On Thursday, 3 June, 15 intrepid trekkers and a man called Steve set off on a difficult and challenging journey. It'd taken arguments, 37 emails and a meeting to decide the mode of transport and departure time. But they made it to Blackfriars, by Tube, in time to catch the train to Luton airport - mission accomplished!

The CNET 3 Peaks teams also accomplished a minor miracle during the first major leg of their journey - a charter flight that left Luton on time for Glasgow. After a night of luxury, food and fine wine (or, broken sofabeds, crashing out on the floor, a bar that closed on time and a ton of fried starters) the minibus was duly collected and we set off for Fort William. Excitement en route was provided in the form of a shopping trip to Asda and a spontaneous practice run of the emergency 'hold on to the bags' routine when the door of the minibus flew open after a pit stop. Oh, and there was some scenery - couple of lochs, forests, large deer, that kind of thing.

We'd love to say that Ben Nevis rose majestically above us and called to the wild mountaineers within our souls - but sadly, most of Britain's highest mountain was hidden by clouds. Of which more anon. Still, after a bit of hanging around and getting fed up with midges (don't even get us started on the midges) team three was allowed to set off early to tackle the slopes on account of being deeply bored with hanging out at the visitor centre.

Nevis is a big old place. Seriously, 1344 metres up is a long way! As teams two and three plodded steadily up the hill, team one raced along at near light speed. Their plan for the fastest ever ascent of a mountain was slightly hampered by the collapse of a team member with cramp on the summit, but these things are sent to test us. After 1,500 feet we were all in the clouds, scrambling along a path that resembled a misty moonscape at times, and even trekking through snow! To reach the summit was awesome - team chuff, made up of Dom, Eva and Suzie, lit up the Marlboro Lights to celebrate in style!

Descending the mountain, our brave hikers discovered the joy of gravity-assisted impact on the knees - step after step, hour after hour. Ouch. Team three approached the finish line first of all the teams and viewed team one approaching rapidly behind them - much jollity ensued when they broke into a run to try and finish first, causing a member of team one (who some say is the most competitive man in the world) to attempt a shortcut. Sadly, but to the amusement of all onlookers, the shortcut involved a bog, falling over, and some dark brown mud.

After a battle of epic proportions to rid the minibus of midges, and some dodgy chips in Fort William, the journey to Scafell Pike was underway. Sleeping in a minibus isn't easy at the best of times - and this truly was not the best of times. Knackered, stiff and smelly, we rolled into the car park at Scafell around 6am, ate (again), pulled waterproofs on (again) and set off up a hill (again). And what a long, slow, slippery, cloudy, rainy hill it was. The summit cruelly evaded us for what felt like hours - just as it seemed to be approaching, another section of the hill emerged from the mist. But we made it! By lunchtime all were back down, and ready to set off for Wales. Cue more squashed, smelly and slightly damp hours in minibus. Arriving at the campsite in Nant Peris to discover our tents and bags had been safely dropped off was truly a joy. Watching a bunch of Londoners putting up tents in a field was a joy for the over-equipped Army team in the next section of the campsite. I ask you - what exactly is so funny about having to check the instructions for what to do with the tent pegs? And then there's the guy ropes... Several very welcome hot showers later, we hit the pub - in moderation, our sponsors will be pleased to hear - for some more carbo-intaking. A sensibly early night followed, ready for an early ascent up Wales' finest. Snowdon was indeed a 'walk in the (quite hilly) park' compared to the previous two. Injury prevented some team members from ascending, but being good sports, they took the train to the (you guessed it... submerged in cloud) summit. Where indeed it was freezing! Cups of tea in the cafe went down a treat - except for the members of team one, who of course dashed straight back down to achieve a very respectable fourth-place finish out of the 28 teams taking part. Celebrations ensued (after more hot showers) when all the teams had finished the third peak, and completed the challenge. Want details of the taxpayer-funded barbecue, copious amounts of alcohol, 3 Peaks pool tournament, more bloody midges, water shortages (and dodgy buckets), glow-rugby, late nights and hangovers in the world's hottest minibus on the way back to London? Contact your local 3-Peaker for more information...