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From rainy Gloucestershire walking up Kilimanjaro seems like part of another world, close to a dream.  I wonder how we'll remember it.  As the weeks pass I'm sure we'll forget how physically tough it was. 

I think this trip has shown me how strong people can be when pushed and how if we share what we have, how little we really need in terms of possessions.  There was a spirit of generosity and compassion for each other in our group and it contributed enormously to the success of our trip.  A huge thank you to everyone who came with me.  You are all wonderful.

I'll never forget walking down the mountain, from that completely barren landscape, through moorland into the intensely vibrant rainforest.  It's put a lot of things into perspective.

So this is the end of my blog.  I'll write another one when we go on another adventure.  Thank you to all of the blog's followers for your terrific support and encouragement.

We did it!

For

Richard Percy Bourdon Smith

In very loving memory

Horombo to Marangi

We were woken at 6 am and had a quick breakfast of porridge, baked
beans, eggs and tea before packing as our tents were dismantled around
our ears. A large pile of donated clothing was listed, secretly
numbered and as the porters chose numbers, given away. Moba,
responsible for water, ended up breakdancing in a Chelsea Football
Club towel given by Sam. The porters and guides sang and danced for
the last time and we started the seventeen mile walk back to the park
gate at Marangi.
It was a beautiful morning with clear skies and clouds in the valleys
below us to the south and as we descended the earth came alive. From
the barren landscape at Kibo, the Horombo campsite had clusters of
Senecio Kilimanjari looking as incongruous as plants in a garden
centre. We walked and slowly more and more flowers reappeared; white
heather, clumps of elegantly long, pale green grasses; longer grasses,
with seed heads golden in the sun; tiny violets, impatiens, scabious,
bright yellow bushes. We crossed bridges over small streams as the
country to our right stretched out into endless blue valleys. The path
continued rockily through fields of more flowers, passed grassy
dormant volcanos and hills wooded with Erica Arborea and Phillippa.
Suddenly in our descent birds started singing and the air became
scented. I was stung by a bee while taking a photograph. In the arid,
majestic landscape of Kibo, the occasional dead butterfly seemed like
a message from another world. The contrast couldn't have been
greater. We continued from open moorland into rainforest. Trees
dripped with lichen, the forest pulsed with life and the sunlight
became patchy as the trees grew higher. We all felt it was the most
beautiful walk we'd ever been on. It then became the most magical as
we watched a colony of Colobus monkeys playing in the trees over our
heads, their long white tails almost indistinguishable from the beards
of lichen. Thunder before a lunch of sardine stew in trilaterally
constructed park buildings at Mandara. In wet weather gear we
continued walking through the forest in the rain. Wild mangoes
decaying beside the path, a black land crab, a tame colony of blue
monkeys with babies who threw fruit at us.
Then the familiar blue Ferrari disguised as a bus. Two hours later,
the hotel. I unpacked, repacked, organised until I couldn't bear it
any longer and showered.

Sent from my iPhone

The summit and down the other side

Yesterday was the most physically exhausting day of all of our lives.
We went to bed on Wednesday night at 6.30. It was impossible to sleep
because the porters seemed to be having several parties. We were up
again at 11 pm and we started walking very, very slowly at 12. Six
hours of watching the heels of the person ahead of you, heel to toe
all the way. I've never walked so slowly, so monotonously. Like
miners with our headtorches we snaked our way up this steep mountain
through 1,200 metres in altitude of volcanic dust and rock. Above us
bright stars, ahead and behind us more miners. We stopped every hour,
crowding onto ledges to drink water. At various intervals people
rushed passed us with guides on their way down, unable to go further.
It was a very long way and nearing it's end we had to clamber
exhausted over rock. An marginally advanced party of Rowan, Ian and I
reached Gilman's Point at 6.30 am. Then with the rest of the group we
watched the sun rise over Africa. It was an emotional moment. We were
exhausted and the top of the mountain in the early morning sun with
the glaciers looking internally lit was sublimely beautiful. Our next
challenge was Uhuru. Although not as steep, we had to walk along paths
around the crater in the snow for a further two hours to reach the
summit.
Descending took nearly four hours. Ian, Sam and Rowan skied on their
walking boots through the shale leaving clouds of dust behind them. At
lower altitude we joined in. We were dusty and completely knackered
when we finally returned to Kibo camp to vegetable stew, we hadn't
eaten for 14 hours, half an hour's rest, no water to wash, before
packing up and setting off in a snow storm to the next camp 3 hours
and 15 kilometres away.
None of us had any idea how difficult this was going to be. Walking
daily for hours to get to Kilimanjaro. Camping in extremely cold, wet,
muddy, under equipped campsites. Coping with altitude sickness. Then
reaching the summit. Tanzania is heartbreakingly beautiful. Our 30
porters were amazing. Delicious meals were conjured out of bags
carried on their heads, ahead of our slow progress. Our guides
cajolled and encouraged us to the summit.
Now we're in the coach returning to the hotel talking about hot
showers and flushing loos. Peter, the leader of this expedition, has
just suggested beginning it all again..
I'm low on battery and will write about the most beautiful six hour
walk (that's what we've been doing today Elaine!) back to the Marangi
Gate, later.

Sent from my iPhone

We made it!

Eight and a half hours later. We are exhausted. Now three hours to
walk down. One hour to collapse. Three hours to next camp. This isn't
a picnic....

19th January

A rest day at the beautiful camp below Mawrenzi. After a late
breakfast we set off on an acclimatisation walk up a narrow ridge
several hundred metres above the camp. The closest to rock climbing
we'll come. We perch on the top and look at Kilimanjaro in the
distance. Then down for lunch, an afternoon of r & r and an early
dinner. Everyone quite quiet thinking of the challenges tomorrow. Dear
Lucy Long Legs has a problem with her eyes, either resulting from
Diomox or a build up of pressure from the altitude and after taking
advice has decided not to come to the summit. Lovely Cath has a
tenacious stomach bug she thought she'd left behind in Nairobi, but
it's back.

20th January

Up early and a long, six hour trek across a bronze, barren landscape
to Kibo base camp at 4,700 metres. Passed the remnants of a crashed
plane. We found dead butterflies and a beautiful moth. All victims of
flying too high. A packed lunch among some rocks watching a storm
trying to rise from the west against winds from the east. We're all
doing well. Cath's feeling better. We rest this afternoon listening to
thunder, have dinner at 5.30, then try to sleep before waking up at
11.30 to leave for the summit at midnight.

Campsite below Mawenzi

Sudden email connection

Yesterday