Looking out of the window today at the beautiful July sunshine, it's hard to believe that our National 3 Peaks Challenge adventure just a week ago was hampered with what I can only call very challenging weather conditions!

Kelly, Naomi, Ben, Marco, Rookey and I (and our lovely Len, the designated driver for the event (and Kelly's Dad!)) set off from the depot not quite knowing what to expect. We were all extremely excited, a bit nervous, and knew it was going to be hard following our Yorkshire 3 Peaks training session a couple of weeks before - we knew it wasn't going to be a walk in the park; but we guessed that climbing 3 mountains in 3 different countries and travelling the distance between them with very little sleep, all in 24 hours, was going to be tough. What we didn't expect quite as much were the weather conditions we had to do it in too!

We set off marching up Ben Nevis with spirits high and looking forward to conquering Big Ben! We weren't that far up the mountain before it started to rain, and the higher we got, the worse the rain became along with the wind. I dread to think what the wind chill factor was (but Rookey and I agreed it was probably a "minus" temperature!). Visibility wasn't good due to the weather but we were all amazed and delighted to see snow just before we reached the summit. Snow in June! It took all Rookey's restraint not to do snow angels :-) !! The view at the top of Ben Nevis was breathtaking - not that we could see very far due to being above the cloud, but the snow on a sheer cliff face was absolutely beautiful. Needless to say, we were ecstatic to reach the summit, looking drenched but so happy!

We thought Scafell Pike would be a different story - Ben Nevis is obviously in Scotland so we thought the weather would be worse there than in the Lake District. How wrong we were! We set off at 3.40am in the morning with dull and drizzly conditions, but the further up we got, the worse it got, to the point where for safety reasons, we had to abort the climb 0.5km from the summit. We were all absolutely gutted, but all said we would conquer Scafell one day, hopefully going back when the weather was a bit nicer to climb it again!

Torrential rain greeted us at Snowdon but again, we all set off with a spring in our step, as it was the 3rd and final mountain and our fundraising efforts were increasing rapidly! Again, the weather during climbing wasn't the best but we did get some dry spells, with the worst of the weather (as with the other two mountains) at the top near the summit. The Snowdon summit is snug to say the least, and the wind howled around us, so even though it was a bit scary, WE HAD DONE IT! Kelly and I had a little cry together when we reached the bottom of Snowdon - we were all a little emotional, purely from being overwhelmed at what we'd achieved in such adverse conditions.

For those of you who love the facts and figures, please find below the full details of our challenge:

Mountains climbed:

- Ben Nevis

- Scafell Pike (missed the summit by 0.5k due to adverse weather)

- Snowdon

Metres climbed - 2,911

Kilometres walked - 35

Miles driven - 472

Hours taken - 27.5

Pounds raised for Cancer Research UK so far - a whopping £5,625.00!!! And still rising!

From my own personal experience, all I can say is I had the best time with the best people. We showed amazing teamwork, keeping each other's spirits up, had a lot of laughs along the way (partly at my expense, as I was definitely the one that fell on my bum the most!) and stunned & proud at the amount of money we raised for Cancer Research UK. An adventure I will remember forever.

Please also see below a final note from Ben:

This was one, if not the, most physically, and mentally challenging events I have ever tackled. The horrendous weather made every bit of it a struggle. However, the resilience, strength of mind, and shear doggedness of my fellow climbers meant that spirits remained high throughout and completion was at no point in doubt. It is an experience I will never forget and I will be forever thankful to those I went with, who made it so special.

I would you also like to thank you, the wider team of co-owners for your words of encouragement, your faith and very generous sponsorship. Please don’t underestimate the positive impact you had on our spirits whilst out on the wet mountains.

Finally I wish to commend the entire organisation for our achievements in raising such an incredible sum of money, for such an important cause. Never in my wildest dreams would I have believed we’d raise £5,625 – incredible – really well done.

Ideas in a hat for next one?!?!?