A SIX year-old girl from Cowling has become one of the youngest to climb the Yorkshire Three Peaks.

Talitha Eden was joined by her nine-year old brother, Zeb, and dad, Simon to walk Penyghent, Ingleborough and Whernside in less than perfect weather conditions on Yorkshire Day, August 1.

The trio, who in celebration of it being Yorkshire Day wore flat caps and wished other walkers on the day 'happy Yorkshire Day' completed the more than 24 miles - including refreshment stops - in an impressive 15 and a half hours.

Talitha, who with her brother goes to Gisburn School and is known by friends and family as 'feisty' is unusually strong and determined for her age says her dad who added Talitha had been told to walk the course 'like the tortoise in the hare and the tortoise story, just keeping going at a slow pace in order to win the race.'

The three started early at 6am in Horton-in-Ribblesdale, and in a clockwise direction, beginning with Ingleborough - the second highest of the peaks - after stopping to look at many wild flowers along the way, they reached the summit (723m) at 9am.

Then, it was onto the highest peak, Whernside (736m) getting to the summit at 12.43pm, before onwards to the Ribblehead Viaduct where they stopped for a drink at the Railway Inn.

They completed the final peak of Penyghent (694m) by sunset, and then returned to Horton to complete the route in 15.5 hours.

Talitha had also climbed to the peak of the Teide Volcano (3718m) in Tenerife a few days before, although most of the ascent was by coach and cable car, said her dad.

Simon said: "Talitha has a habit of coming up with interesting philosophical questions when doing long walks such as :Why doesn’t the iron in your blood set off the metal detector at the airport, and if vampire bats suck the blood of cows, are the bats affected by growth hormone that is injected into the cows?

Afterwards, Talitha said: "It was hard work but worth it".

The family are raising money for the Airedale Hospital Emergency department. The appeal focuses on three main areas: the children’s waiting area, paediatric resuscitation area, and the department’s bereavement facilities.

Money can be donated by the Just Giving appeal website: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/AiredaleED