Islander Claira Caine has hiked the tallest mountains in England, Wales and Scotland and raised almost £5,000 for Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.

The challenge saw the Peel resident hike the three highest peaks: Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon.

Over the weekend Claira walked for a total of 13 hours, with an overall elevation of 8,800 feet.

Organised by Alder Hey, Claira saw a poster for the challenge when she was at a hospital appointment for her eight year old son Luke who has arthritis.

Claira said: ‘It was a bit of an emotional appointment, and I thought, I really need to give something back to this place because they do such a wonderful job, I messaged my friend Corrina Williams and we decided to do it together.’

‘My son got diagnosed with arthritis just before Covid, and at one point he was struggling to walk, he was limping, so it got quite bad, but at Alder Hey they are just so lovely and welcoming.’

She signed up last summer and has been training every weekend since in the Isle of Man.

This Saturday, she along with 39 others also taking part in the challenge to raise money for Alder Hey, woke up at 3.45am to start the excursion.

The overall challenge lasted until Sunday evening, with Claira only able to sleep on the coach as they drove from one peak to another.

She said that she was running off three hours of sleep for both Saturday and Sunday.

As such, one of the peaks was partly climbed in the dark.

Claira said: ‘We had to come down Scafell Pike in the dark, we set off on the peak at about 8pm, and we could see the sun setting as we made our ascent.

‘It started to get dark and then a thunderstorm hit, and obviously you don’t want to be on top of the highest point in the whole of England when there is lightning.

‘So the guides made the decision that we all had to turn around.

‘We were really gutted because we had done all the hard work, we were almost on the top, to then have to turn around without actually getting to touch that summit was quite disheartening, although I understand why we had to.

‘Coming down the mountain in the dark, with rain, thunder and lightning, as well as the path being slippery, was definitely the low point of the trip.’

As the group had to turn around, they completed the second highest peak in Wales, Garnedd Ugain, as well as Snowdon, to ensure that they reached three summits.

A very tired Claira has made it home, and her challenge along with the efforts of her son Luke, aged eight, who raised money doing a walk, and her daughter Tessa, aged six, who raised money through a bake sale, have all managed to raise £4,830 for the children’s hospital.

Claira said: ‘I am just really blown away with the support that I have received, so a massive thank you to everyone for that.’

Ahead of the trip, the group had already raised £45,000, with the money raised set to go to Alder Hey’s neonatal surgery, a campaign for small babies that need to have surgery.

The link for Claira’s Just Giving page is: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/coco-and-claira