A BLIND man from Romsey is hoping to raise £50,000 for the charity Open Sight by canoeing 140 miles to London.

Steve Geary, an outreach officer with Open Sight - formerly Hampshire Association for the Care of the Blind - is preparing to paddle from Devizes to London's Westminster Bridge in July.

He will be accompanied by his sighted friend and colleague, Sim Yardley, who lives in Devizes.

The first stage of the journey will be along the Kennet and Avon Canal to Reading, where the pair will join with the Thames.

This will be the second time Steve, 48, has paddled from Devizes to Westminster - after the first trip, 25 years ago, he vowed never to do it again.

"At the time I said I would never get in the canoe again. I had an abscess at the base of my spine. It was very painful," said Steve.

That first trip raised £10,000.

"We've been set a target of £50,000 to raise this time. Last time it was just the people of Romsey that helped raise the money, this time it's the whole of Hampshire," said Steve He said he had been trying to get in shape by walking, swimming and doing exercises at home.

"We are getting canoes at the end of the month and will probably go on to the River Hamble and the Lakeside at Eastleigh to practise," said Steve.

Romsey-born Steve was registered blind in 1982 after a virus attacked his optic nerves. It hasn't stopped his fundraising efforts. He made a 230ft bungee jump from a crane at Braishfield Fair within months of losing his sight. In the 1990s, he helped to raise more than £30,000 for local charities with the Beating the Bounds of Romsey events, in which Inspector Wexford star George Baker regularly took part.

Since June 2000, Steve has worked for Open Sight. His first job with the charity was as an eye clinic patient support officer at Southampton Eye Unit.

Steve is a keen darts player and in November 2000 he scored 180 in a league game and he still plays regularly at Romsey's Bishop Blaize pub.

Anyone who would like to support Steve's canoe challenge, which begins on July 14 and is expected to finish on July 21, can contact him on 023 8064 6376.