Former Greenhill School student, Llinos Jenkins, has recently completed an amazing Arctic challenge.

Twenty-three-year-old Llinos successfully took a pack of Husky dogs through the Arctic Circle, sledging over 200 kilometres into the wilds of the most northern European country of Norway.

Said Llinos (pictured), formerly of Penally: "We laboured through -22°C winds in the endless arctic tundra each day to reach our goal. The dogs showed amazing strength and fortitude and their loyalty and dedication to complete the challenge was an endless source of comfort as they dragged me half-a-mile hanging onto the back of the sledge!

"Each day we would travel up to 60km to reach our base camp, and there exhausted though we were, our efforts were not yet done, as the dogs needed caring for and before we could even think about collapsing into our sleeping bags each animal needed feeding."

She continued: "The dogs slept outside, creating little nests for themselves in the snow and with some nice warm hay provided by us to keep them warm.

"You could not meet a more content and happy pack of animals! Such was their adoration for their owner, and our leader, Per Thore, that they regularly attempted to break the line and drag their sledges up to the front to be beside him! But in all honesty, the bond between him and his dogs was phenomenal and they simply could not do more for him."

In her opinion, Llinos said her four dogs were certainly the best of the bunch!

Llinos explained: "My two lead dogs at the front were Kaya and Jenna, a beautiful pair of girls - and they knew it! As lead dogs, these two were the cleverest of the group and guided my sledge without faltering once (except the time they tipped me up a bank and dragged me around behind them of course, but everyone makes mistakes!).

"Every morning they would make sure I was properly awake by making an unique chorus of noises that I had never heard a dog make before. Roughly translated, I'm sure they were saying 'let's go, let's go, let's go!'.

"At the back were my wheel dogs, a pair of brothers called Quick (who unfortunately didn't always live up to his name!) and Fox, who were almost impossible to tell apart. They were the muscle of the team and, although there wasn't always too much going on upstairs, they pulled me on through the more difficult terrain and were such a lovely pair of dogs that I spent most of my time running behind them so as not to burden them with too much to pull!"

The last day was the most arduous. The group travelled mainly down hill with both feet on the brake desperately trying to steer the dogs around hair-pin bends and steep slopes before having to push them up the other side again.

Added Llinos: "The general feeling when we reached our final camp was of jubilation that we had all managed to complete this epic journey and earned the generous donations of all our sponsors."

Llinos, who now lives in Cardiff and works for the Environment Agency as a permit officer for water resources, would like to thank everyone who made kind donations through which she raised an incredible £3,250 for the Scott Polar Research Institute.

The money will go towards creating a brighter future and even now your money is being put to good use in several research groups investigating a range of issues in the environmental sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities of relevance to the Arctic and Antarctica.

She concluded: "I cannot thank everyone enough for their kindness; it has allowed me to complete an incredible adventure, the memories from which I will cherish for the rest of my life."