A navy veteran who was almost swept out to sea and airlifted to hospital after a cliff collapse is approaching the next stage of his 7,500-mile trek.

Jim Morton set off from his home in Penistone, South Yorkshire, last April in his adventure to walk the coastline of Great Britain. He is now less than a week away from Kent.

The 61-year-old, who was stationed at Chatham Dockyard from 1978 to 1981, said he is hoping to arrive at the county's coastline on Monday.

He estimates it will take him around a fortnight to complete as he aims to walk about 20 miles per day.

Jim said: "I am in no big rush to leave when I get there because I love Kent. I am coming to a part that I love, we have always spent time down there in Ramsgate and Margate.

"It is a place that I have a lot of affection for."

When based in the Towns, the navy veteran was on the frigate HMS Scylla before moving to HMS Pembroke where he worked in the leadership school at the barracks.

He then lived in Rochester for a short period.

Since embarking on his journey, Jim has walked 5,650 miles and worn out three sets of walking boots and one pair of shoes.

He said: "It has been my life long ambition since 1967 and I thought while I am doing it I might as well raise some money.

"It has been the people I have met and not the places I have been. I have been meeting up with a lot of people."

Jim spent eight months and 10 days walking the entirety of Scotland's coastline but it was not without its challenges.

In August, he was airlifted to an Inverness hospital with a brain bled and broken thumb after a cliff colapsed beneath him while in the west near the Isle of Skye.

"It happened so quickly I did not realise what was going on," he said. "The cliff decided it did not want to be there. It departed from under me and I woke up 20 feet below on the rocks."

The grandad-of-four spent three days recovering before being discharged when he immediately set off on his adventures again.

He was almost swept out to sea on another occasion in Sandwood Bay, Cape Wrath, also in Scotland.

Jim said: "I was trying to cross a river in a bay. The water was coming and it was too strong for me. I was swept of to sea but I managed to get back to my feet."

His wife Sue and their two westies are also travelling with Jim in a motor home which they drive and park up on driveways and holiday camps awaiting his arrival.

But although he makes it back most nights, there has been some remote areas where he has had to camp.

Jim has decided to use his lifelong dream to raise money for the Gurkha Welfare Trust as they rebuild villages devastated by an earthquake in Nepal.

The charity work to enable Gurkha veterans, their families and wider communities to live their lives with dignity.

At the time of writing, the fundraising page had reached more than £18,000 which is enough for the organisation to build two new houses. If you wish to donate you can do so here.

You can follow his journey on his Facebook, I may be gone a while, here.