The man famous for raising hundreds of thousands of pounds by walking the length and breadth of Britain in just his Speedos has been given a hero’s welcome in West Devon as he stopped off en route during his latest challenge.

Liverpudlian Speedo Mick aka Michael Cullen is on target to achieve £1-million of fundraising in seven years as he embarks on his final leg — through Cornwall — of the 1,000 mile trek.

Mick has scaled the three peaks of Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowden during this — his seventh fundraising walk —for the Speedo Mick Foundation to provide mental health support and help suicide prevention organisations, especially for vulnerable young people.

The Everton supporter who started out on December 29 2022 has battled temperatures of up to minus 18 but it wasn’t until he reached Okehampton last Wednesday that the rain and bitter cold of Storm Noa forced him to scrap his plans for the day.

He told the Times: ‘I have a very high tolerance level and am pretty tenacious and tough,’ he said. ‘You have got to have a strong mind to keep going but I have to say I was a little bit fragile last week in those weather conditions — the rain was like ice — so I stopped after 13 miles of the 22 and made up for it the next day.

‘I had a fantastic warm welcome in Okehampton, a party was organised at the Fox and Grapes at Lifton and raised £328 for the charity. There was a live band and everyone from the village came out. The place was chock-a-block, it was brilliant.’

Mick said he had also experienced great hospitality at Tinhay Mill.

Fifty-eight-year-old Mick, who admits he was lousy at sport at school, found his calling later in life after he saw David Walliams swim the English Channel.

He took up swimming lessons, trained for two years and swam the channel, wearing speedos for the first time in his life as that was the required swimwear.

Mick found a love for endurance and Speedos and the rest is history as they say.

Dogged by mental health problems throughout his life he wanted to make a positive difference to others

‘I was in such a dark place but I have come to believe in myself,’ he said. ‘I have found out things about myself I never knew. What I have done in the last seven years has helped my recovery and I want to get the message out there that although you may be in a desperate and dark place, there is hope.

‘The support I have had through Devon has been amazing and I want to thank everyone for that.’

The event in Lifton was organised by Cheryl and Jeff Boxhall of Okehampton, who met Mick on one of his previous challenges, and performed with their band One Point 5.

Cheryl said: ‘With Storm Noa going on we didn’t think as many people would come out on the night but they did — it was amazing.

‘Our thanks go to Phil Hocking and Linda Wonnacott for hosting the event and Jo Catling who also performed on the evening.’

Phil said: ‘It was a fantastic night.’

Mick plans to finish his walk across the country on April 29 at Lands End.

=Follow Speedo Mick on his journey on Twitter https://twitter.com/speedomick or go to https://www. thespeedomickfoundation.org to find out more.