Give A Little Bit

LETJOG E2W – Day 6: Friday 19 April – LAKENHEATH to ELY (17.3 miles)

Meeting today in Ely with Kirsty of Parkinson’s UK, the charity that I am supporting through my challenge

Today, rather unusually, I had a deadline to aim for, a meeting! Earlier in the week Michelle, my contact at Parkinson’s UK, put me in touch with Kirsty, the charity’s joint Head of Community Fundraising – who just happens to live in Ely. And so it was that we met up, as planned, outside the ancient doors of the magnificent Cathedral this afternoon. It was a pleasure to meet you Kirsty, and to hearing a little about your work; and thank you for taking the time to talk about my LETJOG E2W challenge!

Which brings me on to an update from Parkinson’s UK. Firstly, I have now received this information and kind words from the charity regarding my challenge and our associated efforts to raise awareness and some funds for their cause:

“Parkinson’s is the fastest growing neurological condition in the world. With more than 40 potential symptoms, Parkinson’s can devastate lives. We’ve made huge breakthroughs in the last 50 years, but there is still no cure, and current treatments are not good enough.

“We are so grateful to Nick Heath for taking on this incredible 650 mile East to West challenge for Parkinson’s UK and for raising (alongside others) over £30,000 from previous long distance hiking challenges. Nick’s commitment to Parkinson’s UK in support of his dear friends is inspiring, and we wish Nick all the very best over the next 5-6 weeks. Every step taken is helping to raise vital funds and awareness. Without people like Nick our work would not be possible.

If you would like to support Nick’s efforts and contribute towards his goal of raising £2,500 for Parkinson’s research please visit his JustGiving page. Your contributions give hope to the 153,000 living with Parkinson’s”

So, with those words in mind, here is the link to the JustGiving page for more information on my challenge, and for those who would like to make a donation to Parkinson’s UK.

Nick’s JustGiving Page in support of PARKINSON’S UK

Thank you all – any funds donated will be sent within a week to Parkinson’s UK, so all help offered is close to immediate.

The second piece of news to impart, is that I have agreed with Parkinson’s UK that we will link my target figure of £2,500 to the furthering of medical research into the condition. Rather conveniently I am told that £2,400 is the cost of funding a clinical researcher for one month – so that would seem a worthwhile collective target to aim for.

As for my walk today, I have now left East Anglia and have set out into the fenlands of Cambridgeshire. Walking does not come much flatter than today’s ramble – between the two settlements at my start and end points, the entirety of today’s route sits below the five-metre contour, with one or two sections even slightly below sea level. Aside from the first two miles, and through Ely itself, the route was almost completely off-road, and the weather was generally kind: despite the adverse forecast, I was able to avoid deploying waterproofs, arriving in Ely in the early afternoon to sunshine. My maps and pictures follow.

Up early for breakfast, I managed to locate the bus stop in Brandon for transport back to the church in Lakenheath, that I had reached on foot yesterday afternoon: my walk then took me on roads out of the town, soon turning on to farm tracks and grassy paths as far as Shippea Hill Station, before a combination of tracks and field sides on the route to Prickwillow . . .

. . . from where I completed my walk to Ely along a wonderful grassy track, before exploring the city centre on my way through the town to my overnight stop at the glorious Ely Travelodge

Leaving Lakenheath alongside the ‘Cut-off Channel’

. . . presently becoming a grassy embankment

Through the long grass of Sedge Fen, approaching Shippea Hill Station, I crossed out of Suffolk and into Cambridgeshire

Having traversed five miles with no cover, the weather gods were on my side as I sought protection in the ‘waiting shelter’ at the Station, whilst a heavy ten-minute squall blew in from the west

A footpath next to the road followed this drainage channel . . .

. . . before turning down a long track, with views to the distant horizon in all directions

The village of Prickwillow has a rather Gilbert-and-Sullivanesque ring to its name . . .

. . . a pleasant position on the River Lark . . .

. . . and its very own drainage and engine museum

The track towards Ely follows the Hereward Way . . .

. . . to the bridge over the River Great Ouse on the edge of the city

Ely Cathedral appeared as a speck in the distance from a good seven miles away, but this was my first close-up view, over the lake at Roswell Pits . . .

. . . then from the Cathedral Green . . .

After six days on the trail, and with the broads and brecks of East Anglia behind me and my journey over the fenlands now beginning, I am closing in on the first hundred miles of my LETJOG E2W adventure. Tomorrow I have a long walking day in prospect – fingers crossed that the elements are compliant!

There is significant cultural diversity in East Anglia and The Fens, including many Eastern European nationals, whose specialist shops and stalls abound with colourful produce

The song ‘Give A Little Bit’, that I have used as today’s Blog heading, was written by Supertramp singer and guitarist Roger Hodgson when he was just 20, although it was several years later (and with a writing credit also to bandmate Rick Davies), that it was recorded and released on the progressive rock band’s 1977 album ‘Even In The Quietest Moments . . .’ Speaking in recent years about his composition, Hogdson has said that the song was inspired by The Beatles’ ‘All You Need Is Love’, and more specifically that ‘the song is basically saying: just show you care, reach out and show you care.”

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