GIRLGUIDES have completed a 15km hike raising hundreds towards overseas trips.

Five Guides from Gosfield undertook the hike from Gosfield to Castle Hedingham on Sunday raising £600 towards expeditions to southern Ireland and Spain in August.

Poppy Hillman-Crouch, 16, took part in the hike to raise funds for the trip to Spain where she and three other Guides will be walking a 160km stretch of the Camino de Santiago medieval pilgrimage trail.

She said: “We’ve got this fantastic opportunity to travel to Spain so we organised a sponsored hike to help with training and raise much needed money to pay for the trip.

“We hoped to cover 15km, which is nine miles, and visit as many churches as possible on route.

“We ended up walking 20km – 12.5 miles – and visiting ten churches.”

The weather was unkind, but it didn’t dampen the determined Guides’ spirits.

The girls set off from St Catherine’s Church in Gosfield where they were waved off by Rev Rose Braisby.

She said: “I thought the weather might be too much, but not for our Guides.”

Nina Penrose, 13, who took part in the hike said: “It was so muddy underfoot. We kept slipping and sliding – it was great fun.”

The group’s hike took them through Halstead and Sible Hedingham before finishing at St Nicholas’ Church in Castle Hedingham, clocking up more than 26,000 steps each.

Guide leader Gill Hillman-Crouch said: “The girls were all amazing.

“They certainly put their best feet forward.

“They literally jumped for joy at the end.

“We are so proud of them.”