Ladies of a certain age prove that they are far from ‘Over the Hill’

Three of the line-up are already in their 60s and the fourth is about to mark her 60th birthday in a matter of weeks.

Alison Taylor, who grew up in Mirfield but who now lives in London, joked of their achievement yesterday: “It’s an early celebration. This is to prove that I can still do it before I am over the hill in July.”

The team were keen to get involved with Trailtrekker because they wanted to set themselves a challenge and were out to raise as much money as they could for a good cause.

“I grew up here and walked in the Dales when I was growing up,” Ms Taylor added. “I come back here regularly.”

Eve Milner, who lives in London, said she had been bowled over by the beauty of the Dales when she visited to do training for the event, although the weekend’s glorious sunshine was in marked contrast to the wet weather she had previously experienced.

“Alison brought me up here to do the training and I totally fell in love with it,” she said.

“Even though it was raining and we were up to our knees in mud in the rain it’s just heart-stoppingly beautiful.

The team, which also included Lisa Kerr-Muir, from London and Joanne Desmond, from Henley, said they had done plenty of long walks before but nothing that matched the time-scale of Trailtrekker.