Donations

Excellent news! The first donations have been received… see the names of the extremely generous folk involved at http://www.justgiving.com/walkacrossspain (and while you’re there... thanks!)

Obviously hoping for lots more so we can swell the coffers of the National Amyloidosis Centre and have them researching away all hours of the day and night.

One thing, I suppose this means I have to actually do the walk now…

Many thanks and big hugs to the donors!

David

The Route

Spain - Northmost (A) to Southmost (B)

The route starts in Estaca de Bares, Spain's most northerly point, a cape jutting out spectacularly into the Atlantic, and reaches its end at Tarifa, where Spain nearly touches Africa. As the crow flies some 884 kilometres or 549 miles lie between these two extremes of Spanish geography, but for the land bound walker, obliged to pass round mountains, and over rivers and lakes the distance to be covered is more like 1,300 kilometres, or 807 miles.

Having decided to walk across Spain from North to South I set about trying to find a route, and was rather pleasantly surprised to discover that there is in fact an ancient way that runs from Seville to the North coast, pretty much covering most of my intended journey. This route has existed since time immemorial but apparently was at its most impressive in the time of the Romans, linking Hispalis (Sevilla) to Gijon on the Atlantic (100 miles to the East of Estaca de Bares); the way is still covered with Roman remains and parts of the original road.

Perhaps even more luckily it is still in use today, now being known as the Ruta de la Plata, the Silver Route (more on the name another day...) and has become one of the many pilgrim routes to Santiago de Compostela. The pilgrims reach around Astorga, near Leon, and turn left to join the other trails running to Santiago.

The Romans were on the whole considered pretty good road builders and adept at choosing the easiest and fastest route between two places (important when you need to move armies around to put down rebellious uprisings of Iberians in a far corner of the empire) so it seems a logical choice to follow in their footsteps and use the Ruta de la Plata as the main section of my trek.

The plan therefore is to drop down directly South from Estaca de Bares, and join the Ruta de la Plata near the small town of Melide, once there I'll turn against the flow of the pilgrims flocking to Santiago to head East, then South, down the "spinal column" of Spain as it's been described, until I reach Sevilla.

From Sevilla another Roman road leads to Cadiz on the Costa de la Luz, and a return to the Atlantic, which will no doubt be a hazy memory by that point. After dipping my feet in the ocean, the final stretch is a stroll along the beach to Tarifa, if a 100 kilometres can be described as a stroll.

807 miles, four Spanish autonomous communities (Galicia, Castilla y León, Extremadura and Andalucía), and five weeks to do it in.

PS The map is from Google (thanks!) - they've got all the copyright and that sort of thing.

Amyloidosis

The following was written by Professor Pepys at the University College London.  The money I raise from walking across Spain will be going to the UCL Amyloidosis Research Fund, to assist with their search for a cure.

ROYAL FREE AND UNIVERSITY COLLEGE MEDICAL SCHOOL 

UCL DIVISION OF MEDICINE (HAMPSTEAD CAMPUS) 

CENTRE FOR AMYLOIDOSIS AND ACUTE PHASE PROTEINS 

 

17 September 2007 

 

Research on amyloidosis at the UK NHS National Amyloidosis Centre in the Centre for Amyloidosis and Acute Phase Proteins of University College London 

Amyloidosis is a fatal disease caused by deposition of abnormal insoluble protein fibres in the tissues and organs of the body, damaging their structure and function.  Almost any part of the body can be affected so the clinical signs and symptoms vary greatly, making the diagnosis difficult for general physicians and even specialists who usually have not seen many cases.  Amyloidosis causes the death of about 1 per 1000 of all people dying in developed countries, so it is a rare but not vanishingly rare condition.  Without treatment most patients die within a year or so of diagnosis.  There is no specific and generally effective treatment although a range of different  approaches can significantly prolong survival. 

The National Amyloidosis Centre in the Centre for Amyloidosis and Acute Phase Proteins of University College Hospital, located at the Royal Free Hospital, London NW3 2PF, was founded by Professor Mark Pepys FRS FMedSci in 1999 with Professor Philip Hawkins FMedSci as the Clinical Director, and is funded by the Department of Health to provide diagnostic and management advisory services for the whole country.  The Centre builds on the research and clinical experience of Professor Pepys and his team, supported by the Medical Research Council since 1979, and now has expertise in all aspects of amyloidosis which is unparalleled elsewhere in the world.  The Centre currently sees over 2000 patients per year and the average survival of these patients now extends to 8 years or more. 

Research and development of new treatments for amyloidosis in the Centre have made enormous contributions to understanding of the disease and to improved outcomes for patients.  These achievements have been recognised by the award of large research grants by the Medical Research Council, the Wolfson Foundation and the Wellcome Trust as well as by the generous funding of patient care by the NHS.  However there is always a need for flexible research funds which can be used whenever required for developments and to support new ideas.  Award of formal research grants takes many months and is always rather strictly tied to particular uses.  Availability of resources in the UCL Amyloidosis Research Fund which can be deployed immediately for whatever is needed, equipment, reagents, salaries or infrastructure, has been of enormous benefit to our efforts. 

There are currently several very promising lines of work in the Centre on treatment for amyloidosis: a large multicentre national clinical trial of different types of chemotherapy, design and development of new drugs  to treat and prevent a particular form of hereditary amyloidosis, and most excitingly a combination of a new  drug developed in the Centre with a novel antibody invented there.  This combination therapy cures amyloidosis in an experimental model which closely resemble the human disease and the highest research priority is to take this approach into patients as soon as possible. 

The resources provided by the UCL Amyloidosis Research Fund through the generosity of donors will undoubtedly make major contributions to alleviating the suffering and saving the lives of many thousands of individuals afflicted by a terrible and hitherto incurable disease. 

Professor M B Pepys FRS FMedSci 

Head, Department of Medicine (Hampstead Campus) 

Director, Centre for Amyloidosis & Acute Phase Proteins 

Centre for Amyloidosis and Acute Phase Proteins 

UCL Department of Medicine (Hampstead Campus) 

Rowland Hill Street  London  NW3 2PF  UK 

Tel: +44 (0)20 7433 2801  Fax: +44 (0)20 7433 2803 

m.pepys@medsch.ucl.ac.uk 

www.ucl.ac.uk/medicine/amyloidosis