Cookery school boss David Jones has had to battle landslides, swollen streams and treacherous muddy tracks on his charity hike of a lifetime around the South West coast.

The 50-year-old chef has faced some of the wettest weather the Westcountry has experienced since records began after setting out from Minehead on the 630-mile trek along the South West Coast Path.

Christmas lunch was a brief stop for a turkey sandwich in west Cornwall before he walked on to cover his target of 25 miles a day.

The New Year Eve celebrations were a little more extravagant as he stayed with friends at Holbeton but even they were cut short because he had to get to bed early in preparation for the next day's hike.

David was expecting to be back in Dartmouth yesterday before heading back out along the coast path to continue his hike to Poole in Dorset later this month.

David, who is co-owner of Kingswear's Manna from Devon Cooking School and a driving force behind the annual Dartmouth Food Festival, is making his walk in aid of the Motor Neurone Disease Association.

Both David's parents suffered from the illness.

When he set out, David had not bargained for the extreme weather which has left parts of the South West under water and hundreds of homes flooded.

David told the Chronicle this week: 'I have been getting on reasonably well despite the weather throwing all it possibly could at me.

'I'm on track and even slightly ahead of where I planned to be.'

For more on this story, see this week's Dartmouth Chronicle