Veteran hopes challenge will help people open up

A veteran who sought support after leaving the Royal Navy is taking on a 126-mile (203 km) journey on a pedalo to encourage people to open up about their mental health.

Alan Thornewill said he struggled to return to civilian life after a 22-year career which saw him deployed to Antarctica, the Falklands and Sierra Leone.

He now hopes to raise £5,000 for the RLNI and Combat Stress, which specialises in veteran mental health support. The total currently stands at nearly £4,500.

"Invisible injuries can be just as hard to cope with as physical ones," the 60-year-old from Lechlade in Gloucestershire said.

"Knowing there's a helping hand in the darkness – whether during mental health struggles or when struggling at sea – can be the difference between sinking and surviving," Thornewill said.

Thornewill began his military career as an artificer before working as a petty officer, and later in maritime security and anti-piracy operations.

He has dubbed his journey down the River Thames, which started in Lechlade in Gloucestershire on Friday, Op Ruby Jack.

He is travelling in a swan-shaped pedalo and hopes to reach London on Thursday.

"If pedaling a swan down the Thames gets people talking, and supporting these organisations' vital work, then it's worth every mile," he added.

Thornewill is being joined in the pedalo each day by a different group of veterans, friends and family as they navigate locks, currents, weather and the physical strain of pedalling for eight hours each day.

His wife Victoria Thornewill said she was sure the journey would be "a success".

Ahead of the challenge starting, she said: "I'm doing the car shifts, so ferrying people to and from, and then as soon as we get down from Oxford, I'll be on the boat."

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