THIRSTY walkers on the summit of England’s highest mountain were given a real treat - a drop of Wainwright ale, courtesy of Thwaites .

The Blackburn brewery carted a sampling bar to the top of the 3,209ft mountain with a cask of the beer remembering Blackburn’s celebrated author and Lake District fell walker Alfred Wainwright.

Their efforts, in conjunction with bosses from national pub chain JD Wetherspoon, were all in the name of charity CLIC Sargent.

The event was part of the latest fundraising event of two regional managers from Wetherspoons, which has pubs in Blackburn, Accrington, Burnley and Colne.

Craig Coombes and Phil Buckley have walked up hill and down dale for the CLIC Sargent charity and wanted to do something closer to home before setting off in October to climb Kilimanjaro.

Once the Thwaites team had climbed the mountain with the Wainwright cask, Phil and Craig opened up the bar to offer free samples of cask Wainwright to walkers, who were then invited to make a charitable donation.

They also sold hot drinks and snacks as part of their ongoing fundraising effort.

Thwaites marketing manager Lee Williams said: “We were delighted to be able to support Craig and Phil for this great cause.

“The whole day was just a great deal of fun and helped to raise an additional £759 and after this adventure, who knows where we’ll be sampling Wainwright next?”

Phil said: “We’d like to thank Thwaites for all their continued support with our fundraising efforts for CLIC Sargent.

“It was a great weekend up on the fells and it certainly caused a few raised eyebrows for the hardy souls who made it to the summit of Scafell Pike and were rewarded with a taste of Wainwright.”