Charity challenges: Philanthropic travel or free holidays?

Ever since Fearne Cotton and Cheryl Cole swapped their glad rags for hiking boots in 2009 for a trek up Kilimanjaro in aid of Comic Relief, the popularity of charity challenges has continued to rise. Such is the power of celebrity.

But these kinds of wild trips, ranging from extended desert expeditions to one-week wanders along China’s Great Wall, with everything from biking, boating and three-legged races in between, also give ‘ordinary’ people the chance to do something extraordinary. Take part in one of these challenges and you’ll not only get the chance to raise money for your chosen charity but get into shape as you do it. And you’ll get to enjoy what for many starts as a once-in-a-lifetime experience but becomes a lifelong passion.