‘Waaaah!’ I find myself screaming, running straight over to Gillian, Betsy, Sammi and Claire, who are just to the side of the rest of the team, and throwing my arms around them.

‘Hey,’ Sammi says, looking shattered but pleased to see us.

‘How was it?’ I ask, wanting to hear all about it.

‘Long!’ says Claire, with a tortured exhale.

‘You OK?’ Vicky walks over and asks Betsy and Gillian, who are far quieter than usual. They are all a little less sprightly than when we left them outside the hotel.

‘We’ve been up since three-thirty this morning,’ explains Gillian wearily. ‘I don’t mind an early start, I’m used to it at my age – no good staying in bed all day wasting my life away – but they then made us wait an hour and a half before we actually got trekking.’

‘It felt like there were suddenly loads of us too,’ says Sammi, looking over her shoulder at the crowds of people around us, all milling about for tickets, loo stops and to buy souvenirs before even going inside. ‘We were all trying to get through the Sun Gate at sunrise, ready for that magical first glimpse of this place.’

‘Was it amazing though?’ I ask, hoping for their sake that it was after getting up so early.

‘It was so foggy we couldn’t see a bloody thing!’ says Betsy, placing her hand on my arm, pulling me in so she can lower her voice into a loud whisper. ‘You should’ve heard Derek effing and jeffing about it.’

‘Most we’ve heard from him all trip,’ laughs Claire, causing them all to cackle – it’s clear they’ve all grown very close since we last saw them. I’m happy for them, but also, surprisingly for someone who originally said she wasn’t here to make new mates, a little put out by the realization that I’m on the outside of their bond. ‘I’m being mean – he’s actually been all right.’

I look around to see Derek puffing away on his cigarette, as expected, but rather than standing on his own he’s talking to John-Paul, the dad of the American family who I didn’t end up getting to know too well. Beside them Mike has joined Bronagh, Josh and Ben. He’s animated as he talks, his hand covering his heart. I can tell that he’s talking about scattering Pia’s ashes. As he talks Bronagh looks between her sons, clearly trying to register their reactions to the idea. I can’t imagine the strain there, that emotional pull of just wanting to fix things for your sons, the maternal instinct to want to make everything better while also navigating through your own grief and turmoil.