A MAN is setting out this month to walk around the whole border of the county without a break.

Carrying his tent and gear on his back, Ledbury's Stephen Kyle plans to do it in 12 stages, walking about 17 miles a day through some the most beautiful – and rugged - countryside in Britain.

The full walk around the county will add up to about 200 miles.

He’s optimistic he can do it, despite a dodgy knee which was operated on last year.

“With all the gear, I will have quite a weight on my back," he said. "But so I am just hoping the knee will hold up.”

Mr Kyle is raising funds for the county’s climate change campaign, the Size of Herefordshire, which funds to a charity, the Forest Peoples Programme, devoted to helping the people of the rainforest to protect their ancestral lands from loggers.

“People have been fantastically generous” says Mr Kyle, who is already 75% of the way to his target of £2,500.

“I need to get the full sum get me that extra motivation. Anyone who wants to help can google “Just Giving Stephen Kyle SoH”. As my money is being match-funded, they will be making a terrific contribution to fighting climate change.”

He points that destruction of the great rainforests is releasing more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in a year that all the world’s cars, lorries and planes in a year.

Mr Kyle will be starting out from Malvern on May 25, passing through Hay-on Wye around June 1 during the Festival. He hopes festival goers will be in a generous mood too.