The day I Went for a stroll from Margate to Whitstable & beat cancer for a while.

I’m writing this a week after what must go down as one of the most memorable days in my life for so many reasons all of which are good and right.

We met at a small coffee shop on the seafront of Margate. The skies were blue and the wind off the sea was cool, perfect conditions for a walk. This band of people who met for a common cause to raise awareness of prostate cancer and to raise funds to research life saving or prolonging treatments such as I am on now.

The day got off to a great start when Neil payed for the coffees and the owner then gave us a generous donation of 30 pounds to add to our fund raising for #prostatecanceruk, such a kind gesture.

The aim of the day was the nine of us would walk from Margate along the coastal path to Whitstable, a journey of some eighteen miles, well it would have been had we noticed a sign that said no access to the beach path from this point more about that later.

So warmed up with coffee and tea we set off in great spirits along the beautiful and picture post card Margate sea front. The tide was in at the start and the wind was blowing briskly although in June was biting and blowing straight off the North sea, luckily it was pushing us along from behind.

The sea was rough and at one point was throwing waves up in our path. As mentioned earlier the four driving instructors amongst us failed to spot the sign that told us the path we were on was going to end. I can’t remember exactly what point this happened but it led to us having to double back on ourselves perhaps adding another mile to our journey,😂

After this setback we resumed back on the correct path and from that point to the end we never went wrong again. The walk was stunning and there was hardly a moment where you couldn’t find a lovely photo opportunity.

We pressed on and our first stop after a couple of hours was a relief of sorts. My mind was telling me all kinds of stories trying to make me give up even at this point. Most worryingly was I had started to develop some pain in my right pelvis area, a place I know where my cancer lives. It wasn’t too bad, just a kind of knocking on the door type of warning saying ” hello Woody I’m here you know don’t think you can do this fella”

I did my best to shut it out and a good 20 minute rest and a nice cup of coffee, oat milk decaff latte is my go to these days. Worryingly Terry had started to develop blisters even at this stage of the journey, little did I know I was to shortly follow him too.

The next couple of hours up to lunch time was great. The views just got better and better and we reached th Recolver Towers for a lunch stop. This was just over the half way. Those Towers seemed so distant at the start it was incredible that we were now standing there. 

Lunch was in a cafe another coffee and a vegan panini recharged the batteries. By this time out of the wind the weather was hot and a few of the team were struggling. Poor Terry’s blisters were really giving him grief I don’t know how he made it to the end. I too had developed a couple of blisters under my right foot luckily Paul was carrying some vaseline which did the trick.

After lunch we set off again, the views were remarkable, to our right we had the sea, which had calmed down and was glistening in the sunlight as the waves lazily did their thing. The tide was in retreat. To our left was miles and miles of open flatland, nature at its very best.

This part of the journey is where my mind started telling me I won’t make it. My right pelvis was really concerning me now and every step came with a piercing pain. Unfortunately this is the site of one of my tumours, although miraculously it has been steadily shrinking, it was today telling me it’s not gone yet and was a constant reminder of that. A couple of paracetamol and a couple of ibuprofen seem to shut it up untill we got to Herne bay.

We reached Herne bay around late afternoon. This was the point where I seriously needed to get off my feet and I find a place to lay down for a while. Most of the group got refreshed in a pub. Paul and Ricky went and found a chippy and brought me back a bag of endless chips.😀 The lay down another couple of tablets and the chips gave me a second wind (not literally) and after a good rest up we set off on what was to be our last leg of the journey from from Herne Bay to Whitstable.

The last part was tough. We were all feeling it. This is where the spirit of the team shone brightest. We made each other laugh when we felt like crying. We were all sore tired and wanted the end. This is the part of the journey where I just wanted to give up. The sun was still relentlessly beating down on us and our pace had slowed down considerably. Blisters were hurting and we all looked like we had enough of this day. But this is where you find our the power in friendship and togetherness. Each member of the team lifted each other. This last leg was where I laughed the most. It worked and after another few hours Whitstable was in sight.

The great thing about doing something like this is it teaches you the power of resilience. We are not fit athletes, we did no real training, we just got up and walked 19 miles for a great cause. The togetherness of the group was what pulled us through. It was a long day we set off at 9am and got to the finish point at around 8pm I think. There was a great spirit of togetherness throughout, we all pushed each other along. Terry if you are reading this I don’t know how you made it, you could barely walk, yet you still kept on entertaining us and keeping us laughing.

I would like to thank the team Graham, Ricky, Paul, Aga, Terry, Neil Wendy and Sheila for making this such a fantastic day and for helping to raise monies for Prostate Cancer UK.

Why we did it.

The reason why we set off and walked for 10 hours last Saturday is because Prostate Cancer is a cancer that can be treated if it’s caught at an early stage, unfortunately for me mine was discovered at stage 4. But if us doing this and subsequently promoting this walk on social media, if we can get one bloke out there to take a test then it’s worth it. There is a blood test called a PSA test which measures the level of Prostate antigens in your blood stream. Shockingly 1 in 8 men will come into contact with this cancer at some point in their lifetime. 1 in 4 Black men will do the same. Sadly not enough knowledge is known by most men and the majority of men are largely ignorant of this cancer untill one day they discover they have it themselves. Let me tell you it’s not the kind cancer so many doctors like to call it. Late stage cancer treatment plays havoc with your body your mind and your life. If you want to find out if you are at risk then click on this link it could save your life.

https://prostatecanceruk.org/risk-checker?gclid=CjwKCAjw4ZWkBhA4EiwAVJXwqacpP9nLt5jDrBI9BTcLcD9BxCsmK4kR15OANcj7Ttmnfg6zA57sPhoCZC0QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

So thanks for reading this and sharing the journey. Please feel free to share this and above all tell any man you know whether it’s a partner, friend or family member if something changes with your waterworks, getting up in the night frequently to go or taking longer than usual to pee or even sudden unexplained back pain it could be the onset of prostate cancer.

If you would like to make a donation to the fundraiser we did please feel free

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/walkingforwoody?utm_source=copyLink&utm_medium=fundraising&utm_content=walkingforwoody&utm_campaign=pfp-share&utm_term=cced229400ec43ddaad00037b8843c35&fbclid=IwAR1FqpwLorE7BoeZ_hUz_-MrE4iiUKTIp8GyIVLneJ1LNuHS3LGkpURIsEk