'Covid left me bedridden, now I've hiked 500 miles'

A man who was bedridden for four years due to long Covid said it was a "dream" to have just completed 500 miles (804km) of hiking.

Jeremy Neal, 57, from Lowestoft, Suffolk, caught Covid-19 in 2020 before he then began suffering with "debilitating exhaustion" and food allergies.

Doctors later diagnosed him with long Covid and chronic fatigue syndrome, and being a keen hiker, he feared he would never be able to walk again.

After staying hopeful and making small positive changes, Mr Neal began hiking and managed to complete a solo trek across six weeks.

Mr Neal said three weeks after initially catching Covid, he "suddenly felt like I had been hit by a thunderbolt" and he was "absolutely destroyed".

"It was absolute debilitating exhaustion, that was the worst part of it, I had absolutely no energy," he said.

"It was to the extent where I just felt horribly unwell all the time."

He then caught Covid six or seven more times which he said kept setting his health back and he could "hardly leave the bedroom".

"It was a horrible process of gradually coming to terms with this idea that my life was never going to be the same," he continued.

"It was devastating, but with anything my attitude is that I've got a difficult situation, I don't want to make it worst by feeling sorry for myself, I'll make the best of it."

Mr Neal began to ensure he spread out daily activities evenly with rest and researched into ways to improve his health.

In January, keen to attempt some walking again and living just by the Suffolk Coast Path that runs to Felixstowe, he decided to give some of it a go.

While he initially struggled the first couple of times, he gave it a third go in June and was able to complete the 60 miles which he said felt like a "miracle".

Encouraged by his wife Alice Neal to continue, he then hiked up into Norfolk before taking on the 268 mile (431 km) Pennine Way starting in the Peak District in Derbyshire and ending in the Scottish Borders.

While he said it was "really tough" and there were some days he needed to rest, he completed it and carried on to the St Cuthbert's Way from the Scottish Borders to Northumberland before coming back home to Suffolk on Monday.

"For somebody who just a few weeks before thought I couldn't really walk for 20 minutes it was such a transformation," he said.

"To me, it even seems right now like a bit of a dream... I'm just so grateful that the thing that is my passion in life, to hike and get out in wild places, I feel like it's been given back to me."

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