ROUND-Britain walker Tim Jones and his dog Monty should reach Watchet on Thursday, where they plan to take a three-day break.

Mr Jones, aged 33, set off in January from his home town Exmouth and expects to take between four and six years to walk the entire coastline of Britain and its islands, and possibly the Isle of Man as well.

He estimates he will cover 8,000 miles and hopes to raise £500,000 for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), a charity which he closely followed because he had lived on the coast for most of his life.

Walking ‘clockwise’ around the coastline, where many people were already invested in the RNLI was the perfect combination for Mr Jones and his fund-raising plan.

Mr Jones and Monty, a 22-month-old staffy/boxer cross, have averaged about 60 miles a week and even ventured across to the Isles of Scilly to take in four of the main islands.

So far, Mr Jones said he was ‘loving the experiences I am gaining and all the new people’ he had met on his adventure.

He said: “It is the adventure of a lifetime for one man and his dog.

“The walk is something I have wanted to achieve for a few years but circumstances have prevented me.

“I have always admired the difficult work of the RNLI volunteers and so choosing an appropriate charity to support was fairly easy.

“We will be living in a tent, and getting food and water where we can.

“I will be relying solely on the goodwill of the public to support me along the way in whatever way they can.”

Mr Jones previously struggled with depression but said focusing on the walking challenge and the generosity and warmth he had been shown by ‘complete strangers’ had gone a ‘massive way’ to restoring his mental health and faith in life.

During his epic journey Mr Jones will visit as many lifeboat stations as possible.

He said: “And if you do not think I am nuts already, I am always up for a challenge so I will be walking four different mountain ranges as well, Pen Y Fan-Horseshoe route, Snowdon-Nant Peris to Snowdon via Crib Goch, Scafell Pike and others-Wasdale Head Circular, and Ben Nevis from Fort William.”

Mr Jones’s adventures are being documented on his Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/691090702501293/?ref=share and his online fund-raising page can be found at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/timsrnli.

His personal online ‘survival fund’ can be found at https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/MontyTim.