Our last morning in a tent for a while dawned with a slight hint of miserable weather, the first in what seemed like an age. It had rained during the night, but nobody seemed to care much. All our girls were in light dresses and flip-flops or sandals, on the basis that if they got wet feet, who cared? I remembered the old Scouts camping adage that site dress should be shorts and canvas plimsolls, on the same principle. I somehow doubted that people at Everest Base Camp would concur, but it worked for a typical British Summer.

Yolanda’s smile was legend. It was sunshine and rainbows, sure, but it was sword and shield too. Sometimes it came easy; other times it required determination and grit.