Teen overcomes anxiety in expedition

A TEENAGER from Benson has become one of fewer than 100 people to complete a
19-day expedition through the Scottish Highlands.

Matilda Culpan, 18, who lives at RAF Benson, has completed the Pinnacle — the most demanding adventure programme offered by outdoor education charity Outward Bound.

From Monday, June 30 to Friday, July 18, Miss Culpan took on the challenge alongside a team of 12 other 18- to 22-year-olds.

Based out of Loch Eil, near Ben Nevis, the course involved climbing mountains, journeying by canoe and wild camping with limited resources.

Miss Culpan said: “It was 19 days of adventure.

“We did a lot of walking, that was the main thing, but also canoeing, rock climbing, abseiling and gorge walking.

“We also spent three days in Knoydart, which is one of the most remote places in the UK.

“It’s only accessible by ferry and it took three days for us to get back to the roads, which was very fun.”

With her father serving in the armed forces, Miss Culpan was eligible to receive support from the Annington Challenge, a charity which supports young people from forces families.

Miss Culpan, who lives with her parents and sister Agatha, 15, said that while her family are adventurous, the expedition was more “extreme” than what she is used to.

She said: “My mum loves all that kind of stuff and we go camping quite a lot.

“We’ve done gorge walking as a family before too, so I had perhaps more experience than some people but nothing quite as extreme.”

The team had food supplies dropped off throughout the trip and breakfasted on porridge, baked beans with pitta bread and cereal bars.

They ate wraps for lunch and dinner came in the form of ration packs — Miss Culpan’s favourite was a vegetable chilli. Having finished her A-levels at Cranford School in Moulsford, Miss Culpan signed up for the course to build her confidence to start university in September.

She hopes to study modern languages and cultures at the University of Sheffield.

Miss Culpan said her confidence was boosted by those in her group, who became “fast-track friends”. She said: “There are always nerves but you’re all in it together with your group and it becomes normal after a while. Even from the first day, you’re sharing a tent with people you don’t know.”

One of the highlights of her trip was hiking up Ben Nevis, the UK’s highest mountain. “It was pretty amazing,” she said. “We woke up at 4am and set off by 4.30am to walk up to the top. We were up there by 8am to see the sunrise.

“I’ve never experienced anything like that. It was an amazing experience.” Miss Culpan said one of the more challenging aspects of the expedition was the blisters she developed on her feet.

Exposed to the elements throughout the expedition, she said that the weather could also be challenging. She said: “There were three or four days of torrential rain. It wasn’t too bad when we were walking, but it’s hard when you’re setting up tents in the night and getting your sleeping bag out when it’s wet.

“On one of the nights, there wasn’t enough dry ground because it was so waterlogged, so all of our tents were overlapping with each other.

“It was definitely a challenge and terrible at the time but looking back it’s quite funny.”

Miss Culpan said the expedition has already had an impact on her confidence.

She said: “I am a very anxious person but coming back home from this, I got the plane by myself for the first time, which I never would have been able to do had I not been on that course.

“I am definitely able to do things now that I don’t think I would have been able to before.”

Miss Culpan said she is still in touch with her fellow travellers, who are now organising a camping trip of their own, which she said she is looking forward to, adding: “I know I can do it now.”

Her mother Lorna said she was supportive of her daughter doing the trip.

She said: “I thought it would be a good idea for her to give this a go.

“Matilda’s struggled enough with anxiety about getting into school for the past five years or so. We were both in the mindset that if she can do this, then university is going to be a walk in the park.

“Before she went up there, going to the shop on her own was something that she didn’t want to do. So the fact that she flew back from Glasgow to London on her own and wants to carry on travelling and doing what most teenagers want to do is amazing really.”