Cambridge coast walker Chris Howard completes 11,000-mile trip

During the pandemic, a father-of-three took social distancing and isolation to a new level, by packing a rucksack and walking 11,000 miles (17,700km) around the British coastline for charity.

Chris Howard set off from Heacham, in Norfolk, on 26 July, 2020 and will arrive home in Cambridge later.

He walked through several major storms and got hypothermia, but said he was immensely proud of finishing.

He has so far raised almost £40,000 for BBC Children in Need.

"I was looking at my own three daughters and thinking how lucky they were in comparison to other children," Mr Howard said.

"I wanted to do something specifically for children in the UK - I've been to a lot of deprived areas that people wouldn't realise even exist here."

He came up with the idea of the walk, and set out three weeks later, with a rucksack containing "only the basics - and everything had to have more than one use", he said.

Through his social media channels, he became known as Chris the Coast Walker.

Along the way he met people who would give him things, but there was only so much he could wear or carry.

"It was really life-affirming, the general kindness I got from people."

He said he was often mistaken for a homeless person - "and I think I've seen life from a homeless person's perspective", he said.

"If I went into a supermarket to get food I was often followed by security guards because they assumed I was homeless and therefore going to steal something.

"I think that's a really bad assumption to make. It's really sad."

He said he chose to cut himself off from news and statistics regarding the pandemic, and only be updated by his wife if something "was of major importance".

"I wanted to be more mindful and liberated from that," Mr Howard said.

"If there's one message I could give to people, it's that we do live in an amazingly diverse country and it's well worth going out to see the coastline where we live, because it's fascinating and beautiful."

The route inevitably took him inland at times, when he had to traverse estuaries and other obstacles.

"Not everything's a nice beachy walk. Sometimes you're scrambling along cliff edges - and it was quite hairy at points.

"In some places there's such bad erosion that the footpath is actually in the sea," he said.

He said he was "immensely proud" of his achievement, but added: "My head is still out there, on the path, and I'm going to miss that simple existence I've had - of just walking.

"People think I've regressed into some sort of outdoorsman, but actually I think I've evolved to a point where we all should be - and that's in the outdoors - it's where we're meant to be."

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