picosrider
Active Member
We all have different reasons for making the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, but by tradition it should have a "spirtual" element to qualify for the Compostela. We set off on our journey in 5 weeks time, and this is our reason, as told by Tom Vaz.
A fundraising pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela and Cape Finisterre
When my dear wife, Lesley, passed away in 2006 from a brain tumour, she left behind many happy memories for me and my young sons Christopher and Luke. She fought hard and against the odds to leave us those memories and relied heavily on a local charity called the South East Cancer Help Centre.
The Centre does a fantastic job of supporting patients and carers at the most difficult times of their lives. From personal experience I can say that they make a real difference, and you could help their work by contributing to our fundraising efforts. I wanted to give back something to thank them for what they had done for me and my children. I decided to set out on a charity bike ride to raise much needed funds for the Centre.
The original ride in 2010, myself with Luke and Des Donohoe was to the Picos de Europa mountains in Spain, where we were able to see relics of the True Cross at the monastery of Santo Toribio de Liebana. This ride was a huge success, raising over £9000. So this year Des and I decided to don sack cloth and ashes to make a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela and eventually Cape Finisterre in north western Spain and back. A distance of 1500km.
A change of personnel was called for, as this time my eldest son was free to join us. Christopher, now a medical student has agreed to put down his stethoscope and spend three weeks with us so YES we have a team!
Please don't think this will be a doddle, Des is now 72 and even my joints creak whilst walking up the stairs, and we have to carry all our luggage over the Spanish mountains!
We are not of course doing this just for fun, but to raise money for the South East Cancer Centre. So please be generous, it will make our journey easier knowing that someone cares!
Donations can be made via JustGiving.com http://www.justgiving.com/el-camino or directly at the Centre. Their website is at http://www.sechc.org.uk/
You can also follow our blog at http://the-picos-ride-for-cancer.blogspot.co.uk/
A fundraising pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela and Cape Finisterre
When my dear wife, Lesley, passed away in 2006 from a brain tumour, she left behind many happy memories for me and my young sons Christopher and Luke. She fought hard and against the odds to leave us those memories and relied heavily on a local charity called the South East Cancer Help Centre.
The Centre does a fantastic job of supporting patients and carers at the most difficult times of their lives. From personal experience I can say that they make a real difference, and you could help their work by contributing to our fundraising efforts. I wanted to give back something to thank them for what they had done for me and my children. I decided to set out on a charity bike ride to raise much needed funds for the Centre.
The original ride in 2010, myself with Luke and Des Donohoe was to the Picos de Europa mountains in Spain, where we were able to see relics of the True Cross at the monastery of Santo Toribio de Liebana. This ride was a huge success, raising over £9000. So this year Des and I decided to don sack cloth and ashes to make a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela and eventually Cape Finisterre in north western Spain and back. A distance of 1500km.
A change of personnel was called for, as this time my eldest son was free to join us. Christopher, now a medical student has agreed to put down his stethoscope and spend three weeks with us so YES we have a team!
Please don't think this will be a doddle, Des is now 72 and even my joints creak whilst walking up the stairs, and we have to carry all our luggage over the Spanish mountains!
We are not of course doing this just for fun, but to raise money for the South East Cancer Centre. So please be generous, it will make our journey easier knowing that someone cares!
Donations can be made via JustGiving.com http://www.justgiving.com/el-camino or directly at the Centre. Their website is at http://www.sechc.org.uk/
You can also follow our blog at http://the-picos-ride-for-cancer.blogspot.co.uk/
