The Short and Sweet
Between May 8th and the 20th , I’ll be walking
214km240km of the 815km long of the Camino del Norte – the northern route of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela.
I’d like you to support me and my selected charity and invite you to join me.
Walking the Camino de Santiago de Compostela
Millions of people from all over the world have walked to the Cathedral in Santiago de Compostela. The routes they have take over the ages are called the Camino.
For whatever the reason people make this ‘pilgrimage’ – spiritual, recreational or simply popping out with the dog for a pint of milk – this is a chance to connect with whatever you need to connect with. In my case, my dog, myself and your donation for a great cause.
Ultimately I intend to complete the entire 815km northern route in 4 visits. This is the first visit, the second is tentatively planned for September 2016 and the rest in 2017.
You can see more of the route I’ll be taking here.
Make every kilometre count
I’m making this journey because I’m fit and healthy and fancy a walk. There are thousands of sufferers of M.E in the UK – including my best friend Joel – who can’t walk 100 yards without feeling totally exhausted. They’d love to do this – but they simply cannot.
They – like Joel – used to be fit and healthy until they suddenly got severely sick and never got better – like a permanent severe flu. Their lives have been put on painful pause by M.E and their recovery put on hold because the UK Government and medical establishment are hiding their heads in the sand on this. It is up to the general public – you , me and InvestinME – to move this forward.
So I need your help.
I need you to put your hand in your pocket and sponsor this walk. My target is £1000 and I’ll even match donations up to that target.
Give what you can and more importantly share this we need to raise awareness as much as we need to raise money.
Sponsor me here now:
About Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (M.E)
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) is a systemic neuroimmune condition characterized by post-exertional malaise (a severe worsening of symptoms after even minimal exertion). It causes dysregulation of both the immune system and the nervous system. The effects of ME are devastating enough to leave 25% of patients housebound or bedbound. For moderate to severe patients, living with ME is like living with late-stage cancer, advanced stage AIDS, or congestive heart failure for decades. – www.meaction.net
Living with ME is like living with late-stage cancer? That’s pretty rough – right? Now imagine that is your life for the next 5, 10 or even 15 years,
You would think that with such chronic pain, suffering and lower quality of life affecting so many people with this condition that there would be state funding to fund research into the condition and develop a cure or definitive treatment. Not so – in the UK, the funding to date – of £2m over the last 25 years – is entirely embarrassing.
It simply isn’t good enough and I’m taking this walk partly to raise awareness of both the condition and the lack of emphasis on it. Please help me in doing both.
Join me
My 214km walk is in 10 stages and if you would like to join any of the stages – that would be wonderful. Here are some things you need to be aware of:
- you need to be fit and able to commit to complete whatever stage(s) you join
- you’ll need to make your way to the rendezvous location the evening before the start of the stage with whatever gear you need
- If you would like to do a multi-day walk with me – you might have to rough it. My dog and I plan to camp in a tent most of the time but there are very basic hostels called Albergues that you can bunk in.
- We’ll walk for 6 – 8 hours a day and eat ,drink, muse and recover for the rest of the time.
If all this still excites you – please send me a mail and lets plan our camino. Please make sure you also make a donation to the cause too 🙂
A Super Special Limited Offer
I’m a sought after world class agile coach – you cannot hire me until 2018 because I’m all booked up to help organisations deliver value more effectively and joyfully . If you would like to spend a day walking and talking about the challenges you are facing as a manager/Scrum Master/whatever in a tech organisation struggling to deliver value effectively – then make a minimum donation of £500 to the cause above, get your walking boots on and lets talk. I guarantee you it will be the best £500 your company ever spent.
Limited to first 3 people only.
Updates on my Camino
I intend to keep this blog updated of my progress before, during and immediately following the walk – so be sure to bookmark and follow along.
You can also “like” my Facebook page here to stay updated.
Thank you for doing this. My daughter and I both have ME/CFS and it is a much misunderstood illness. We watch the medical community fight about who knows what about the problems and issues but there is one underlying certainty NO ONE knows how to cure it. A few lucky people get their life back but the majority of us just keep on the best we can waiting for at least a little understanding. I don’t usually like physical fund raising for ME/CFS as it seems to mock the very fact that we can’t walk 240 paces let alone 240km but in taking the time to tell the story of people with ME/CFS you have won me round. Thank you again,
Go Mike!