Dorset walker begins nine month trek around Great Britain

Paul Harris, from Corfe Castle, set off on Sunday, July 19 and reached Weymouth's Veterans Hub for a pit stop.

He will be walking the entire coastline of Great Britain over the next nine months while carrying everything he needs on his back. He spent his first night sleeping outside a church in Lulworth.

Paul, an ex-Royal Marine, will be raising money for Rock2Recovery, a charity aiming to motivate veterans and those in the Armed Forces towards a positive future.

Paul said: "I was feeling lost in my life. I was hating the job I was doing in insurance and having to psyche myself up each day to do it and I knew I needed to break the cycle I was in. I quit my job, got rid of my flat and took a punt on burning all my bridges to do this challenge.

"I was planning on going to Asia in February but coronavirus came along and all my plans were pulled out from underneath me so I've just taken a leap of faith."

Paul is taking on the challenge by himself but has already had an outpouring of support from followers on Instagram. People have been messaging him offering him places to sleep, food and even a solar panelled power bank as a way of supporting his incredible journey.

"I have been overwhelmed at the number of messages I've received in the short time since I started. I'm so humbled by it all. I've got people saying they want to come and walk with me for an hour when I'm near where they live which will be great."

The perimeter of Great Britain is 17,820km but Paul thinks he will end up walking nearer to 20,000km due to the inlets of the coastline. He will walk in a three day rotation of varying distances for the first month to see how his body responds to the extreme exercise he will be doing.

He said: "I'm working it out as I go, same as life. If I walk one kilometre today it is one more than yesterday."

John Williams, a personal trainer at the Veterans Hub, walked with Paul on the second and third day of his adventure. He said: "We want to give Paul support. The guys down here have been a pit stop to him so we've given him some food and I'll take some of his washing and meet him at another point to drop it off. He is ex-marines which comes under the veterans umbrella and we want to support anyone ex-forces."

You can follow Paul's journey on his Instagram account @thewarriorwalker and donate to his fundraiser at https://www.gofundme.com/f/Warriorway888?utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=p_na+share-sheet&rcid=5f260b9597344ecf85b6b8feee416e3e