An artist who has battled cancer has chronicled her journey through a popular tourist route.
Walking Backwards (Up an Apostle’s Nose) is a memoir written by Alison Chandler, framed in six days walking and four days recovering.
The 61-year-old, from Johnshaven, found out she suffered from cancer of the appendix in 2016.
Doctors also detected a blood spot on her liver and diagnosed her with a bowel tumour and diverticulitis, a digestive disease which inflames parts of the bowel.
Just months before her diagnosis, Ms Chandler embarked on a pilgrimage across Spain, The Way of St James the Apostle, also known as the Camino de Santiago de Compostela.
She said: “Going into emergency surgery, my first thought was: ‘I am so glad I walked the Camino’.
“This book tells the story why.
“Twenty thousand words tumbled out of me in the first four days home from walking on the Camino in October 2015 because of the life-changing experiences I had on the way and the lessons for life that I learnt as a result. I spent 2016 writing.
“It isn’t a story about being a victim of cancer. It is a tale of beautiful landscapes, banker knights, dangling caterpillars, handsome lovers, aching pilgrims and policemen’s bottoms and it is my European, feminist, anti-fascist truth.”
After undergoing 16 cycles of chemotherapy, Ms Chandler returned to Camino in October last year – funded by sales of her paintings.
She added: “Cancer and Camino taught me many things, including not to waste time pestering publishers when I could be painting or walking or working with communities.
“There are things I need to say – about being European, about fascism, about women’s lives – which I cannot do with a paintbrush.”
For further information visit www.waythroughart.com
