It was "the hardest thing" 12-year-old Benji Albert has ever done. But his two-week trek to the lost city of Machu Picchu in Peru raised well over £4,000 for a UK cancer charity.

Benji's grandfather died from a rare form of blood cancer and he has since taken on a number of fundraising challenges. The north Londoner marked his barmitzvah year by embarking on the Peruvian expedition with his father Simon. They passed through the Andes mountains and camped out in freezing temperatures.

The Latymer School pupil "struggled at times with the lack of oxygen, headaches, cold, and physical exertion. At one point my dad and I both ended up on a drip in hospital after we got a parasite in our stomachs. But the scenery was amazing and reaching Machu Picchu was awesome."