A TEENAGER and his mum are preparing to trek the same route over the Pyrenees soldiers and refugees used to escape Nazi-occupied France.

Jaigo and Belinda Gardener, who live in Prettygate, Colchester, will spend six days tackling the route to raise money for charity.

The gruelling trek, known as the Freedom Trail, is about 60 miles long, but it goes up and down steep mountains.

It is made even tougher by extreme temperatures, which can change from 0C to 25C in a matter of hours.

Jaigo, 16, who has just finished his GCSEs at Philip Morant School, decided he wanted to do a challenge with his mum before he left home.

Belinda, 43, who owns a furniture painting business, said: “We wanted to do something that was really going to challenge us together as a team.

“We are very close. To do it together is really precious. It’s going to really bond us.

“It’s crept up on us. All of a sudden, it’s here. I’m starting to wake up in the middle of the night thinking, ‘Oh my God’.”

Along the route, they will see plaques for soldiers and refugees who died on the journey and there is part of a plane which crashed during the war.

Jaigo and Belinda, who are raising money for Help for Heroes and Standing Together Against Domestic Violence, have been training at least twice a week since February.

They set off on July 12.

Jaigo, who hopes to start his A-level studies later this year, said: “I’m feeling quite apprehensive.

We’ve trained hard, but it’s just only ten days away and it feels like it’s all come at once.

“The hardest part will be the fourth day, because the majority is a steep uphill climb and it’s one of the longest days.

“My friends were really shocked I am doing it. They didn’t think I would do something like this.

“They have noticed a difference in my health and strength.”

To sponsor their challenge visit www.justgiving.com/ teams/the-freedom-trailers