September 22nd 2011 - Little Luxuries

Kibo 4700m – Horombo 3700m

5 hours

Following the gruelling night and morning we have had it is difficult to summon up the energy to pack our sleeping kit away and get everything ready to leave for Horombo.  Oxygen is still at a lower level and it’s still hard to catch your breath, even simple things like tying your laces leaves you breathless.

After a very quick rest we are called to the mess tent for lunch before we have to walk down to Horombo Camp which is thankfully at a much lower and safer altitude. 

As we leave Kibo we pass lots of trekkers coming into Kibo to start their summit night.  We pass a group of Japanese men and they ask if we made it, when we reply yes they all want to “fist bump” and they say “you give me power”; there was no power being passed on, there’s none left.

Thankfully the walk to Horombo isn't too bad - flat and downhill most of the way. Hurrah!  However the dreaded dust is back.  The further we descend its obvious that oxygen is increasing; we all start to feel slightly more normal and the vegetation is gradually becoming greener.

As we move down to Horombo we find Nick at the side of the path with a nose bleed.  Jenny was trying to help but it wasn’t stopping – déjà vu!  He was adamant it had stopped but we could all see it hadn’t.  Not wanting the same tampon treatment that Jonathan had previously received he soldiered on with a tissue.

We pass the Last Water Point, which is a small muddy green puddle.  That will explain the brown water we were given this afternoon for our camelbaks.

Last Water Point - a muddy puddle

As we approach Horombo we are greeted by Jackie and Peter, who unfortunately had to descend early and Kelvin, Emma, Susan, Alice and Gemma who arrived earlier on that morning.  They have walked back up the path to cheer us in and we are greeted by smiling faces and hugs, Peter even takes our bags; what a team!

A late afternoon arrival at Horombo greets us with tents pitched on rocks, on a slope – bed sliding with hurdles tonight.  However we are used to this now and we are far too tired to care.  We are also distracted by the fact that the camp reception sells cans of coke, beer and Mars bars. Heaven.  

We are far too tired for dinner, and it appears a lot of the team are too, although we do feel better having the luxury of a bit more oxygen.  Instead we get our sleeping bags ready, have a dinner of Mars bars and coke (very un-nutritious but coke and chocolate are now considered a luxury item and we deserve it) and with another delivery of hot water bottles from Steve we head to bed.  We are asleep as soon as our heads hit our rolled up clothes.

September 23rd 2011 - The Final Push

Horombo 3700m – Marangu Park Gates 1900m

5 hours

This morning after we have breakfast and pack up our kit for the last time, there is a tip-giving ceremony for our guides and porters – nothing seems enough.  These guys have worked so unbelievably hard and there is no question that we couldn’t have done this without them.  They have carried the bulk of our kit, purified our drinking water every day, cooked us hot meals, kept our sprits up and practically carried us down the mountain side on summit night.  They’ve never shown any kind of fatigue or illness, even if they had suffered, they couldn’t show it. 

The collective amount is handed to Onyx, and he will divide it amongst the porters and guides according to their role that week.  We are under no illusion that these guys rely on tips and it plays a big part in their income.  Take Onyx for example, whilst he was helping Lisa down the mountain side on summit night, he told her he used to be a teacher, but being a guide provides him with a better income to support his family.

With a breathtaking backdrop of the summit behind us, the porters and guides sing the Kilimanjaro song to us one last time and David has the duty of handing over the tips to Onyx with a few words of thanks.   Please click on the link below to view David and Onyx's speeches:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhEDkYj2JdM 

Onyx then thanked the group on behalf of his team and we were again treated to more singing and dancing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OHYllgu2tI

After the ceremony is over, we hit the trail for what will be our final day of walking. By this point, everyone is super-keen to get back to the hotel for as, Onyx said, a hot shower, and a cold beer. It's now been 6 days since we last had proper wash and clean clothes so we're all feeling, and probably smelling, rotten.

As we walk the conversations between the group bounce from topic and topic as they always do, and we start randomly talking about Australians’ (not sure how that one started).  We talk about how much they swear as normal conversation and Liam says “no one swears as much as my old rugby captain”.  Lisa and I look at each other, scared.  “What’s his name” we ask. “Duncan Price” he replies.  We can’t even climb a mountain in Africa without our old colleague Duncan coming back to haunt us!!

The trail leads us to Marangu Gate where we stop for lunch.  The tiredness of yesterday is still apparent and it’s important to eat, even though it’s Fish Bolognese.  That recipe can go in the same pile as the potato and banana stew. 

During lunch Jenny tells us that she is making a video about the health implications of mountain life; she has spoken to a number of the group who have experienced altitude sickness and other things, but also wants to interview someone who didn’t seem to have any problems, and she wants to interview the fine picture of health that is Steve.  We all agree he should do the interview accompanied by a can of beer, a fag and a curry.

After lunch we move off into the rainforest. We can see Blue Monkeys in the tree tops and we start to feel ourselves edging closer to the gate and life beyond the mountain.

