Three years after completing the Three Peaks Challenge a grandmother has climbed the UK’s highest mountain in the dark.

It took Fleur Parratt eight hours and 30 minutes to reach the 1,344m summit of Ben Nevis in Scotland.

She completed the challenge at 3am on August 29 in aid of the charity Alzheimer’s Society. It’s a cause close to her heart as her mum Sylvia Phelps started to develop the disease before she died in July 2010, aged 77.

The 52-year-old, of London Road, Sittingbourne, said: “It was the hardest thing I have ever done.

“It was 10 miles up and down in dreadful conditions. The mist came in thick and fast and it was difficult to see more than a few feet ahead.

“By half way, the weather really began to turn, heavy sleety rain and even an ice plateau to cross about an hour from the summit.

“Finally I made the summit at about 3am. Coming down was very hard, almost harder than going up as the rocks were so slippery and again it was impossible to see more than a few feet ahead.

“I made it back to base camp about 7.30am in time for a lovely breakfast and desperately needed cup of tea.”

Ms Parratt, who works as an activity co-ordinator at Court Regis residential home in Middletune Avenue, Milton Regis, has set herself a fundraising target of £1,500.

To make a donation, visit www.justgiving.com/Fleur-Parratt2