A woman from Alyth and her pet Labrador have climbed every Munro in Scotland, as part of a two-year challenge to raise money for the charity Help for Heroes.

Lynsey Fitzpatrick first took on the challenge in June 2012 and has spent each weekend and holiday since climbing the 282 Munros that stand in Scotland – all the while accompanied by her pet dog Rabbie.

The 38-year-old's motivation behind the challenge was her husband Ruairi. While serving in Afghanistan with the Royal Regiment of Scotland, he broke his back and was flown to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham – renowned for providing treatment to all service personnel who are injured overseas.

Due to his injury, Ruairi was unable to work for a year and a half in order to give his back time to heal. Fortunately, he has now made a complete recovery.

Speaking to the Courier, Ms Fitzpatrick said: "I left my job to look after Ruairi and I started walking Rabbie up the Alyth hill and that’s where it began.

"I had only climbed Ben Nevis and Schiehallion with Ruairi when we first started going out.

"By the end I was just walking up a Munro without even having to take a drink of water, whereas at the start I was going through so much water just going up 200 yards."

Ms Fitzpatrick admitted that it was no mean feat, but seeing other injured soldiers with their families gave her the inspiration to climb every mountain in Scotland that is more than 3,000 ft tall.

During her journey, Lynsey had to tackle treacherous mountain conditions, but her achievements paid off and with thanks to the John Clark BMW dealership in Dundee, she has managed to raise £8,000 for Help for Heroes.

The car dealership lent her a 4×4 to help her reach some of the country's most isolated areas and to advertise her fundraising efforts.

Although Lynsey has completed her challenge, she has big plans for the future and hopes to join the Mountain Rescue team as a dog handler.ADNFCR-2867-ID-801770171-ADNFCR

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