Are you yearning for a new challenge, and at the same time want to raise money for charity?

Have you ever wanted to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, or cycle from London to Paris? Maybe a trek along the Inca trail, or organise a team corporate challenge for your office away day? There are a wealth of opportunities to get you and those around you up and off your sofa - get active, get fit, get out and discover new places, and help others at the same time. It doesn't get to be much more of a 'win-win' than that! Why not take up the charity challenge?

Charity challenges are becoming increasingly popular both for individuals and groups of people.  Some work groups use it as a bonding exercise which also creates great corporate PR.  Others do it for more personal reasons - maybe someone you know has benefited from a particular charity. Maybe a life could be saved through the  continuing work of a charity. Whatever your story, there is always a good reason to take up a charity challenge.

So how do you go about it? Basically there are two ways of getting involved in a charity challenge. Do it yourself, or join in with an organised event. DIY challenges enable you to set your own pace, agenda, interests and dates to your own schedule and convenience, but the cost, logistics and organisational burden can be prohibitive. Organised events take away the headache of sorting out transport, getting entries to popular events or permits and visas to travel to far away places. They can include guides to ensure you take the best route or stay as safe as possible in more remote and dangerous places. The flip side is, you have to do it on someone else's terms and often with other people you don't know and may or may not want to spend your holiday time with.

The key to a successful event is planning and organisation. If you want to participate in an organised event the dates will be restricted and you need to be thinking now about what you might want to do in the latter part of next year. Places get booked up early for the most popular events, so start doing your research. This is one of those times when the planning is as much a part of the pleasure as the actual event itself, and a little research can pay dividends.

What about:

Horse riding in Jordan - A wonderful opportunity to experience riding through Wadi Rum. Discover Lawrence of Arabia country. Marvel at awesome scenery of sand dunes, coloured canyons and narrow wadis. Camp out under the stars. Finish at the famous Rose Red City of Petra, a dramatic 2000 year old city hewn out of sandstone cliffs.

Dog sledding in Norway - Into the Arctic Circle, sledding over 200 kilometres from base camp into the wilds of the most northern European country of Norway.

UK Three Peaks Challenge - The Three Peaks Challenge is an iconic British experience. Participants will scale the highest peaks in England, Wales and Scotland. All this while surviving on little sleep and long hours on the road. However it is made well worth it as they reach the summit of Ben Nevis, the final peak and Britain's highest mountain. In total the group will scale over 11,000ft of mountain in two days, achieving the challenge within the target of 36-hours. Most walkers take three days to complete this challenge, so to complete it in 36-hours is a huge accomplishment.

Organised tours aren't just for grey haired coach parties or the boozy bus of semi-conscious teenagers. There are opportunities for all, including family adventures with all the organisation done for you, so you can enjoy the challenge, without blaming one another for who forgot to pack the bike pump...

The type of challenge you might want to do, its difficulty, location, duration and timing will depend upon who is doing the event. Some people seem to write off the idea of doing anything active or challenging once they have children. Certainly it is less logistically challenging before you have the pitter patter of tiny feet to factor into your plans. However a family challenge can be a fantastic project. It can turn an ordinary holiday into a shared experience you will never forget.

What about a cycle ride along the River Danube - it must be downhill if you pick the right direction!

Or organised tours for families exist through the Alps, including the Mont Blanc bicycle challenge, which should be tough enough for the kids to enjoy watching Mum and Dad puff their way up a few mountains.

Here are some ideas for DIY challenges suitable for active kids of age 8-10+ (or younger for very fit and sporty kids):

• Swim the channel (in your local pool) - that 1416 lengths of a standard 25m pool. So if you decided to do it over the six week summer holidays that woudl be 236 lengths a week. Share that out around the family, and you can keep track of your own challenge, and maybe raise money for charity at the dame time! For help with you planning click here for channel challenge information.
• Cycle the C2C coast to coast cycle route across the UK. This is 140 miles, and can be done as an organised tour, but it is more fun to plan it yourself and pick B&Bs, and travel at your own pace. For a fairly fit and active family, five days should be about right - enough of a challenge to make it feel like a genuine achievement, but not so much that you forget that you are doing this out of choice. Here is a suggested itinerary. For comprehensive details check out the C2C website.

  day one Whitehaven to Keswick - 30 miles - one big climb at Whinlatter then downhill to Keswick
  day two Keswick to Langwathby - 28 miles - a slightly undulating day but apart from Fell Lane in Penrith nothing too troublesome
  day three Langwathby to Allenheads - 29 miles - climbs up Hartside, Garrigill and Black Hill - a bit of a beast of a third day!
  day four Allenheads to Consett - 26 miles - a climb out of Allenheads and also Rookhope day five Consett to Sunderland - 25 miles level or downhill all the way - lovely!

 Whatever challenge you choose, enjoy and good luck.

We cycled from Lands End to John o Groats.  Find out lots of information on how to go about it, training, equipment etc to make your ride go smoothly.

And if you are raising money for charity, make sure you make your charity money work hard for you, with tax efficient giving.  It really does make a difference to the good cause you want to support.