Sedbergh woman helps partially sighted party scale towering African peak

And the gruelling task raised an amazing £45,000 for the SeeAbility charity which supports those with sight loss and other disabilities.

Joanne Withers, who runs the St Marks Stays self catering accommodation in Cautley with her husband Damian, were fascinated by a TV programme they watched earlier this year.

The programme described how SeeAbility linked up with the Traveleyes company, which specialises in trips for visually impaired travellers, to plan a testing journey to the summit of Mount Toubkal in Morocco's Atlas Mountains, North Africa's highest peak, to celebrate the charity's 220th anniversary.

Inspired by her father, who himself suffered from sight loss, Joanne decided to get involved, and after some basic training, joined the party as they began their trek up to the summit of Toubkal at a dizzying 4,167 metres.

The Traveleyes trip saw 16 sighted people acting as guides for the eight with visual impairment, and it was a steep learning curve for Joanne as she helped guide the party up steep, rocky and often treacherous mountain paths.

"We all laughed at the language us sighted guides would use to describe the terrain and how it may affect our companions," she said.

"Things such as 'It’s bumpy, bumpy here,' 'Catwalk,' to imply it was narrow and you needed to walk like a cat does with one foot in front of the other, and most crucially 'If anything, lean to your left as there is a big drop to your right.'"

Joanne said the scenery was breathtaking but the journey was mentally and physically challenging, but she managed to battle on to the summit which understandably was an exhilarating moment.

And after completing the journey Joanne, who paid all her own expenses for the trip, was overjoyed to raise a huge £1,107.21 for the charity, which went towards that incredible £45,000 figure the trip raised as a whole.

If you wish to donate, you can still do so at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/joanne-withers1