Shoreham starting point for 5,600-mile walk

It is that sense of home that will keep him going on his latest adventure challenge.

The 55-year-old, a freelance photographer who now lives in Upper Beeding, will attempt to walk around the mainland coast of Britain in eight months, starting in Shoreham next Friday.

He is raising funds and awareness for Parkinson’s UK and the RNLI in memory of his father-in-law Harold, who died in 2015.

Ken said: “I grew up on the coast in Southwick. From my bedroom window as a kid, I could see the chimneys of the old Brighton B power station.

“Frequently, the Shoreham Harbour foghorn would wail into the night, and the lifeboat crew would be summoned by marroons going off over the town. Wherever I am in the world, I always feel at home when I smell salt on the air.

“I know people who have travelled to every continent but who have never explored our own wonderful island in any depth.

“The coast of Britain is not the hardest challenge in terms of terrain or unfamiliar territory but it is a long and committing walk.

“Since it was first done in 1978 by the now-legendary John Merrill, perhaps only a few dozen people have made a complete circuit in one walk, though many have walked and are currently walking the coast in stages.”

To keep him on track as he covers around 5,600 miles, his wife Carol will drive their campervan between stops. Ken will also be sleeping in a tent and staying at friend’s houses along the way.

Ken said Harold had faced ‘a long and sad decline’ with Parkinson’s, which he described as a slow and debilitating condition that was very difficult to bear.

He wanted to support Parkinson’s UK as the disease ‘often slips under the radar of publicity’.

Paul Jackson-Clark, the charity’s director of fundraising, said: “I’d like to wish Ken the very best of luck with his challenge. I hope Ken’s story will inspire others to sign up for one of our Walk for Parkinson’s events that happen throughout the year, with a range of distances to suit all abilities.

“As the UK’s Parkinson’s support and research charity, we’re leading the work to find a cure, and we’re closer than ever, but our work is dependent on donations.”

Ken also chose the RNLI, as he will be walking past most of the British lifeboat bases.

“RNLI does magnificent work at sea for our maritime nation, saving lives without discrimination,” he added.

Donations can be made online via uk.virginmoneygiving.com/coast17 and to follow Ken’s progress, visit www.touchingthelight.co.uk/coast

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