Ex-paratrooper completes six-year-long coastline charity walk
A former British paratrooper has celebrated finishing his 19,000-mile walk of the UK coastline – raising £500,000 for charity and returning home with a partner, dog and baby son. Chris Lewis, 43, was joined by hundreds of cheering supporters as he completed the final mile of his epic walk which began on Llangennith beach on the Gower Peninsula, near his home city of Swansea, South Wales, on August 1 2017. He set off from the beach alone six years ago, with just £10 in his pocket and a few days of supplies, hoping to raise £100,000 for SSAFA, the Armed Forces charity. Source: PA
Transcript
00:00 [Cheering]
00:22 And one final thing I just want to congratulate Chris because he started this on his own.
00:27 I know how brave he was.
00:30 [Laughter]
00:37 Wheeee!
00:40 Ready? Three, two, one. Wheeee!
00:44 He's not called Jack for nothing. [Laughter]
00:47 Are you there Lance? I'm going to have to help my boy.
00:51 I was suffering with anxiety and depression at the time.
00:54 I'd been in the parachute regiment before this and I was a single parent.
00:58 I had a bit of a wobble, if you like.
01:00 I needed to make a drastic change and the one place that did that for me was when I was out.
01:05 When I was outside, whether it be surfing or just running along the coast or cycling.
01:09 I knew that I needed to be outside, so why not UK coastline?
01:13 I couldn't afford anything else.
01:15 We're still rising at the moment but I know that we've just found out today that we're over half a million.
01:19 The original goal was 100,000 so to say that I'm chuffed is an understatement.