A FORMER army officer from Dorset raised £13,500 for homeless ex-servicemen by walking to London.

Harry Bucknall is a former Coldstream Guards officer and travel writer from Child Okeford near Blandford.

Together with friend Jock Davis, a sergeant in the Metropolitan Police, he took on a challenge to walk 130 miles from Dorset to the capital.

The walk was in aid of Walking with the Wounded’s homeless veterans appeal.

Mr Buck-nall said he had been ‘appalled’ to learn that some of his former colleagues had lived rough and said he wanted to help.

Figures from the charity show that one in 10 homeless people are military veterans. Since 2010, the charity said that the number is rising.

Walking with the Wounded helps to fund programmes to help ex-servicemen back into work.

They have four projects running at present and want to establish six more in 2015 at a cost of £40,000 each.

After a blessing by the Rector of Child Okeford, Father Darren A’Court, Mr Bucknall and Mr Davis set off on Sunday, December 14.

While the weather was kind to the pair throughout the six day trek, they said that the first day down the country lanes to Salisbury was extremely muddy.

On the Monday, the duo walked across Salisbury Plain to Andover and into Surrey, then on Thursday they picked up the Basingstoke Canal north of Aldershot and reached Twickenham after a 33-mile hike in just ten hours.

Mr Bucknall joked: “If there was ever a next time it’s important to remember to read the map with glasses, so as not to add an extra six miles when you miss that vital crossing over the Thames at Weybridge.”

It had gone dark when they finally arrived outside the Royal Exchange in London on December 19.

They were met by Bishop of London, the Band of the Coldstream Guards, the Military Wives Choir and a crowd of over three hundred, who sang carols to mark the end of the journey.

The epic challenge has raised £13,5000 for the charity and donations can still be made to the appeal at wwtw.org.uk.