TRAINING on the Malvern Hills came into its own when Liz Jones arrived in Canada for a charity trek through the wilds.

Now back at her desk at Malvern Hills District Council, Liz, from Ledbury, said the challenge was every bit as tough as she expected.

She has so far raised £3,500 for Macmillan Cancer Relief by joining the 90km trek through Canadian bear country.

"It was hard work, it was a bit dire at times," she said, "It was about what I expected, I thought it would be pretty grim - I'm glad I did the training before I went."

Organisers were forced to tear up the route on day one because of weather conditions and she is still waiting to hear exactly where - and how far - they eventually ended up going.

"We had the whole lot, rain, snow, sleet, hail, sun," she said.

"At night it was well below freezing with a lot of ice and snow on the tents."

Despite this she said she was glad to have taken part: "It was an experience, but it's good to be back in civilisation."

As for the bears themselves, a mixture of Grizzly, Brown and Black, they kept a low profile, although they did visit the camp at night, on one occasion having to be scared off by a ranger shooting into the air.