A FORMER alcoholic will be dropped hundreds of miles from Essex and attempt to make his way home with just the bare essentials to survive.

Charlie Knight is gearing up to take on his survival challenge to raise money for mental health charities, just a year after he was drinking to excess.

The 29-year-old father of one, from Hadleigh, was at a low point last year where he would constantly drink day in, day out.

However, the floor fitter decided to pull himself out of a hole and turn his life around.

Now, with two marathons under his belt, Mr Knight is looking for a new challenge to raise as much as he can to support mental health charities.

He is set to complete the challenge at the end of September.

He said: “I will allow some of my close friends to pick any location in England or Wales – which would be unknown to me until the day –and to then drive me there in the early hours of the morning, drop me off there alone and stranded.

READ MORE:

“I’ll have no choice but to battle my way back home with no help from the public or any transport.

“I could be left in a country lane in Wales or a backstreet bar in Newcastle, this could be up to 350 miles away.

“I don’t care how far it is, or what field or abandoned barn I’ve got to sleep in each night, I will make it home.

“I was a full-on alcoholic.

“I just got carried away drinking and partying, and lockdown hit me hard, and I wasn’t working.”

Mr Knight ran from Brighton Pier to Buckingham Palace earlier this year – about 50 miles – and raised nearly £2,000 for the Motor Neurone Disease Association.

He believes for his survival challenge he will run 50 miles every day.

He added: “I went teetotal and went to the gym, but I only started running 15 weeks ago. I’m really looking forward to it, I’m excited.

“I’m going to be training 100 miles a week, that’s what I did for the Brighton run. I will be doing this challenge for a mental health charity.”

To donate, click here.