Speedo Mick: fundraiser returns home after epic 2,500 mile charity trek

Charity fundraiser Michael Cullen, known as Speedo Mick, has returned home to Liverpool after walking 2,500 miles wearing just a pair of swimming trunks.

He said he was ready to “lie down for about three months” after his epic journey which has seen him walk across the UK and Ireland in all kinds of weather including the recent Storm Barra.

Liverpool boxer Tony Bellew and Sky pundit and former Liverpool FC player Jamie Carragher met Speedo Mick in Liverpool on Friday and he celebrated his 57^th birthday by crossing the finish line at Liverpool’s Pier Head.

His five-month Giving Back Tour Go Fund Me pagehas raised nearly £170,000 for charity and Mr Cullen has supported disadvantaged young people and the homeless.

He said: "I honestly don’t think I’d have been able to carry on much longer.

"My body’s just saying ‘go and have a lie down for about three months’.

"All the encouragement and the support I have received along the way has been carrying me on because I think I would have gone home about three months ago, I was knackered after the first month of walking.”

Mr Cullen, who has attended Everton matches sporting just his swimming trunks and scarf said: "I was amazed that a lot of people, even in the Outer Hebrides, have heard about my exploits in my knickers."

Speedo Mick’s struggles

On his SpeedoMick Foundation website, which has raised over £800,000 for charity, Mr Cullen is very candid about his past struggles.

He said: “For a long time, I was in need of that very same help and support that I am now offering to others.

“I have been the homeless person you see in the shop doorway, the addict, the alcoholic, the hopeless case that had made so many bad decisions that there was surely no way back.”

The fundraiser, who swam the channel for charity in 2014, said of his latest venture: "This is amazing for me because I’m always intrinsically linked to the lost soul I was over 19 years ago.

"That feeling is always there with me so I stay grateful for my life.

"I just love my life, I’m living my best life now."

He said he would be spending Christmas with his family, including his wife and grandchildren who he had been apart from while on his travels.

Mr Cullen said he had no plans for further challenges in the future and hoped to focus on setting up projects with the SpeedoMick Foundation.

But he added: "You never know, because the knickers call me."