Alan Hinkes: completed the 39 tops with an ascent of Helvellyn

Mountaineer Alan Hinkes has completed his record-breaking round of the shire-county tops of England.

He topped out on Helvellyn, the highest point of the old county of Westmorland a short time ago, accompanied by Richard Leafe, chief executive of the Lake District national park.

The 950m (3,117ft) mountain – the third highest in England – was the final peak in Hinkes’s tour of the 39 county tops, ranging from Scafell Pike, also completed today, down to the 80m (263ft) Boring Field in Huntingdonshire.

The record attempt began with a 28 August climb of the Cheviot, at 815m (2,674ft) the highest point in Northumberland, and a change from his original intended starting fell of Whernside in his home county of North Yorkshire.

Helvellyn's summit

His team Tweeted about 45 minutes ago that he had completed his round, which was done to raise awareness and cash for Mountain Rescue England & Wales, the umbrella body for mountain rescue south of the border.

He benefited himself from mountain rescue services when he survived an avalanche on Great End’s Window Gully in March this year while climbing on the Scafell range in Cumbria.

The Northallerton-based climber is the only Briton to have summited all the world’s 8,000m peaks.