AN URBAN explorer from Barnsley will be blindfolded and dropped some 300 miles from home in the latest in a series of challenges.
Matt Nadin, from Darfield, fronts the Finders Beepers History Seekers channel on YouTube with friend Andy Thompson.
The pair explore abandoned buildings - most recently garnering national attention after uncovering a World War Two weapons testing bunker in western Germany - but another side to their channel sees the team pitted against one another in increasingly extreme challenges.
Their latest venture will see them blindfolded, driven to mystery locations and left to find their way back home - each has decided where the other is dropped, and they will be going with no money or way of navigating, and only an old mobile phone with no contacts saved on it.
The challenge will raise money for two charities, one chosen by each of the explorers - Ickle Pickles neonatal charity and the Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Ickle Pickles was chosen by Matt because two of his three children required special care after being born, while Andy’s daughter was diagnosed with MS at the age of 15.
“We took some inspiration from another channel,” said Matt, of Coronation Street, Darfield.
“A couple of our subscribers are going to drive us and we’ll be blindfolded. I will be choosing the location where Andy is getting dropped off and he will choose my location. We then have to race against each other to get back home using only the kindness of others and our own ingenuity.
“We have both decided to make it as hard as possible for the other one, but it’s got to be a village, town or city - it can’t just be the middle of nowhere. We’ll be hitch-hiking and trying to jump on trains and arrange ways to pay. It’s definitely going to be hard, but it’s worth it to benefit other people.”
They will give their temporary phone numbers out to their 2,300 subscribers, who will be able to guide them - and possibly give them a lift, if they’re nearby.
The two have set themselves the extra challenge of using four different vehicles as they make their way towards the landmark of Meadowhall.
Matt and Andy have given themselves three days to complete the challenge, but Matt reckons he can do it before then.
“I did a sponsored hitch-hike a while ago and it’s definitely doable, it’s just about finding the right people at the right time,” he said.
“It’s hard to prepare for it, things can be very different to how you plan. It’s mainly about having a general confidence - which luckily I have, and Andy hasn’t.
“He gets the old man sympathy vote, while I’m not afraid to push it a bit more.
“Although there’s a bungee jump from a suspension bridge in Middlesbrough for the loser - which Andy is absolutely petrified of, whereas I’m not that bothered, so that might spur him on more.”
Watch Finders Beepers History Seekers at www.youtube.com/findersbeepershistoryseekers or visit their Facebook at www.facebook.com/findersbeepers.
You can donate to Matt’s fundraising page at justgiving.com/fundraising/teamfbmatt
