Here I am standing on the summit of Mount Snowdon in North Wales earlier today, the first mountain that I have climbed since my return home from prison two years ago.

In 2009 I saw a dream while in prison that I was climbing a grassy mountain in heavy rain and fierce winds. With me was a close relative.

Ok, at 1085m, Snowdon might be nothing for some but for us it’s the highest mountain in England and Wales.

I have many good memories of Mount Snowdon. I first came here in 1991 as a 17-year old with some friends, the first of many hiking trips to come. In many ways, that first trip helped to define me as a person.

Since then I conquered Snowdon many times, with Allah’s help.

But today, 8 years after I saw that dream, it came true. Today’s weather was heavy rain and 45mph winds and climbing Snowdon with me was the same close relative I saw in my dream.

The feeling you get when you conquer a mountain is like you are on top of the world, having overcome pain, hunger, thirst and difficult conditions to get there.

A mountain is like the journey of life: we ourselves are our biggest enemies that stop us from achieving.

Edmund Hillary, the first man to reach the summit of Mount Everest, famously said:

“It is not the mountain that we conquer. But ourselves.”

Words said better than I could ever say them.

Read my story here.

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