A Lincolnshire man who has spent two years walking the entire coast of mainland Britain in his quest to raise £100,000 for charity has marked journey’s end with an open letter of thanks to a boy he met in a Welsh village a year ago.
Freemason Chris Jones, who lives near Woodhall Spa, said: “It was November last year when this young man in his Minecraft top ran after me in the street in a village near Conwy to give me a pound coin. I wanted him to know how grateful I was for his donation. I felt he deserved to know that he had helped me towards my fundraising target of £100,000 to support the charity that saved my life when I was contemplating suicide, and can do the same thing for others every day, thanks to the generosity of people like him.
“It was a rainy horrible morning, and as I crossed the street this young chap was running up behind me. When I looked around to work out why he was alone in the street in his PJ’s, there was a group of faces in the upstairs window of a house waving at us. His mum, and I guess his siblings… That really moved me; I was so far from home and this little fella had obviously seen me walking up the road from his window… Incredible, people… especially young people…
“His donation was one of seven pound coins given to me by children on my travels, all of which have been given to the Freemasons’ charity the MCF. The charity put me in touch with a counselling service when I was at my lowest ebb, and thanks to them I’m here today.
“I walked the entire coastline of Britain to raise awareness of mental health issues and to raise money. I didn’t know at the outset what target to set, so I decided to shoot for the moon and aim for £100,000.
“I’ll be home for Christmas, by which time I shall have raised a significant proportion of that, and I hope to be able to get the remainder by writing a book about my journey ‘On The Edge’. I called it that because I was ‘on the edge’ of suicide, and on the edge of the country, navigating by keeping the sound of the sea in my right ear.”
Chris started his walk in Skegness on New Year’s Day 2023, since when he’s has walked almost 6,300 miles, worn out six pairs of boots, carried a 35kg pack throughout his journey, slept indoors in beds when they were offered, and wild camped when they weren’t. The ceremonial ‘end’ of the walk will be marked with a return to Skegness Masonic Hall on December 14th.
He said the conversations he’d had on his travels had highlighted the extent of the struggles so many people were having with their mental health. “If you’re struggling, you first step must be to ask for help,” he said. “There’s no shame in that, and it will turn your life around, just as it has mine.”
