A former soldier has told the ‘News’ his faith in humanity has been restored by his walk around the 6500 mile shoreline of Great Britain as he entered Portencross on the 535th day of his epic charity trek.

Incredibly, the ex-serviceman who spent the majority of his time in Northern Ireland and Germany, has been sleeping rough every evening, and had slept in the doorway of British Heart Foundation last Thursday before making his way down to Inverkip, Wemyss Bay, Skelmorlie and Largs.

When word was announced on the Largs News Facebook site that Christian Nock had arrived in the local area, it gained over 10,000 views, and over 500 ‘likes’, making it one of the most popular postings ever on our site. and gained plenty of well-wishers and admirers. He has now raised nearly £150,000 for Help for Heroes.

Christian, 39, Lichfield, Staffordshire, said: “I had a Bed and Breakfast in Blackpool and it didn’t work out and it was operating at a loss and only met the worst in people, I sold the hotel at a huge loss and got into a huge debt. I then couldn’t get work and told I wasn’t entitled to any unemployment benefit.

“So with no income, I was left in a mess. I sunk to the depths of depression and contemplated suicide. I watched Ben Parkinson, the young soldier who lost both legs, and watching him learning to walk again with prosthetic limbs, and I thought my problems are miniscule compared to that guys and I know Help for Heroes was one of the charities that helped him.

“I also watched ‘Coast’ which documented the coastline of Great Britain. I am from one of the most landlocked villages in Britain and came up with this crazy idea. I didn’t think anyone had walked the coast of Britain before but I discovered that a few had done so.

“However, nobody had walked the entire length including islands connected by a bridge, or slept rough every night - and so my challenge was set. Because of my situation, and the fact that I nearly came to homelessness myself, I decided to do it to raise money for Help for Heroes and sleep rough every night as well to raise awareness of homelessness, and a huge percentage of the homeless in Great Britain are ex-forces.

“The hotel was sold in October 2011. and from November to January 2012, I sold everything I owned, and was in debt up to my eyeballs and getting bailiff letters.

“Before I set out, I intended my initial target was £10,000 to Help for Heroes. I decided to go for date 8am on the 8 August 2012, and walk anti-clockwise around the whole of Great Britain. 535 days later, 13 pairs of boots, here I am now sitting talking to the Largs and Millport Weekly News.” He said he has had many highlights on his journey and his most recent was when he got to Faslane, he was invited by a lieutenant commander on the nuclear submarine Vanguard and invited into the barracks and base, and received a guided tour of the sub, and see inside and meet the sailors.

Christian said: “I started from Greenock on Thursday - it was typical Scottish weather - and had been involved in all four seasons, beautiful sunshine, cold winds and hail but the scenery has been great and looking across to the different peninsulas. I can see the snowcapped hills and it is really fantastic and a good 20-30 people have come up and said hello to me today and have been very friendly. It has been fantastic.

“I live day by day, my ringtone on my phone is ‘The Littlest Hobo’, I have no idea what is round the corner. I have documented the entire trip on Facebook and have taken 20,000 pictures of the coastline. I wake up in the morning and pray that there is no rain and quite often my prayers are not answered.” “I have now slept 534 nights, one in a cave with a seal, a multi storey car park, shop doorway, barn, stable, shed, shelter, on the woods, on the beach, public toilets - there are too many.

“The biggest and best thing is that I had all but lost faith in humanity before I set off on this challenge, My faith in humanity has been rekindled and I now realise there are far more good people in the world than there are bad.” On Friday morning, Christian headed south to Fairlie, Portencross, and onwards to Saltcoats and Irvine over the weekend.

You can follow Christian and find out more about his trek here on his daily blog: https://www.facebook.com/christian.britain.3 You can donate to Christian here: http://www.bmycharity.com/ChristianNock