A 33-mile winter walk is the challenge Simon Lea-Armstrong has set himself to raise money for Walking with the Wounded.

The charity has launched a Walking Home for Christmas campaign to help veterans who have no home to walk to.

Simon, 50, a workshop manager for Zodiac Aerospace in Braintree, has taken up the challenge which invites people to take on a sponsored walk of any distance from one to 100 miles.

Simon plans to set off from his home in Thaxted at 6am and walk to Braintree, then along the Fitch Way to Great Dunmow, then through The Eastons, Duton Hill, Stansted, Mole Hill Green and Tilty back to Thaxted.

He is hoping to complete the journey in 15 hours and match or better the £500 he raised on the charity’s walk last year.

He said: “It’s a very worthy cause and it’s underfunded. When you hear of amputees who have walked 1,000 miles, the length of Britain, or a 19-year-old with one leg who camped out for 10 days, my 33 miles seems pretty paltry.”

Simon will be doing his walk on Friday, December 11.

Find out more about Walking Home for Christmas at walkingwiththewounded.org.uk and sponsor Simon at www.virginmoneygiving.com/SimonLeaArmstrong