UPDATE - Issue 38 - Autumn 2009
Fundraising - High Fells Walkers complete the tenth annual Prostate UK challenge
by Professor Roger Kirby
Fifteen loyal Prostate UK supporters met up in June with a mission to walk 100 miles of the most challenging section of Wainwright’s famous Coast to Coast walk. We set off from St Bees on the Cumbrian coast with dire weather warnings ringing in our ears. Heading north, we stopped briefly to admire the black guillemots nesting on the red sandstone cliffs and then turned eastwards to enter the Lake District, which we could see rising steeply ahead of us from the top of our first climb to Dent Fell at 1,155 feet.
The next four days took in five steep climbs, the highest of which, St Sunday Crag, stands at 2,759 feet. The cold wind and rain did little to dampen our spirits and we were pleased with the speed of our progress. One section which normally takes two days was completed in just nine hours despite stiffening sinews and several serious blisters.
Our journey that had taken us through the Lake District towards the Pennines ended on 12 June when we finally arrived in Kirkby Stephen.
Thanks to the amazing generosity of our supporters we have raised more than £125,000 for Prostate UK and, over the last 10 years, the total amount raised through these walking challenges is more than £1.4 million.