A LARGS dad says conquering Mount Kilimanjaro in aid of Ayrshire Hospice was the 'hardest thing he’s ever done'.

Big-hearted Stuart Bowman set out to scale Africa’s tallest mountain earlier this month and reached the summit, standing at over 19,000 feet, a week later.

He had to deal with a swing in temperature of around 45 degrees, with the air plummeting to an Arctic -20 degrees.

He said: “It was very hard, probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.

“On summit day you set out at midnight and it’s a nine-hour ascent in the cold and the dark. It was very steep going up - and coming back down wasn’t much easier.

“I don’t think I realised how hard it was until I got there, I was a little bit nervous, but all of us made it.”

Stuart was one of five on the adventure in aid of Ayrshire Hospice, which helps improve the lives of those affected by life-limiting illnesses.

He chose the hospice as his charity of choice for the support they gave his mum Maria before she passed away from cancer in 2007.

So far, he has raised around £4,850 for the charity and says the money is vital to help their services continue.

Stuart said: “Everyone I know has some sort of connection to the hospice, so it was an obvious choice.

“Cancer is everywhere now. Everybody knows somebody that’s got it, has had it or has died from it.

“For me the hospice is something that can give people a bit of dignity in their last few days.

“It’s a hell of an expense to keep that place running and it needs our continued help.”

Stuart, who has previously trekked to Everest base camp, says it took a team of around 90 guides and porters to help his group of 22 to the top.

He only managed one phone call home during the week he was climbing and says he got a shock at the scale of the current coronavirus outbreak when he came down.

He added: “You have no idea what madness is going on down below when you are up in the clouds.

“It’s another thing off the bucket list, I’ll have a bit of rest and recuperation, then I’m going back to work.”

Donations can still be made on Stuart’s Just Giving page at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/stuartbowman3