Scouts are pushing their limits to raise money for a life-changing trip to Peru.

Southgate based the Hatters Explorer Scout Unit are aiming to raise more than £60,000 to fund a two-week trip in August 2018 which will centre around helping he impoverished village Viacha.

The branch will be one of more than 100 teams to take part in s50 – a navigation race testing groups to reach 20 checkpoints and cover 50 miles on foot around Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire on February 11.

Scout Louis Velati, 16, said: “I can't wait for the challenge and I'm really hopeful to finish in a good position as my team and I have put in loads of practise.

“While at the same time as having fun on the walk the sponsorship we have been given for it to support our trip to Peru is an amazing incentive.

“It will definitely help us push through the challenges we will face in the walk.”

Katharine Broderick, 17 said: “I’m really looking forward to [Peru], it should be an incredible experience.”

Sponsorship for the challenge will go towards improving living conditions in the rural Peruvian village to fund the building of a thermal mass greenhouse from mud and stone.

The ongoing project to improve infrastructure and medical care in the area will be undertaken in conjunction with Scouts del Peru and Living Heart Peru.

Viacha is the poorest community in the Sacred Valley, with children suffering from malnutrition, drinking from a polluted water supply and having to walk for several hours to school.

The 45 scouts and12 leaders will spend the first week of their trip acclimatising and will spend one night in Machu Pichu.

The charitable programme follows the successful transformation of Tsinstabis, Namibia where volunteers helped plant an orange tree plantation and improve the irrigation network.

Team leader Alice Ward said: “Observing the change in Tsinstabis from 2011 to now has been truly wonderful.

“The difference that our work has made to the village is staggering.

“I can’t wait to see the same kind of impact in Viacha”.

To donate visit http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/peru2018 or for more information see www.hattersesu.org/peru2018.