A former Epsom man is cycling Britain's coastline to raise awareness about men's mental health.

Lewis Stephens, 23, who lived in Banstead before going to school in Epsom and Ewell, is undertaking the incredible feat for CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably), a men's mental health charity.

Having previously fundraised cycling to Bournemouth last year, Mr Stephens decided to take on an even bigger challenge, and has raised hundreds of pounds since starting on June 3 under the tagline The Tourist Dog.

The motivation, he said, was growing crisis in men's mental health.

"CALM run a suicide prevention hotline and supporting them was a choice on the micro and macro level for me.

"Close to home I've had friends and family who've suffered and been directly affected by suicide and that put me strongly behind the cause.

"It's also not hard to look around and notice that men's mental health is getting worse, it's the biggest killer of men under 40," Mr Stephens pointed out.

His epic journey — some 4,000 miles in total — is compounded by the fact that he chose to undertake the challenge with a spending cap.

Under the rules, he is only permitted to spend £5 per day, meaning that he often has to rely on making connections with people and the kindness of strangers in order to get by.

The results of this added element have been almost uniformly positive, Mr Stephens said during a telephone interview near next port of call, Newquay.

"The country appears to be up in arms but when you go around everyone seems really friendly.

"Tonight I'm staying at St Christopher's hostel who are putting me up for free, The Cycle Mechanic bike shop in Newquay agreed to fix my bike up for no charge. As soon as I tell people about the charity and what I'm doing you'd be surprised at how many people agree about mental health and want to help out," he said.

The adventurous route will see him tackle some of Britain's most dramatic scenery from rugged bays to windswept moors.

"I think I've proved a few of the flat-earthers wrong in Cornwall and Devon," he joked. "Let me tell you it is not flat here."

After completing the winding Cornish peninsula, it will be onto Wales, where he hopes to link up with his Dad for a section of the ride, before tackling Scotland's famous North Coast 500 coastal route.

"I'm really excited about that, it's meant to be one of the best roads to cycle in the world and I've just been wanting to race my way up there so people have had to convince me to slow down a bit!"

Mr Stephens will complete the ride in Selsey, Chichester, where he started it earlier this month and where his Grandfather lived.

You can follow Mr Stephen's progress on his epic journey on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/TheTouristDog-2003344643296735/

To donate to his fundraising efforts for CALM, go to: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/thetouristdog