'There are times it takes everything to keep going'

Simon Pollard was joined by his four sons for part of the walk

A man walking the Pennine Way to raise funds and awareness of suicide prevention causes said the experience has taught him how important the support of others is.

Simon Pollard, 59 and from Great Mongeham in Kent, is covering the 268-mile (431km) route from Edale in Derbyshire to Kirk Yetholm in the Scottish Borders.

The walk has been timed to take in World Suicide Prevention Day on Tuesday and Suicide Prevention Month in September.

He was joined for one of the hardest parts of the walk on Saturday, Pen-y-ghent in the Yorkshire Dales, by his four sons.

"One of them said 'I'm taking your pack', the other one directed us and the other two made sure my feet and hands went in good places and I got to the top.

"I couldn't have done it without them, them being there probably kept the challenge alive.

"The following day they went home and that really highlighted the emotional and mental challenges. The temptation to jump on the train with them and say 'that's it, I quit' was absolutely immense.

"There are times it takes everything you've got to keep you going. You've got to have the lows to understand and experience the highs."

Simon Pollard said the help his four sons gave him to climb Pen-y-ghent brought home the meaning of the walk

Mr Pollard hopes to raise £30,000 for the mental health organisations Slow the Mind CIC and the Baton of Hope, and is wild camping on his 30-day journey.

He said he took it on to show the positive impact that spending time in the countryside can have on mental health.

His mental health campaign began after spending what he described as "35 years as a functioning alcoholic, dealing with unrecognised chronic anxiety".

He said: "I didn't know when I was a teenager that I was battling chronic anxiety, I thought everybody else was dealing with the same stuff and I was just dealing with it badly, so I self-medicated with alcohol.

"An awful lot of my adult life is a blur. I packed in drinking because I couldn't cope with the trail of destruction I was starting to leave behind me."

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