Want to do something good for yourself and others? I can heartily recommend the Three Peaks Challenge.

If you haven't already heard of it (I hadn't) the challenge is to climb the three highest peaks in the UK within 24 hours, including in-between travelling time and without breaking the speed limit, all to raise money for the charity Scope.

We started at the bottom of Ben Nevis (1344m) in Scotland at 5pm on Saturday, dashed down to Scarfell (978m) in the Lake District, finishing at the summit of Snowdon (1085m) in Wales with just 21 minutes to spare.

There were 14 of us crammed into a gradually smellier Transit van, on little or no sleep, fuelled by a seemingly endless supply of chocolate bars and good companionship.

You could say it was the ultimate bonding exercise. Luckily most of us had a similar fitness level - except for one climber who decided it wasn't challenging enough and did all three mountains in wellies!

I wasn't prepared for the relentless climb of our first mountain or the climate.

Layered in every conceivable item of outdoor clothing, we steadily stripped down to our T-shirts as the climb took its toll, until we got up to cloud base, where it was snowing.

The descent alone took two hours. The elation from conquering Ben Nevis was somewhat overshadowed by the thought of having to do this all over again, twice.

But the pain was a good and worthy one. We raised over £3000. It was a once in a lifetime experience (well I wouldn't want to do it again) and I can recommend the challenge.

If you have a group of fairly fit and active friends/colleagues, consider having ago.

For further information on the Three Peaks Challenge, look at http://users.tinyonline.co.uk/richieev/tp/24.htm.

-Natasha Harrison (York Road, Hove) and Max Bloomfield (Grand Avenue, Hove)