Lighthouse fan completes epic British coast walk for charity

Jim Morton visited 243 lighthouses in total, including Point of Aye in Prestatyn, Wales

A lighthouse obsessive has completed an 8,903-mile (14,328km) walk around Britain's coastline, realising a boyhood dream.

Aged seven, Jim Morton hatched the idea after being enthralled by the seaside structures in his dad's AA road atlas.

Now 62, and after 537 days spent on the road, the Navy veteran has returned home after ticking off 243 lighthouses.

When asked how he felt after getting back to Penistone, South Yorkshire, Mr Morton replied: "Terrible!"

Mr Morton, who documented the trip both in a well-thumbed travel log and on social media, has been away since 12 April 2021 and is raising money for the Gurkha Welfare Trust.

Mr Morton, from Penistone near Barnsley, set off on his coastal adventure in April 2021

Lizard Point in Cornwall is the most southerly landmark he visited and Cape Wrath in the Scottish Highlands is the most northerly.

"I've treated it like a job to be honest, I've just put my boots on and I've gone out and walked every morning," he said.

"I've achieved my life-long ambition, it's taken me all that time since I was seven to achieve it but I've done it."

His support crew, utilising the family motorhome, comprised wife Sue and their West Highland terriers Shona and Maisie.

"Without Sue I couldn't have done it," he said.

The couple's three grown-up children also visited him along the way.

Mr Morton ended up in hospital after a cliff fall in Scotland during his 537-day journey

Some of the trip's most dramatic moments included being washed out to sea twice, rescuing a trapped sheep from a water-filled ditch and a painful fall on the Isle of Skye, Mr Morton said.

He said: "I got myself onto a cliff and all of a sudden it collapsed.

"I fell twenty foot and knocked myself out on a large boulder."

The adventurer was rushed to hospital where it was found he had a bleed on the brain and a broken thumb.

He also recalled a brush with the law as he strayed a little too close to Royal Naval Armaments Depot Coulport in Argyll, Scotland.

"It turned out they didn't like me strolling close to a nuclear submarine base," he said.

"I was chased by these policemen with machine guns."

Jim Morton was met by family, friends and a Gurkha piper at the finish line in Penistone in conditions he described as "probably the worst of the trip"

Mr Morton said he saw "fantastic wildlife" along the journey including peregrine falcons, eagles and whales.

He served in the Royal Navy in the 1970s and 80s and hopes the walk will raise £50,000 for the Gurkha Welfare Trust, with his tally so far reaching £31,500.

He chose the charity as a nod to the name of his first ship - HMS Gurkha - which had Gurkhas onboard, with a piper accompanying him on the final yards of his walk during a heavy downpour.

Mr Morton visited Trwyn Du Lighthouse at Penmon Point on Anglesey during the North Wales leg of his journey

After thousands of hours in his own company, Mr Morton said he has gained a few valuable life lessons.

"I've learnt not to take myself as seriously," he said.

"I've got a lot more tolerance than I used to have and I've learnt not to worry as much," he added.