TWO intrepid teenagers have walked the entire length of one of the South’s most famous beauty spots to raise funds towards their trips of a lifetime.
Tom Crabb, 13, from Camelsdale and his cousin Ben Mathieson, 15, walked the whole of the South Downs Way with Tom’s mum Emma, in just five days during the extreme heatwave, covering the 100-mile trek up hills across East Sussex, West Sussex and Hampshire.
Raising funds for each of their epic journeys next summer – Tom to the Arctic and Ben to the Himalayas – the trio began their 25-mile a day hike in Eastbourne and finished in Winchester.
Emma said: “They are raising money for their trips and wanted to do something different.
“I am very proud of them as it was a very hard five days physically and emotionally especially in the heat at their age, but they did it. It was an amazing achievement.”
Tom from Bohunt School will be studying the impact of global warming in the Arctic and its impact on the planet and Ben will be building a school in Nepal. With a total of £3,500 to raise to enable him to take part , Tom will join a Greenland expedition with a party from the Liphook school.
Ben is also participating in a school programme called World Challenge to Nepal 2019 and has to raise £3,000 to fund the expedition.