Keswick School student's 100-mile walk for mental health

Nathan Canfield, 16, from Workington, raised £1,200 for Cumbria Suicide prevention and mental health charity, Every Life Matters - and the amount is growing.

He said he was inspired to do the walk after people from the charity, State of Mind, spoke at Keswick School where he is in his first year of sixth form.

The representative spoke of the power of sport to promote positive mental health among people involved in activities whether playing or just being a fan and part of a group.

Nathan, who plays cricket for Workington, said: "I just felt I would like to contribute something to help people affected by mental health problems and this was my way of doing it."

He walked his 100 miles over five days, his legs and feet ached and there were days when he felt like staying in bed but he continued on the venture until the end.

"It was hard work sometimes and there were times when I wondered what I was doing," he said.

Aching, blistered feet could not stop Nathan Canfield from finishing his 100-mile charity walk (Image: Submitted)

He said it was hard work walking by himself at times, so he was grateful for the support he had from friends and family. "Sometimes friends would come a little way with me and so would my Dad."

He also changed the route to make it more interesting, walking from Allonby to Workington.

It may have been difficult, but Nathan is getting used to it by now.

Two years ago he raised £2,000 for dementia awareness after completing a similar walk.

"I did that in seven days. This time it was only five days."

And from the way Nathan talks, there may be more challenges ahead and perhaps done in even shorter times in the future.

To help Nathan's cause, go here.