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Man hikes 1,368-mile Alps challenge for charity

Harry Rule A man wearing waterproofs and a woolly hat with a rucksack on his back smiles as he walks along a road with a snowy forest behind himHarry Rule
Harry Rule is completing a three-month hike to raise money for the Care for Veterans Nursing Home

An army veteran who is walking from Trieste in Italy to Monaco to raise money for charity has said he will finish the challenge even if he has to "crawl over the line".

Harry Rule from Hordle, Hampshire, is walking 1,368 miles (2,202km) to raise money for the Care for Veterans Nursing Home in Worthing, Sussex, which cares for his friend and fellow veteran Steve Boylan.

Fewer than 30 people a year complete the Via Alpina Red Trail.

It passes through Italy, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Lichtenstein, Switzerland, France and Monaco.

Harry Rule A man sitting down wearing glasses and another man bending over him smile at the camera with a restaurant interior behind themHarry Rule
The home cares for Steve Boylan (right), who was injured in a motorcycle accident

Mr Rule has so far raised more than £5,000 for the charity.

The 51-year-old started his hike on 10 June and is hoping to finish in early September.

He said he had hiked all over the world but this trail was "something else" - and the distance was only part of the reason why.

"If you were to walk from Southampton to Dover, and then get the ferry to Calais and then walk from Calais to Rome, that's the linear distance," he said.

"But every day that you do that, you'd have to make the ascent of Ben Nevis and back down."

Harry Rule A man wearing an orange jacket, blue shorts and hiking boots with his back to the camera, with a pine forest and a mountain in the backgroundHarry Rule
Mr Rule said he had experienced "all the seasons" on his hike

Mr Rule has completed around 932 miles (1,500km) and has around 434 miles (700km) to go, and said the biggest challenge for him was the heat.

But he said the money he raised would be worth it.

"I say this to people about long distance hiking... at some point, you're just going to hate doing it," he said.

"You're just going to be on the trail and all of a sudden you're just going to hate it.

"And so when you're doing it and people are sponsoring you and people are supporting you, those thoughts of 'why am I doing this?' dissipate because you know that you're doing it for a cause."

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