A local man has raised more than $34,000 for cancer just by putting one foot in front of the other.

Retired insurance executive Roger Gillett and friend Roger Scotton walked the Cornish coastal path from Bude to Torpoint.

Starting on April 29, the 228-mile walk, often over severe terrain, took them 16 days to complete.

Mr. Gillett originally intended to raise $10,000 for the Bermuda Cancer and Health Centre and breast cancer research charity, A Breakthrough, but had to keep raising his target.

"We have raised $34,000 so far," he said. "We are just stunned."

He said one thing he learned along the way is that cancer touches many lives.

"One of the highlights of the trip, was the large number of wonderful people we met," said Mr. Gillett. "When they knew what we were doing they couldn't do enough.

"It was quite common for people to say 'I have just lost a friend or family member to cancer'.

"So many people are touched by this terrible illness."

In fact, shortly after returning to Bermuda after the walk through Cornwall in the UK, Mr. Gillett's sister Joyce Baker, 68, died of cancer.

When we spoke to Mr. Gillett he was back in England with his family.

"The doctors gave her two years but she lived for four. She seemed to be doing well and then after the walk she took a sudden turn."

Mr. Gillett did the walk in memory of his best friend, Graham Southeran, who died from brain cancer last October.

"There were four of us who grew up together in Cornwall," said Mr. Gillett. "One of the four friends, who now lives in Australia, called me as we walked into Newquay.

"The four of us spent a lot of times there, surfing. Of all the moments that was one of the most poignant moments.

"I thought it was eerie that he called at that moment. He didn't know where I was on the path."

Mr. Gillett said he wouldn't do this specific walk again, but he would do a similar one somewhere else.

"There wasn't anything that would cause me not to do it," he said. "It was a tremendous adventure in many ways and a terrific challenge.

"I am already trying to think what I could do."

He said doing a walk like this made you feel very alive, and present in the environment.

"You are not just visiting to take a photograph, you are actually in the place," he said. "That is a great feeling."

Although Mr. Gillett is originally from Cornwall, he saw many places he'd never seen before on the walk.

"There were places that you would never see unless you went on this walk," he said. "We walked through places nowhere near the road."

One highlight was seeing where the Sea Venture launched from in 1609.

"The day after we finished the walk in Cornwall we went across on the ferry to the Mayflower Steps in Plymouth, Devon.

"This is the place where both the Mayflower and the Sea Venture left from.

"There was a plaque there that mentioned the Sea Venture. It was fantastic to see it."

He said the toughest day of the journey was actually the first day when they did 17 miles starting from Bude.

Along the way, Mr. Gillett kept an online diary of his travels.

On day one he wrote: "The first five miles past Widemouth Bay were easy and had us feeling very confident. Little did we know what was coming next.

"The next 12 miles or so were probably the most physically challenging walking conditions I'd ever encountered.

"Streams ran down to the sea cutting very deep valleys in the high cliffs and our hearts dropped each time we climbed one only to find there was another one to descend.

"After Crackington Haven where we stopped for tea, the terrain was slightly easier, but the wind grew strong and it rained quite heavily. It was blowing so hard I was almost blown off a style. I reached out to steady myself and caught hold of a fence which turned out to be an electric cattle fence. A bit of a surprise!"

The difficult first days caused some self-doubt for Mr. Gillett and Mr. Scotton.

"Both of us were feeling that had we known it was that tough we would have had second thoughts," he said.

But over the next couple of days the walk improved. They soldiered on.

Mr. Gillett said that walking had proved to be a great way to get to know a place.

"When you are walking you really absorb the character of the village you arrive at," he said. "If you drive down the road you wouldn't feel it. But when you have walked five miles from the last one, you absolutely feel its character."

His online diary contains some humourous moments. On May 5 he wrote:

"One story I'd forgotten to tell was that after we'd trudged through the cow excrement, joking about how, working in the insurance business we'd been trudging through BS for years, we entered a field with just one bullock.

Now Roger S. did not grow up in the country and was quite anxious about this young bull's intentions. I convinced him we were safe but as we walked I looked over his shoulder and with the appropriate look of shock on my face said "look out"! Roger S. leapt into the air, doing a 180 and landing with his feet already shuffling backward. I laughed so hard I nearly fell in the mud."

He also wrote: "I realise also that I've sold my home county short in my descriptions. This is a land of great contrasts. As we walk we move from high rugged cliffs to wide sandy bays, some bays with huge crashing waves and others with calm waters with only a ripple hitting the beach. We walk with the sound of the sea and gulls on our right while on our left we hear skylarks almost constantly."

Naturally, there were some tearful moments when they reached the end of the journey on May 14.They were greeted by Graham Southeram's wife and children.

Mr. Gillett wrote: "I am pleased that I did this walk for so many reasons but I have to say that I am glad to have finished. Just think, tomorrow I don't have to get up and walk!"

Mr. Gillett thanked everyone for their support.

"I want to thank friends and family for their calls, and e-mails of encouragement and financial support of the cause," he said. "It gave the whole walk a meaning that it wouldn't otherwise have had. The fact that people were supporting us definitely kept us going. "

To read all of Mr. Gillett's online diary, or to make a donation go to the Bermuda Cancer and Health website at www.chc.bm.