A 60-year-old man who walked the length of Britain over three months to raise money for the armed forces has returned home to his family.

Steve Athawes, originally from Carshalton who now lives in Worcester Park, started his journey from Lands End in Cornwall on April 19 and finished at John O’Groats in Scotland on July 20.

The idea for this venture was inspired 30 years ago when Steve watched First and Last, a film about a man from Carshalton who experienced the same journey.

Steve said: “I remember thinking I would like to do that when I retire. I had a hip replacement nine months ago and I’m not getting any younger or fitter so I thought now is the time to do it.

“I didn’t want this to be one of those things I never got done as it’s been on my radar for so many years.”

Unable to get the time off work, estates manager Steve was forced to quit his job.

He said: “It was a bit of a bold decision but not that much because my wife was very supportive. Even now in the cold light of day I’m still glad I did it even though I have to find another job.”

On average Steve travelled between 15 and 20 miles per day during his charity walk.

“In terms of doing it alone, it’s as much mental as it is physical. It is quite tough to stay positive on every day for three months, but to be fair I didn’t really struggle that much with it, you just have to look at it day to day.”

Steve carried a 25 kilo bag during the walk and often camped because staying in B&B’s for 100 days would have been too expensive.

To prepare him for the challenge Steve rose from bed at 4.30am before work to go out walking while carrying a bag to get himself fit.

In 2015 he walked from coast to coast and he has also completed 100 kilometres endurance walks for charity.

SSAFA, an armed forces charity that helped over 67,000 last year, was the group Steve wanted to raise money for.

He explained: “I don’t think we look after our service people very well. While I was on the trip I met a lot of women on their own from abroad doing long walks. It’s nice that they could come to the UK to do long distance walking on their own.

“One of the reasons they can do that is we have the finest armed forces in the world. You shouldn’t need forces charities, anyone who has served their country shouldn’t be in need of anything. But there are people who have been injured, suffering physical or mental trauma or are in financial difficulty.”

Steve added that he has a son and a niece who are in the armed forces and his brother served in the Royal Navy for 25 years.

He said: “If they were in need I would like to think there would be someone there to look after them. SSAFA helped over 60,000 people last year and that’s why I thought I needed to do something.

“I wish I could have raised a bit more.”

£2,500 was generated by Steve and he is hoping more for more SSAFA donations.

You can donate through his justgiving page here http://www.justgiving.com/Steve-Athawes3