A YOUNG man who has recently been diagnosed with a progressively debilitating condition and is walking around the entirety of the UK to raise awareness is set to enter Ayrshire this week.

Barney Lee was diagnosed with hereditary neuropathy with liability to pressure palsy, a condition that causes numbness, tingling and muscle weakness in the limbs.

He set out on the adventure 220 days ago and has already walked over 3,500 miles to raise awareness and funds for the those with the same condition.

He said: “I’m doing it whilst I can because by the time I’m 30/40 I might not be able to, I’ll likely be in a wheelchair.”

Occasionally his hands and feet go completely numb and he’s unable to use them, leading to problems getting up in the mornings and with walking. He’s had to complete some of his journey whilst not having the use of one of his feet, having to drag one along behind him.

He’s recently been experiencing problems with his upper arms, describing the problem to the Advertiser as like having “t-rex arms” as he’s only able to use the lower portion of them.

At one point in his journey he took a tumble off a cliff edge and had to be rescued by the coastguard, he was stranded for three hours before being rescued.

He’s due in Ballantrae on Saturday, March 21 and then on to Girvan and Doonfoot, before continuing up the west coast.

Barney’s got a long way to go yet and said: “I don’t want to be doing this forever, I’d like to be done in December or January.”

He’s relied on the public for a bed for the night, saying that the “kindness of strangers had been exceptional.” and said that if anybody else is able to help out by offering him a place to stay or by donating then that would be great. People can do so at barneylee.co.uk