A man is 'spontaneously' walking for six days to promote mental health.

Michael Wise,39, is tackling a 70 mile walk from Carlisle to Newcastle to raise money for the mental health charity MIND.

Something which he had only planned one week ago.

Michael began the walk on Sunday, March 5 and hopes to reach Gateshead Millennium bridge by Friday, March 10.

Through his 'spontaneous' action, he hopes to promote the seriousness of mental health which he found social media was a good platform to do it on.

"I have been struggling with my own mental health for a couple of years and it wasn't until I joined TikTok that I felt better by making people laugh," Michael said.

"I just found that by doing lives and making people laugh and seeing them send me messages that I have cheered them up took me out of my dark place.

"I fell out of work over a week ago, so I thought there was no better time than to raise money for MIND.

"I have always been spontaneous, so this is not something new for me.

"But this fundraiser has not been planned very long, in fact, I only planned it a few weeks ago and not many of my friends or family know that I am doing this.

"I do have one of my best friends checking on me every day - which is great for morale and support."

Michael has been walking for a few days and has already reached Haltwhistle and next stop Hexham.

Reflecting on his progress, he said: "So far, it has been going well but I did not predict how cold it was going to be.

"I did camp out the first night but it looks like it will have to be hotels from now on.

"But everything else is great.

"The support has been amazing and on our fundraiser page we have already reached £650.

"I did not expect to raise that much already but it would be great to get our target of £15000.

"It is important to talk about mental health, to raise awareness so if I get someone to talk about their own mental health then I have done my job."

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