When 51-year-old Geraint John turned his eyes east of Swansea, he knew the litter situation was too hot to handle.

And so the trusted walker turned his attentions west by walking the 700-mile coastline of south and west Wales.

“I suppose it all came to light last year when I did a five-month cycle around the UK,” he said. “The amount of litter I saw didn’t sit right with me, and in all the fantastic places I visited, the image that remained in my head was the amount of beach litter that was visible all around the coastline of Britain.”

And so Geraint decided to cover the Welsh coastline gathering as much litter as he could.

His journey kicked off in Mumbles last Friday, May 13, and from there he covered the coast of Carmarthenshire and south Pembrokeshire before heading up towards Cardigan Bay. During his visit to Rhossili and Llengennith alone, he collected around 26 black bags of rubbish.

“The large beaches are relatively straightforward to clean but it’s the smaller more remote coves that are a challenge,” he explained.

“ A lot of these areas aren’t particularly accessible and of course rubbish doesn’t care where it gets washed up. You could spend half the day cleaning a beach and then you walk round the corner and find ten tonnes of the stuff sitting in a secluded cove.”

Geraint, who lives in Bridgend, is currently roaming the beaches of Llangrannog, Cwmtydu and New Quay before heading northwards to Aberystwyth. Anyone who sees him is asked to say hello and give him a helping hand of encouragement.

Meanwhile he is using his 700-mile mission to raise funds to buy a boat which will enable him to visit the more inaccessible areas.

“Even if beach visitors do everything they can to clear up after a visit, rubbish continues to get washed up by the tide,” he concluded. “But I want the Welsh coastline to be the envy of the world, so this is my way of helping out.”