Speedo Mick battles hail and gale-force winds on final fundraising hike across Dartmoor

Michael Cullen, commonly known as Speedo Mick endured hail, driving rain and strong winds as he hiked across Dartmoor on his final ever fundraising challenge.

The Everton fan is finally nearing the end of his £1 million target, after seven years of tireless fundraising through hikes around the UK, and abroad, in his iconic swimming trunks.

A former addict and alcoholic, in that time he has raised over £800,000 for the Speedo Mick Foundation - even swimming the English Channel in 2014.

He passed through Sticklepath, Devon, this week and Dartmoor yesterday (12 April), on his final odyssey from John O'Groats to Lands End, with his old schoolmate Paul May.

Mick said: "It really is another grim day and it was the same yesterday. It looked like we were going to get a lovely day and it turned out to be really, really grim."

He set off from the Post Inn at Whiddon Down and said the conditions on Dartmoor were "as bad as it got", weather-wise, but he persevered towards Cornwall, in a bid to hit his reach his final £200,000 goal.

Friend Paul said: "You get a lot of people saying to him ‘Michael don’t you get cold?’ and his response to that is ‘oh yeah, I do’ but it’s his determination and his get-up-and-go, that we’ve all got, I’d like to think, deep down inside us."

Over the years, Mick has hiked the length of the UK, walking to Wembley in 2016 and to Lyon the following year. In 2020, he overcame a calf injury to complete the trek from John O'Groats to Lands End.

Now he is tackling on the same route for his last ever walk and he started by summiting Ben Nevis in January and braving -3C temperatures in Glencoe - dressed in just his famous "blue knickers".

With just £24,495 left to raise, Mick is giving one last push towards Cornwall, hoping to hit his million-pound GoFundMe target by the time he reaches Lands End.