A Bath man is raising money for a forces charity with a ride which is taking him halfway across the world.

Adventurer Nathan Jones, from Doynton near Bath, is attempting to cycle to Japan.

The 25-year-old is using savings to fund his solo 12,000-mile trip.

The money raised will go to Combat Stress, the armed forces mental health charity, and Friends of Alalay, which supports Bolivian street children.

Nathan set off in September and is currently in Bulgaria.

He says that so far the ride has been fairly easy through Europe, but that the further east he goes, the more barren the terrain will get en route to Tokyo.

Nathan said: "I wanted an old fashioned adventure, a real journey. Not a flying tour of the 'sights' of the world. That can be done much cheaper using Google."

The inspiration for the trip came while he was reading about the silk road from Istanbul to China. A friend then gave him a book by Alastair Humphreys, who spent four years cycling around the world, and this sowed the seeds for the expedition.

Nathan said: "Riding my bike around the hills of Bath proved wonderful training.

"I decided to travel by bike because you can engage all of your senses. You are exposed to the elements so, by not being cocooned in a shell, you can get a good feeling for a place."

While passing through Germany last month, Nathan wrote in his online journal: "I was stopped and questioned by the police, who seemed a little unconvinced that someone wearing shorts at night in November could be sane. I explained that I was British which seemed to resolve the situation and they let me carry on my way."

Nathan has found some of the simplest of tasks are proving taxing.

He wrote: "There are always mini challenges, from finding a shop that is open on a Sunday in France, to finding maps for the next leg of the journey, getting out of your sleeping bag when you can hear the rain on the tent."

Although he suffered an injury to his knee early on in the ride, this has not stopped him pushing on.

Nathan wrote: "It's going well but for me the real adventure starts as soon as I'm out of the EU."

To support Nathan and for more information visit www. cyclingtowardsthesun.co.uk.