My trip to Ecuador started on 11th September 2015. My boyfriend Tom and myself had booked onto the Avenue of the Volcanoes charity challenge to raise money for St Gemma’s Hospice. We had a target of £7500 to raise and thanks to a lot of help from family and friend we have raised above this target and are hoping to still raise a little more! The avenue of the volcanoes challenge involved climbing 4 different volcanoes. The main volcano we were supposed to be climbing was Mount Cotopaxi, which is one of the world’s largest active volcanoes. However, about a month before we were due to depart for Ecuador this volcano started erupting, spewing giant clouds of smoke and ash. This then lead to the changed itinerary and a different volcano to climb named Cayambe. Although Cayambe was almost 100 meters lower than Cotopaxi, the climb was supposed to be more technical. We climbed through the night with crampons and ice axe’s for 8 hours before we finally reached the summit. Climbing Cayambe was easily the hardest thing I have ever done and was definitely an experience of a lifetime. My trip to Ecuador will definitely be a memorable one. Tom proposed to me at the top of one of the volcanoes, and after the trek was over we enjoyed spending time in the Galapagos Islands and the Cloud forest in Quito. You can read more about our Charity Challenge trek on our virgin money giving page www.virginmoneygiving.com/claire_tom Here are a few photos from our trip :)