The memoir Moor to Sea: A Journey Along the Cleveland Way follows Adelaide-based Vicki – a political media monitor for the South Australian Premier - and her partner Olaf as they walk the 175-kilometre Cleveland Way in the UK.
But when Vicki receives a breast cancer diagnosis ahead of their planned trek it potentially puts the much-anticipated walk in jeopardy and she has to dig deep to make it to the starting line, pushing through the side effects of treatment to get physically fit for the trek.
As the couple start the long-distance walk, with her body still healing from a mastectomy and the ravages of chemotherapy, Vicki worries she’s been too ambitious in believing she can even finish the route, let alone do it in nine days.
The dual timeline story follows the pair as they crest emotional peaks and hit psychological troughs, mirroring the Yorkshire countryside they’re traversing, as honest and raw insights into being ‘that’ person diagnosed with cancer are interwoven throughout.
Vicki shares her moment of diagnosis, undergoing surgery and the chemotherapy struggle, as well as questioning why she got cancer, her fear of it returning, and for the first time in her life being seen as beautiful when she’d lost her hair and felt at her ugliest.
Sombre moments are lightened through Australian humour and idioms, silly moments and amusing encounters, along with reflections of previous walks Vicki and Olaf have done around the world. It’s when Vicki releases the self-imposed pressure and deep-held need to live a ‘normal’ life that her Eureka! moment arrives and frees her to face the future.
The pair finish the walk, having overcome blistered feet, fatigue, exhaustion, getting lost, tantrums and taking the odd shortcut, when Vicki reveals her intention to share her story to help others who’ve faced adversity.
It’s a story of strength, doubt, and the importance of the three components of happiness - having something to look forward to, having someone to love, and having something meaningful to do – especially in some of life’s dark moments.
Biography/Memoir, Walking, Breast Cancer, Travel, Memoir
About The Author
Adelaide-based writer Vicki Foote is a Physical Education teacher with qualifications in Art History, who has worked in education, political media, television captioning, and magazine publishing and has a catalogue of lived experience.
But when she was thrown into the unfamiliar world of medical jargon, tests and scans following her breast cancer diagnosis, she set her mind to facing the life-altering challenges head-on including embracing the magic of walking, if her body permitted.
A relative latecomer to the joys of a long-distance walk, Vicki has now ambled up and down, across and around some great walks of the world including Spain’s Camino de Santiago, Australia’s Flinders Ranges, Cradle Mountain, and Great Ocean Road, the UK’s Cleveland Way, and Abel Tasman Coastal Path and Queen Charlotte Track in New Zealand.
Having lived in London, Darwin and regional South Australia, Vicki calls Adelaide, South Australia, home where she lives with her partner, Olaf, and their Bernese Mountain Dog, Maya.
She’s always planning at least one long-distance walk, with Western Australia’s Cape-to-Cape Track and Portugal’s Rota Vicentina high on her list.
