7 blokes headed off into the wild to “find” themselves and raise money for Breast Cancer Awareness. 2 gruelling days of hiking around the beautiful Lake District with nothing but the clothes on their back and some basic survival equipment.

Below is Alastair Taylor’s experience in his own words…

“On the weekend of the 6th August a group of 7 of my friends and I undertook a 2 day trek in the Lake District to raise money for Bosom Buddies UK, a breast cancer awareness charity who do great work in raising awareness in both women and men of the importance of checking for breast cancer and offer a support network of ‘Buddies’ for those currently going through breast cancer. So far we’ve raised £470 (£565 with gift aid) through friends, family and colleagues generously donating. Pauline Giles director of Bosom Buddies UKL has been in touch saying this money has allowed them to buy much needed new information leaflets for distribution during their school visits.

To make the trek a challenge worth sponsoring we had decided to not take tents and only use tarpaulins, survival bivvy bags and basic equipment, making the nights sleep more rugged. This seemed a fine idea until the 60+mph winds and rain storm started while we made camp. We had climbed 6 peaks and for 1100 meters gained during our 7 hour walk that day and were hoping for some good food and rest. One of our party had brought food that needed cooking on a fire and wood/coals to do so, but in the conditions this was impossible, meaning he’d carried all that extra weight and wasn’t able to eat, needed to share the supplies the rest had brought. The rain lasted 10 hours and all of our gear was soaked, and various parts of us in our plastic bivvy bags were submerged in pools of water. Still being some 500 meters up we ended up having to survive the night in the storm with no way to safely get down off the fell in the dark. After a fairly terrifying night waiting for our tarpaulin to blow away, and none of us getting any sleep we packed up and set off in winds still threatening to blow us off our feet. My friend remarked in the morning that without our orange plastic survival bags we may have not survived the night!

Still wanting to complete our second day we all set off as planned. However whilst being blown sideways on our way the first peak of the second day we decided to take the safe route down into the valley and home, to avoid becoming another expensive situation for the mountain rescue to resolve. Back safe and sound we’re already forgetting how hard it was and planning next years trek.

Charity events and treks are a great thing, but I’ve learnt the hard way that they might require more planning that you think to avoid danger to yourself and causing expense to another charity (the mountain rescue service).

My top tips from this experience are:

• Keep a close eye on the weather forecast even on the day you set off
• Have safe ‘escape routes’ planned if things turn nasty
• Make sure someone knows your route and your expected arrival time
• Take the appropriate equipment for your situation
• Most of all, have fun and stay safe

Just because our 2016 Boobathon Challenge has happened, doesn’t mean that it’s too late to donate. So go ahead… help all you can!