It is with a combination of great excitement and great anxiousness that I get prepared to complete the Cape Wrath Trail; a 230 mile trek across the mountains and some of Scotland's roughest terrain on the West side spanning from Fort William to the most North Westerly point of Cape Wrath.

To give you an idea of how far that actually is, it's 20 miles shy of walking Aberdeen to Newcastle – only across mountains and through forests with 15kg on my back.

The mammoth challenge is widely regarded as the toughest trail in Britain and for the vast majority, unmarked. It is recommended that experienced mountaineers allow 14 days, having prepared as much as a year prior to the challenge.

I will be using the initiative to raise funds for the purchase of female recovery centre, Benaiah, in the North East of Scotland.

The challenge will commence on Thursday, July 7, and is part of a 5 year campaign to ‘Buy Benaiah’ and purchase the currently rented facility, which allows mothers to continue living with their children whilst they complete the faith based recovery programme.

Ultimately, the recovery home helps hurting women break free from the horrors of addiction to live clean, free lives.

Having never done anything of this magnitude before I'm very apprehensive and, judging by the articles I've read, I'm realising this will push me much further out of my physical and mental comfort zone than I've ever been before.

I'll be honest when I say I've had serious second thoughts when my climbing buddy, Ivan, pulled out last minute due to work commitments. He was the experienced one with the maps and I'd actually planned on winging it on his coat tails. But that safety net is now gone and I'm now having to map it out myself and trust my own instinct. A frightful thought I'm sure you'd agree.

After much planning and prayer, however, I'm motivated to put myself to the test, push my limits and see this challenge through.

I'd love and appreciate all the support,  shares and donations you could allow. Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page. , much love Joel x

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.