Haverhill founded charity continues to put in the miles and metres to raise money for good causes

Despite the challenges thrown at them by the coronavirus lockdown and the weather, a group of friends and family has already scaled five fells and walked thousands of miles for their charity fund-raising bid.

Calling themselves MICA Travels, the group is undertaking a series of energy-sapping challenges to support AMMF the Cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct cancer) Charity and The UK Sepsis Trust.

It is all being done in memory of Carol Hall, who died on September 28, aged 63, from bile duct cancer, a rare condition that also leads to sepsis.

MICA Travels includes Carol’s husband of more than 50 years, Mike Hall, their sons Peter and Ben, and other family and friends, and in December some of the group climbed five Lake District fells – the first of the 214 fells they aim to complete as just one of their challenges.

They first climbed the 379 metre-high Walla Crag on December 6, and in the days that followed scaled four more fells – Latrigg (368m), Cat Bells (451m), Maiden Moor (576m) and High Spy (653m).

They were then forced to reroute off fellside for safety reasons due to snow and fog.

The group, said Mike, was ‘determined’ to complete all of the challenges it had set itself, even though the original plans had been disrupted.

Mike, of Lundy Close, Haverhill, said: “We’ve got plenty of things we want to do and are ready to do it but we just need to pull it all together.

“We are determined to do it. We wanted to get the 214 fells done this year but it’s likely it’s going to take two to three years to do it now because of the restrictions.

“It’s not a quick thing. It’s a long term thing.”

Between November 5 and December 2, MICA Travels also completed a 2,000 mile ‘Lockdown Challenge’ which saw them collectively walk and cycle 2,061 miles, raising in excess of £600 in the process.

As if that wasn’t enough, five members of the group also signed up for the ‘Country Walking 1,000 mile challenge’, individually walking virtually from Land’s End to John o’Groats by walking and recording daily mileage over and above their normal activities.

Having started on January 1 they have, as of February 5, walked 653 miles of their collective target of 5,000 miles.

And the efforts link in with the fact February is AMMF’s campaign month to raise awareness of bile duct cancer, which has no known cause, kills 2,500 people per year (a figure that is rising) and is hard to diagnose, with symptoms that are difficult to spot until it is too advanced to treat.

Most people with the cancer die within three months.

The group has created a website that includes a donation page to the charities and links to all the social media, blogs, challenges and stories.

Everything it does is self-funded and no money is taken from the donations given.

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