Mandy Tyrell decided to take on this challenge in memory of her friends who sadly passed away and used the hospice for healing.

Mandy Tyrell and her boyfriend Brian Jones met at a fundraiser and signed up for the trek in October 2021. The trek was supposed to take place in 2020 but due to covid was delayed.

In preparation for the event, the couple walked around five to ten miles most weekends with backpacks and poles to various spots locally.

Miss Tyrell said: ‘We are traveling by bus for around nine hours from Marrakech for departure. In the next five days we will try to cover around 100 km. The Berbers will be our guides and their camels will carry our tents and our clothes.

“We pack food for the trip and our water allowance is around 3 liters a day. Every night we will camp and eat by the fire, the food is cooked over the fire by the Berbers. If it’s not too cold, we can sleep under the stars. The temperature in April is usually between 30 and 50 degrees and drops to zero at night.

“The trek will take us over sand dunes, along dry riverbeds and through villages.

“Being Scottish, my main concern is the heat! I’m not a fan and normally stay out of the sun. I’m not ginger but still not a fan.

“We must all raise a minimum of £2020 for Hospice. The first half goes to the original hospice, but the rest goes to the new hospice being built at Pease Pottage.

“Currently, the Hospice Sainte-Catherine can only help a third of the patients who contact it. They desperately want to help more. The new hospice will help so many more people in the future.