A Wootton Bassett man has conquered the world's tallest free-standing mountain to raise money for breast cancer.

Martin Palmer, head of marketing at Imagine Cruising, began training in June 2022 with the aim of climbing to the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro in order to raise money for Aurora Breast Cancer Wellbeing.

He embarked on the challenge at the beginning of February and reached the top of the mountain on February 13. 

Now safely back in the UK, Martin is still raising money for the cause, both via a JustGiving page with £12,801 donated so far, and with a charity auction giving people the chance to win a holiday to Barbados, a number of signed items and even a skydive. 

Speaking on his experience, Martin said: "It was the most epic of 8 days, full of highs & lows both physically & mentally.

"Each individual element is fine on its own but add them all together and it becomes a challenge - camping out in all weathers, from +25 to -15 in temp, altitude sickness that I endured for a couple of days, walking miles in varied terrain each day

"It was very difficult, especially on the final push to the summit, oxygen levels were reduced to 50% of sea level so it’s slow going and each step is an effort."

Martin documented his preparation efforts which Royal Wootton Bassett RFC helped with from start to finish and you can see that here.

But now that the 'trip of a lifetime' has finished, Martin says that he is doing alright after the arduous climb. 

"I’m so proud, I’ve trained hard with help of Royal Wootton Bassett RFC, this is out of my comfort zone but to achieve this makes me so proud of everyone’s efforts

"I’m recovering well, the summit night and a day & half of rapid descent coupled with the longest walks pushed me to exhaustion, but I’m doing just fine 

"I wanted to raise maybe £5k, perhaps a bit more, but we are heading to £25k."

The trip and climb were financially supported by Imagine Cruising's One Life ethos which means that 100 per cent of the donations raised will go to the Wiltshire-based breast cancer charity.

Aurora was founded in 2015 by breast surgeon Anushka Chaudry and Specialist Breast Care Nurse Charlayne Harding, who found increasingly that there was a huge gap in the provision of local support services for young women diagnosed with breast cancer.

The charity auction is running until February 24 and can be seen here - https://www.jumblebee.co.uk/auction/detail/auction_id/7445

The JustGiving page is here - https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/aurorabreastcancerwellness?utm_term=Pv5r6WwjM