BLAZING sunshine made for tough going as cricket and television personality Phil Tufnell passed through West Kent on Monday on day two of a 500-mile charity challenge.

The 38-year-old former England star, nicknamed Tuffers, is tramping between cricket grounds around the country in a bid to raise £250,000 for Macmillan Cancer Relief.

He began his odyssey in Hove, home of current county champions Sussex, and is aiming to cover some 25-miles a day in the npower 500 challenge.

If all goes to plan, Mr Tufnell will pitch up at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, on Saturday, June 12 during the final npower Test match between England and New Zealand.

On Monday he paused at Fordcombe, near Tunbridge Wells, to meet youngsters from the village primary school and locals at The Chafford Arms before continuing on to Edenbridge.

There he was greeted by supporters lining the High Street before being met at the town's cricket club on Mill Hill by Kent and England cricketer Min Patel, representring Kent County Cricket Club.

Mr Tufnell, winner of TV's I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here and a team captain on TV game show They Think It's All Over, is visiting 20 clubs in all.

He said: "I've been looking forward to the challenge. There are very few of us not affected by cancer, either as sufferers or knowing someone close who has cancer.

"I lost my mother to leukaemia when I was 13 and so I understand the difference that a charity like Macmillan can make to people living with cancer."