Man's 400-mile dog walk paused due to heatwave

A Derby man's 400-mile walk is on pause after a heatwave made the endeavour unsafe for his four-legged companion.

Danny Edwards, 34, was more than midway through a full-time mission to spread mental health awareness across the towns and villages of the Midlands with his Big Man Walk.

But after setting off from Derby in May on a circular route taking him as far as Shropshire, the warm weather has been relentless, with Danny saying he and his rescue golden retriever Elsie were forced to walk shorter distances and earlier and later than previously planned.

Now with a heatwave officially in force across Derbyshire the walk has been halted for Elsie's safety.

He said: "Three and a half years ago I had mental health troubles of my own, and I was in a very dark place. I had people help me, I got through that time and I want to help others.

"I decided to walk around the Midlands and tell people to talk about their problems.

"We've done 262 miles so far. We're not giving up, but it's difficult.

"We have paused the walk, I'm not going to expect Elsie to be walking miles in this heat.

"We've come back home, we're going to finish the walk locally over the next couple of weeks, and we're going to invite people to join us."

The walk has been organised to raise money for three charities close to Mr Edwards's heart - The Burnt Chef Project, which supports mental health in the hospitality industry, Andy's Man Club, which provides free peer-to-peer support groups for men, and Jerry Green Dog Rescue, which helps unwanted dogs find loving homes.

He said: "This is for the underdogs - the quiet ones, the broken ones, the ones who didn't think they mattered.

"We are going to get to that finish line, we're just going to do it in a slightly different way."

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