A Cornish welcome for charity walker

Colin Snook will have completed about 344 miles out of the 4,000 he expects to trek around the British coast.

He has passed through towns such as Sidmouth, Exmouth, Torquay and Brixham to reach his current destination.

Ahead of him lies all the Welsh and Scottish coastline as well as the eastern shore of England.

His expected return to Bognor is due on November 30, exactly a month short of the anniversary of his departure from the town's seafront on January 1.

He hopes by then to have raised 50,000 for the Children Living with Inherited Metabolic Diseases (CLIMB) charity. About 4,300 has been donated so far.

Mr Snook (71) marched off from the bandstand for his epic adventure. He was watched by a crowd of about 200 supporters from his family, his friends and members of the Chichester Jazz Club.

The retired firefighter, who has four children and four grandchildren, said: "There are two parts to this '“ ambition and inspiration.

"If I don't start walking around Great Britain now, which has always been my dream, then I never will.

"And, about five years ago, I had a chance encounter with a teenager with Battens Disease, for which there is no cure.

"She sadly died but she is my inspiration. There are at least 715 types of this dreadful illness and it leaves young people with epileptic fits, blind and they lose their speech. Many do not make it to 20."

Lesley Greene, the development manager for CLIMB, said: "He might be 71 but he is very fit. We're thrilled he has decided to combine his life's ambition with helping us."