A HAWORTH woman has so far raised nearly £6,000 to help fight breast cancer by completing a gruelling trek in the Andes mountains.

Pam Howorth, who runs the Oh La La Vintage shop in Main Street, Haworth, was among a group of women from all over the UK to finish the walk for Breast Cancer Care along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, in Peru.

Following an acclimatisation walk, the group trekked for four days, for 12 hours a day, at one point reaching a dizzying altitude of 4,215 metres.

Pam said her preparation walks up and down Yorkshire's hills had trained her well for this challenge, but added that it was still harder than she had expected.

"There was a lot of going downhill on granite steps for long periods of time, which was quite hard on the knees," she said.

"The women I was with were from across the UK and I those from the south found it harder, because unlike me they didn't have hills to train on!

"It went really well, I enjoyed it, and I was lucky not to have any altitude sickness. I felt fine.

"When I got up in the middle of the night while we were camping the view of the stars was unbelievable.

"Because we were so high up and there was no light pollution they looked clear and bright enough to pick out of the sky. It was amazing."

Pam, 50, said the whole walking group had raised a combined total of £68,000, with more money still coming in.

People can still visit justgiving.com/Pam-Howorth to further boost Pam's own fundraising total for Breast Cancer Care.