THREE pals enjoyed a well-deserved drink recently - after completing an amazing hillwalking challenge that took 14 years.

And this week one of them claimed the key to their success was having an understanding wife!

John Donnelly, 51 and pals Kevin Yancouskie and David Peden spent seven years completing the 282 Munros.

But that wasn’t enough for the determined trio as they then set about conquering the Corbetts.

And while they may be less in number - there is just 221 - and smaller in height, they were the GREATEST challenge.

After celebrating with their families last week, John, from Auchinleck, said: “People might look at the Corbetts and think they are easier but I can assure you they are not.

“They are so remote and spread apart. On one of our trips we had to get a boat to sail along a loch to get from one Corbett to the next.

“And on another we had to undertake a 32-mile cycle before we even started walking.

“It was incredibly demanding and took up so much of our time. We’d try and go away for long weekends so we could do a few at the one time.

“We have to thank our wives. They are understanding as we’re away a lot. They must think we’re mental.” When they started out their challenge in 2000 there was six of them who embarked on the Munro challenge.

When they finished in 2007, three gave up while John, Kevin and David took on their latest challenge in 2008.

The Corbetts have a summit of between 2500ft and 3000ft and must also have a drop of at least 500ft between each listed hill and any adjacent higher one.

They are named after John Rooke Corbett, who first identified the 2500ft mountains.

Corbetteers is the name given to those who have completed all the mountains and there are approximately 500 who have completed them all.

There are over 5500 who have bagged all the Munros but it’s likely few will have completed the full set - an astonishing 503 mountains.

And John, a brickie, said: “It’s been amazing fun and we’ve had loads of adventures and loved every minute.

“There can’t be that many people to have done both sets. We had a right few sherbets to celebrate in Callander.”