Journalists from the Swindon Evening Advertiser have shown they are at the top of their field - by climbing the highest mountains in Scotland, England and Wales!

A team from the paper - dubbed the Adver Social Climbers - left the comfort of the newsroom to take on the Three Peaks Challenge and raised £4,000 for charity.

The team's task was to scale the heights of Ben Nevis (4,406ft), Scafell Pike (3,205ft) and Snowdon (3,560ft), with a target of just 24 hours - including 10 hours of travelling.

After 10 weeks of training the team were ready for the challenge and managed to complete their task - the equivalent of walking to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris 11 times - in an impressive twenty-five hours and 56 minutes.

Team leader Ian Fannon said: "We were hoping to do the challenge in 24 hours but it became obvious early on that that was a big ask.

"We had a team of mixed ability and we wanted to do it as a team, not rush for first place glory.

"Ben Nevis was the biggest climb but psychologically it was the easiest. The weather was fantastic and there were wonderful views.

"Scafell was really hard. There was no scenery and it was raining nearly all the time.

"The main thing is that we did it and the satisfaction was fantastic. Everyone was cheering us on for the last few yards.

"It was a great weekend. We laughed all the way and entertained each other."

The walkers were led by politics reporter Ian, (23), and also included health reporter Ben Fitzgerald, (30), crime reporter Geoff Bennett, (38), his wife Jeni, (34), sub editor Ben Tarring, (37), and trainee reporters, Alex Emery, (26), and Anthony Osborne, (19).

They were also joined by a support crew of drivers - security guard Craig Ballantyne, (43), columnist and reporter Barrie Hudson, (34), and photographer Matthew Swingler, (30).

To read crime reporter Geoff Bennett's account of the challenge, click here.