Men walk from Luton to top of Welsh mountain in 12 days for Keech Hospice Care

Friends Mac Pajka, Jasbir Nangla, Johnny Collins and Jaspal Nangla started their 150-mile trek from Luton on August 17 and aimed to complete the journey in two weeks.

Around 96 hours of walking, 439,000 steps, 10 campsites and one hotel stay later, the adventurers reached Pen y Fan Mountain two days earlier than planned and doubled their fundraising goal for Keech Hospice Care with £1,120 in donations.

This was not their first major walk. The group, Sanctuary Global, have filmed their previous adventures and shared their walks on YouTube, including a visit to JRR Tolkien’s grave in Oxford.

Jasbir said: “We were walking for about eight hours a day, doing either 12 or 15 miles daily. We knew that we had a limited amount of days. We knew that we needed to get further.”

They ventured through the Forest of Dean on the English-Welsh border and were warned about the wild boars who roam the historic woodland. Jasbir explained: “When we set up our camp, we spent two hours prepping ourselves. We got a bunch of wood from fallen trees, and put it around the circumference of our campsite, to give us a barrier. In the morning, we looked at it and thought that it would have not helped us at all, but it made us feel safe.”

Sleeping in the wilderness proved a nightly challenge for Jasbir, who said that the part was the worst for him. He said: “ I hated it so much, I never got a good night's sleep.”

Despite this, the four men continued to push on, exploring the Welsh countryside along the way.

For Jasbir, the best part came at the end of their challenge, when a friend took their bags before they climbed the final peak. He said: “We left our massive, heavy bags in her car, so it meant that we didn't have that weight on our back.

“When we were walking up that mountain, it just felt so breezy. It was euphoric. I couldn't believe that we had made it.”

Putting one foot in front of the other and focussing on reaching the top of the mountain was great for Jasbir, as the stresses of modern life melted away with each step.

He explained: “It was a bittersweet feeling, it’s been absolutely, utterly exhausted. But at the same time, I realised that this journey has been easier than normal life, simply because normal life is complicated. This walk has only been one thing, and it's been pretty not easy: I just need to get up, start walking, camp, and then we restart the whole process again the next day.”

Their advice for anyone thinking about doing something similar is: “Be extremely careful, look about the route and be as safe as you can. Look at the small steps. Each step I was taking was getting me to that goal.”