Simon Reeve joins ‘Tiger Man’ as Cornwall trek begins

A nine-foot tiger has ridden piggyback across Britain since July, through moorland, motorway verges and clifftop mud, and this week it finally got its first proper look towards Cornwall. It is still in Devon for a few more days yet, but not for much longer.

The final push

Wildlife photographer, guide and conservationist Paul Goldstein, 63, is deep into the closing stretch of a 1,000-mile walk across Britain for wild tiger conservation, the nine-foot, 13kg tiger strapped to his back the whole way. He passed 826 miles on Thursday after a leg from Exmouth to Moretonhampstead, and today he is on the road again, walking from Moretonhampstead to Tavistock, a stage that will push his total to 848 miles. That leaves a little over 150 miles to go.

He crosses into Cornwall this Sunday (6 September) at Liskeard, and from there the route runs through St Austell, East Portholland, Falmouth, the Lizard and Penzance before finishing at Land’s End on Saturday 12 September, the last of 42 days on the road.

📷Credit: 2 Legs for 4

Simon Reeve joins the trail

As the challenge reached the South West, TV presenter and adventurer Simon Reeve joined his friend for a stretch of it, walking a half marathon between Bridport and Beer.

Simon backed Paul to complete the challenge despite the conditions. “Paul will see this through to the end,” he said. “Even with broken claws, I sense he will make it.”

He added: “The world is in a tricky state and there’s a lot of beautiful, magnificent life out there that needs passion and fury to care for it and protect it, and I’ll tell you what, Paul’s got both.”

📷Credit: 2 Legs for 4

Fighting the south coast

Since reaching the south coast over the Bank Holiday weekend, Paul has been up against 35-knot headwinds, driving rain and punishing coastal terrain. More than 800 miles in, he is managing an increasingly painful lower back with anti-inflammatory painkillers and physio, and admits simply, “Everything hurts.”

Of one particularly brutal day he said: “In the 16 years this suit has run, trekked, stumbled and staggered over the trails of the UK, Tanzania and Nepal, it has NEVER had a day such as this. At one stage it was one step forward and eight sideways.”

📷Credit: 2 Legs for 4

Fifty marathons, Kilimanjaro, and now this

Paul and the tiger are no strangers to punishment. Together they have completed 50 marathons, including the Everest Marathon, and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. But Paul says this 42-day, 1,000-mile walk is by far their toughest challenge yet.

📷Credit: 2 Legs for 4

The Cornwall week

The final stretch, day by day:

Devon
Today (Saturday 5 September) — Moretonhampstead to Tavistock (848 miles)
Sunday 6 September — Tavistock to Liskeard (870 miles), crossing into Cornwall

Cornwall
Monday 7 September — Liskeard to St Austell (893 miles)
Tuesday 8 September — St Austell to East Portholland (911 miles)
Wednesday 9 September — East Portholland to Maenporth, Falmouth (932 miles)
Thursday 10 September — Maenporth to the Lizard (955 miles)
Friday 11 September — Lizard to Penzance (980 miles)
Saturday 12 September — Penzance to Land’s End (1,000 miles), the finish

📷Credit: 2 Legs for 4

A campaign already backed by big names

Simon is the latest high-profile supporter to join Paul on the road. Chris Packham walked with him in the New Forest and urged people to back the campaign. “We’re in the midst of a biodiversity crisis,” he said. “We know the tiger population’s collapsed but it’s not beyond recovery. With the proper conservation techniques implemented we could recover and certainly stop any further declines.” He added: “You’ve got to champion the doers.”

BBC wildlife presenter Michaela Strachan, who joined Paul for the 500-mile stage into Southend, described him as “passionate, determined and inspirational,” adding, “I have huge admiration for that.”

The 2 Legs for 4 challenge is supported by UK conservation charity Explorers Against Extinction and aims to raise £50,000 for frontline tiger conservation in India and Bhutan. The money will fund solar lighting for villages and forest camps around Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in India, cutting the conflict between people and tigers, and a camera-trap study in Bhutan documenting mountain mammal diversity across the only connected landscape on Earth where wild tigers and snow leopards are known to share ground.

Paul has spent more than three decades working as a wildlife guide, photographer and conservation advocate, and has raised more than £600,000 for conservation projects worldwide over that time.

He has now raised more than £36,000 of that £50,000 target, which leaves him needing to find another £14,000 in the nine days between now and Land’s End. The tiger, presumably, is past caring either way.

📷Credit: 2 Legs for 4