Our Team....

No words, (well maybe a few) just pictures required....This was our group. 

Oh what fun we had..... thanks to one & all for making the week the most fantastic experience imaginable.

Ceri - Our Welsh dragon.... well, actually not a dragon at all.  A great laugh, determined to dress all the porters in red!!

Trevor - Showing us an unusual way to look after his sunglasses?

Cudgie, our water buffalo,  unfortunately his knees gave out,  down, but not defeated he'll be coming back next February to do it all again!!  Mad bugger.

Katy, Hannah, Kerry, Ceri & Marie.... the best girl group since the spice girls...and these girls could sing!!

The "Doc" Loman, and his 17 year old son Angus... possibly the reason I got to the top.   
Imagine the question.... so what did you do this half term?   This father & son team the best since the Rednaps, Harry & Jamie.

Andrew & Richard... brothers, with a combined IQ of close to 5895.
Whether it was rock formations or constilations they were there to answer.   

Zoltan.... could he ever get any more relaxed?

A quite man who shed blood, sweat and tears on this mountain...especially blood!! 
Alan was determined to ensure that Loman was put to good use.  Unlike me, when Alan chose to be the only other hiker to fall over.... but unfortunately he got more than a dirty mark on his trousers!!  (Check the hand)

Tim - One half of the blind summit team, Tim is battling with a progressive loss of sight, but encouraged all the way by son Jacob he made it to the top, despite feeling ill for much of the week.  Fantastic effort, and a remarkable family.

Tim's son, Jacob.  BMX downhill racer, and photographer.   Made the whole week look like a walk in the park....

I'm sure he could have done it twice in the time it took us to hobble up!!

Finally, our group leaders....  Dominic from Action Challenge... just possibly the best view on the mountain, apart from the mountain itelf.

Nelson, and Valarian, our head guides.  Welsh nationals, and Manchester United fans...  ??


To every single person who pushed, pulled, encouraged, or just plain instisted that I climb that mountain in the moments when I didn't believe I could, and for the laughs, the games the songs, the total stupiditiy of it all I owe my thanks for such an amazing week in paradise.

Pole Pole Kamata Kima...Day 4

A really early start today, we were up at 05:00 for our ascent of the Baranco Wall.   It has a reputation of being a tough bouldering climb, and it does take you quickly up about 200 meters to around 4200m from our camp below. 

The previous night as we were looking at it, with clouds shrouding it with a bit of mystery it was tough to tell how the path would go, but the reality was much more fun.  It was really not as hard as it looked but there were a couple of places where a helping hand was needed from the guide above to pull you up.  There was only one place which was just a little more dangerous...the path around the kissing stone.

Ceri meets the Kissing Stone

A ledge about 12-18inches wide around the kissing stone that requires you to traverse it sideways, whilst hugging the mountain, and of course thanking her with a kiss on the way past. 

Everybody enjoyed the climb up Baranco today, and we were all up in about 90 minutes to the top for a well earned rest, and some photos.  The views were amazing...again!!



Two Cool Chicks Marie & Katy



After the climb, we were soon treking back downhill into the Baranco  valley, down a very steep rocky slope, parts of which were much harder work than the climb which preceded it.  

We took the day nice and slowly, following the advice of Nelson, our head guide..."pole pole kamata kima" (Slow slow catches monkey).  Ceri & Trevor enjoyed a short rendition of bring me sunshine, as they did their Morecombe & Wise impersonation.   Meanwhile Kerry made good use of her extra long legs to get down some of the steepest rocks.

A series of 3 or 4 hills & valleys to pass before eventually from top of our penultimate climb for the day we could see our destination.  Tonight our camp would be much busier, as we begin to converge with a number of other routes up Kilimanjaro.  Just 40 - 50 meters speeding up at the top of this hill left me out of breath, and reminded me once again how the altitude affects your ability to put one foot in front of the other. 

Jacob, doing what he does best



Just time to check facebook?







At the bottom of the final valley, a small stream, the last point on the mountain where water is collected.  On the other side, two paths to our camp....a longer shallow path, being used by most of the porters who were ferrying water in 25 litre drums up the slope for use at this, and future camp sites. To the right, a shorter, but much steeper path, almost deserted... this was the path we would choose.

That night over dinner, Loman, our doctor carried out some checks on the group to see how were coping with the rarified atmosphere at this height.  He took each of our pulse, and measured the oxygenisation in our blood.  84% and a resting pulse of 74, I felt good.  

The "Doc" Loman & Son Angus
What a way to spend half term!

Two of our group, Marie and Katy had an amazing oxygen count of 93%, not too different from what they would have had a sea level.  Our acclimatisation was clearly working well, and even Richard, who had been feeling a little ill was now eating like a horse like the rest of us... well most of us.... Unfortunately, Tim, who had been suffering with illness for a couple of days, and Cudgie were struggling with their appetites. 

Everyone was on a high though, with just one more day before we were going to be setting off for the summit.