10 minutes and 1 in 8 women in the UK alone will develop breast cancer in their lifetime. It's a scary stat however it's thanks to great research and charities like our three creating awareness about getting yourself checked and catching it early means that 9 in 10 people will survive breast cancer!  Charities like these that have helped give me the support and reassurance I need during this time and I want to help contribute to help further this reach within the UK”.

So there it is, I'll walk it so will you sponsor me please?  Thank you in advance for any donation you are able to make.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.