HeadRightOut: One Coast Any Age has passed 1,600 miles, raised almost £12,000 for Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance and proved that adventure has no age limit
Páramo ambassadors Zoe and Mike have passed the one-year mark of their extraordinary attempt to walk around the entire coastline of mainland Great Britain, clocking up more than 1,600 miles and have a new £20,000 fundraising target in sight. All despite physical and mental challenges.
The couple set off from South Haven Point, Studland, on 4 October 2025 with the aim of completing a continuous coastal circuit of Britain through their HeadRightOut: One Coast Any Age adventure. Originally estimated at around 7,300 miles and two years, the journey is now expected to take more than two and a half years.
The first year has been anything but straightforward. Just seven days into the walk, Zoe suffered a navicular stress injury in her foot, forcing the couple to stop for 116 days while she recovered and rehabilitated. Zoe and Mike made the decision to return to South Haven Point and start again, ensuring that every step of their eventual circuit would form part of one continuous journey.
Since restarting, they have faced floods, five heatwaves, thunderstorms, difficult terrain and seemingly endless sea walls and marshes. Their six-and-a-half-week journey around the Essex coastline proved particularly demanding, while one exceptionally windy day forced them down from the sea wall.
Mike has also experienced heat exhaustion, while the pair have had to contend with closed footpaths, busy roads without pavements and the daily logistical challenge of keeping themselves, their equipment and the technology documenting the adventure operational while constantly moving.
The physical statistics tell their own story. Their longest walking day so far is 19 miles, while Zoe's highest recorded step count for a single day stands at 47,413.
But the biggest challenges have not always been physical. During the summer, Zoe's 92-year-old mother died while the couple were walking through Suffolk. At almost the same time, their new grandson was born. They paused the journey for three and a half weeks so Zoe could support her daughter and attend her mother's funeral. Just two weeks later, they returned to Weymouth from Norfolk for another family funeral, this time on Mike's side.
Despite the setbacks, the pair have remained committed to the idea behind One Coast Any Age: that adventure does not have an age limit and that journeys do not have to be completed at speed to be meaningful.
“We've never planned this as a race around Britain. The whole point of One Coast Any Age is that adventure is there for everyone, whatever their age or circumstances. This first year has tested that belief in ways we could never have predicted,” says Zoe.
The couple have spent 83 nights in their own tent and a further seven in a bell tent, alongside some considerably less conventional accommodation.
Their overnight stops have included a train station shelter, a garage and an old apple store, while strangers have opened their homes to them, provided food and transport, and offered places to sleep ranging from a shepherd's hut to a top-floor hotel suite. The kindness of strangers has become one of the defining features of the journey.
The adventure has also raised significant funds for Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance, with donations reaching £11,905 as of 14 October 2026, surpassing the original £10,000 target. The couple have now increased their goal to £20,000. Fundraising has become closely intertwined with the walk, with donations coming from friends and followers as well as generous people and communities the couple have encountered along the route.
Zoe and Mike are continuing anticlockwise around mainland Great Britain and are currently making their way through Tyne and Wear, heading to Northumberland then onto Scotland.
The prospect of Scotland brings a mixture of excitement and apprehension, but after a first year that has included injury, extreme weather, family milestones, grief, unexpected kindness and more than 1,600 miles on foot, the couple are embracing the uncertainty.
ONE COAST, ONE YEAR: THE NUMBERS
- 4 October 2025 – original start date from South Haven Point, Studland
- 116 days – time during which no coast-walk miles were added following Zoe's injury
- 1,600 miles – as of 14 October 2026
- 15 ceremonial counties – covered so far
- 19 miles – longest walking day
- 47,413 steps – Zoe's highest recorded step count in a single day
- 5 heatwaves
- 3 thunderstorms
- 83 nights – in their own tent and 7 nights in a bell tent
- 1 night – in a train station shelter
- 1 night – in a garage
- 1 night – in an old apple store
- £11,905 – raised for Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance as of 18 September
- £20,000 – new fundraising target
- 7,300 miles – original estimated distance for the complete circuit
- 2½+ years – current estimated completion time
