HE'S only got one leg, but farmer Colin Edwards is running 630 miles around the south west coast.

The 55-year-old from Trusham is fitter than most people with both limbs, and is a veteran of London and New York marathons, mountain climbs, and a variety of tough guy and iron man endurance feats.

He started his latest challenge on Sunday from Minehead, and aims to take about six-and-a-half weeks to run the coastal footpath to Poole in Dorset.

'I know it is going to be very hard, and the terrain is very, very hilly, but I want to do a minimum of ten miles a day. The mountain always looks worse when you are looking up at it, and I am determined to succeed,' he said.

Mr Edwards was a keen sportsman in his youth – rugby, boxing and running to a high standard– but it all came to a end when he badly injured a leg in a motorcycle accident when he was 19.

The leg was saved, but complications and pain set in over the ensuing years, and it was eventually decided to amputate below the right knee about 20 years later.

'I was fitted with an artificial limb, and it took a bit of getting used to. Friends persuaded me to join the Teign Valley Hash House Harriers, a social running group, and it was the inspiration I needed to get back into running and other physical activity.

'My hash name is Forrest Stump, which might seem a bit cruel, but it is typical hash black humour, and I would rather be right out in the open and upfront about by disability.

'I think I have proved that it need not be a liability at all. I am fitter and healthier now than I have been since my teens.'

Mr Edwards is hoping to raise £10,000 from sponsorship for Porter, a charity he is heavily involved with that helps people with disabilities all over the world. Celebrity chef Michael Caines is the patron.

He will have a bed each night in a camper van loaned by GM Coachworks, of Trusham, and a fleet of friends and hashers are on rota to drive it to a different venue each evening to meet him.