An inspirational speaker who lives in a boat in Ponsharden, Falmouth, has published a book about the struggles with depression that led him to travel the world with his pet ferret.

After his mum passed away in 2017 from motor neurone disease (MND), 25-year-old Charles Hammerton decided to ditch his nine-to-five job and take up a life of adventure and charity with his ferret Bandit – together they hiked the length of Hadrian’s wall raising money for MND research, walked the battlefields of World War Two for PTSD charity Combat Stress and drove from the Norwegian Arctic to Sicily in a camper van for Save Our Soldier.

He has told the stories of his charitable adventures in various interviews, but in his new book he wants to focus on the previously untold struggles with depression that set him off on his journeys with Bandit.

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Charles said: “I wrote it to be the book I could give myself ten years ago. People think my life’s been fairytales and rainbows but it’s not that at all.”

The former RAF man had a turbulent home life as a child and ended up moving out at the age of 16, living on friends’ sofas and even spending time homeless.

He suffered domestic abuse which led to spiralling depression. In 2015 he decided to rescue Bandit from a shelter, and he says that his companionship with his new friend saved his life.

Plagued with suicidal thoughts, he said “on one occasion I took off my seatbelt whilst driving and was like ‘right, I’m going straight into a tree.’

“But then I thought ‘sh**, I haven’t fed the ferret,’ and I slammed on the brakes and missed the tree.”

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Aged 19, Charles achieved his lifelong dream of joining the RAF. He was deployed to the Falkland Islands and rather than seeing his problems solved, he says that the isolation made his depression worse.

He said: “You think that when you’re away somewhere like that it acts like a telescope, that your problems are miles away, but it’s actually the opposite.”

When his mum passed away in 2017, he had something of an “epiphany” that changed the trajectory of his life.

He saw his family members grieving and decided not to let his depression get the better of him from that point on.

He said: “I just saw everything so clearly. I can see it now and I write about it quite in depth; a discovery inside that just goes ‘it’s not going to be like that any more.’”

Since then, his life has been a series of adventures that have seen him travel around Europe with his pet ferret and more recently move into a boat in Falmouth which he has called “one of the best decisions I have made in my life.”

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Charles recalled one incident in which his camper van got stuck in deep snow in northern Norway.

He said: “It took five hours to get out, and then I spent two miles reversing a van in the Arctic Circle. But it was the most alive I have ever felt. There was no alternative.”

After Bandit the ferret passed away in September last year, Charles decided to make it his mission to share the wisdom he has gained through his travels and from overcoming hardships at a young age. He started bushcraft skills company Adventure Bandits in memory of his furry friend, teaching youngsters basic survival skills including how to build a shelter in the wild.

Charles is also working with behaviourally challenged children at local schools; he says “I never say I know what they’re going through but I understand it because I have been there.”

He added: “All this stuff I blabber on about isn’t about being free spirited or a hippy. It’s about every man and woman’s right to seek their own fulfilment and not become better that someone else, but simply better than they were yesterday.”

His book, “Before Our Adventures” is available on Amazon.