One of our wonderful volunteers, Grace, braved sore legs, difficult trails and the vagaries of the British weather to climb the highest peaks of England, Scotland and Wales in three consecutive days.
Despite having to battle everything the British weather could throw at her, Hull Samaritans' volunteer Grace completed the Three Peaks Challenge, taking in the highest points in England, Scotland and Wales in three hectic days.
After a fundraising meeting at the branch earlier in the year, Grace decided to add Scafell Pike in England and Snowdon in Wales to an existing plan to climb to the top of Ben Nevis in Scotland.
Grace explained: "Upon coming home from New Zealand I realised I'd hiked up some gorgeous mountains over there but never done the highest 3 in my own back garden, so felt compelled to take on the challenge!
"I was always going to do Ben Nevis this year, but then I decided it would be a good way to raise money for our branch, as well as do something I'd wanted to do for a while too, so added on the other 2 peaks."
Overall, Grace found the challenge of tackling these peaks in Britain somewhat more of a challenge than in other countries, thanks mainly to something we're all too familiar with: the British weather.
Grace said: "In other countries the mountains I've climbed have been higher and have had a bigger ascent to walk up, but to factor in good old English rain and gale force winds and poor visibility completely changes the walks."
First up in the mammoth challenge was the highest point in the whole of the UK, Ben Nevis in Scotland.
"Ben Nevis was gorgeous," Grace said. "I set off early at 6am to avoid any crowds of people, as hiking is my way of being mainly in solitude, rather than joining streams of people all heading one way. I didn't come across another person on the route until about 10am, when I was at the summit.
"It was a consistent long, uphill slog. One of those ones where you just have to keep putting your foot in front of the other one and know you're making progress. I loved it."
From the top of Ben Nevis
Next came Scafell Pike in the Lake District in England. Although this is the smallest of the three peaks, it posed altogether different challenges for our intrepid volunteer.
Grace explained: "Scafell Pike the next day was tough going, only because I considered it the smallest one, so I thought I'd treat it as my rest day in my mind. That was a mistake!
"It was definitely not a rest day. The route I chose was the most direct route, meaning the steepest. The rain and wind came on strong and early and visiblity was poor.
"I got on and off the summit in minutes, no hanging around for me there!"
Any hopes that the weather in Wales might have been a bit kinder for Grace the following day were dashed fairly early on Snowdon, though she managed to keep positive and get through the inevitable tiredness.
Grace said: "Snowdon on the last day was hard but good.
It was the most interesting route, I did the Rhyd Ddu path. Again, 9am came and the visiblity reduced to almost nothing. So it was just head down and walk!
"By that point my legs were tired but I knew it was the last day.
"Even though visibility was poor on the last two days, route finding was pretty straightforward, which did make it slightly easier than in other countries."
Grace had been presented with a Samaritans t-shirt signed by fellow volunteers at the Hull branch, with messages of encouragement to hopefully help her on the way.
"Having the t-shirt definitely helped!" Grace continued. "I knew I was walking not just for myself but for the branch and for Samaritans in general.
"I love this organisation and really believe in what we do as Samaritans, so it was motivating not just to achieve the peaks for myself but for everyone that volunteers, as well as everyone that uses the service."
And how has Grace managed to recover from such a tremendous challenge?
"Recovery has been fuelled by lots of carbs (read: cake) and chilling out!"
That cake is well deserved Grace, I think we can all agree.