As the rain comes down it dawns on us that this is the last time we’ll all be walking together; the end of our adventure is getting closer.  Such a shame when we all get on so well and have got so close: I mean never before has a man ever asked me for a tampon,  let alone one Ive only known for five days!  As we walk back down we are already talking about meeting again and planning another fundraising trip; the painful memories of yesterday already dwindling.

Team Blonde - us with Leanne and Emma - already planning the next one and not even off the mountain yet

We think we speak for the whole group when we say that we started the trek as virtual strangers with a common goal, and ended it as friends for life that have shared an incredible life changing experience.

By early afternoon we are back at the gate, drenched and cold.  After quickly finding the energy to buy a quick souvenir t-shirt we climb into our minibuses which are already loaded with our kit.  So, just as quickly as we started our trek, we leave the park for the thankfully much shorter drive back to the hotel.

As we previously commented, the guides were incredible and couldn’t show any fatigue even if they wanted to….they were obviously feeling it, they were all asleep in the minibus as soon as we left the park gate.

During the drive we are advised that the travel company have upgraded our hotel; we don’t care where they are sending us as long as it has showers and beds. As we arrive and have to get off the buses, suddenly none of us can move.  It’s like watching loads of people learn how to walk again – how are stiff now, we haven’t been stiff all week?

Walking into reception we are greeted with hot towels.  I guess they won’t be using them again – they all end up black with a weeks worth of dust and dirt and it soon becomes a competition to see who can get their towel the dirtiest, with each of us proudly holding up our once white, now black towels.

Once we find out or room numbers we rush to our rooms to try remind ourselves what hot running water feels like.  The first thing we do is take our boots off for the last time; it feels great.

Not so shiny and clean anymore

We can hear shouts of “woohoo” as 30 showers and baths are turned on simultaneously.  This obviously has an effect on the ability of the hotels hot water supply and it soon runs out. 

After a shower we think we are clean.  No.  The white towel you use to dry yourself is now beige – off to the shower again then.  It takes three showers and a bath each, some all over body scrubbing with a nail brush and numerous hair washes before we feel clean.

We rediscover make up and normal clothes and we are ready to meet our fellow trekkers for the Gala Dinner for the culmination of our adventure.

September 24th 2011 – Asante Sana

Shower – Bar - Restaurant - Bar - Bed

2 minutes walking

We meet up with Leanne and Emma and head to the bar for a well deserved beer before the Gala Dinner.  Most of the team are already there and we joke that we don’t recognise anyone now they are clean and wearing something other than trekking trousers and boots; we are sure they are saying the same about us.  As we walk past Marvin is overheard to say “it’s like an Impulse advert” – we guess we don’t smell of dust and longdrops anymore, just that unfamiliar smell of soap and shampoo.

It would be rude not to order ourselves a bottle of Kilimanjaro beer and we begin the celebrations with our new friends.  A few beers and lots of photographs later we head to the restaurant for some food that’s been cooked in a real kitchen.

 

The starter is soup.  Really?  We’ve had soup as a starter for a week.  But there’s also real food; vegetables, red meat, chicken and chocolate mousse.  And wine. There’s also tea and coffee afterwards – with real milk – I miss the Nido already.

We are reminded we are in Africa when there’s a power cut.  It comes back on after 20 seconds or so, but where’s Foxy? We were sure he was in his seat when it all went dark....he was located at the bar a few minutes later.

After dinner David announces that we have heard from Marie Curie Head Office and they have confirmed that as a group we have raised in the region of £125,000, and its still rising.  This is the most a Kilimanjaro trek group has ever raised.  No one can quite believe it.  How could such a small amount of people have raised so much? This is an incredible amount and this charity is so close to all of our hearts; David’s announcement sets the tears off again as what we have achieved, not only on the mountain, but for Marie Curie sinks in.

David and Susan then hand out medals and certificates to all of the members of our team who reached a summit.  Not forgetting those that fell victim to the altitude, certificates and medals were also presented for their own individual achievements.  Including Kelvin for the best retrieval of sunglasses.

We are then joined by Moses and some of our guides – all suited and booted.  Moses is happy to sign all of our certificates as the Head Guide and it’s great that they have been able to join us on the last night of our adventure as they have played such a big part in it.

The Serious Fox Team have an announcement to make and step up to the front.  United in their green polo shirts (yes we know, chosen by Foxy and never will be he allowed to choose them again) they announce their new name – Team Tampon, and then proceed to demonstrate why.

The Serious Fox / Tampon Team

A few more speeches followed, all equally as emotional as the last.  As difficult as it was to convey the feeling of summit night, it’s equally difficult to convey the feeling of tonight.  Are we all glad it’s over?  Yes.  But at the same time we don’t want it to end.  We’ll all miss the feeling of camaraderie, we’ll miss shouting for the Nido, we’ll miss bed sliding and bed tea, we won’t miss the long drops; but most of all we’ll miss each other; friendships that were made in the blink of an eye but that will hopefully last a lifetime. Our new friends who we have shared so much with; laughter, tears, excitement, apprehension, nerves, pain and elation; our Kili Rafiki.

The day has finally arrived

We have trialled our Diamox (they were great!), said our goodbyes :( and squeezed our lives into our rucksacks.  We are ready to go.  Unusally we are ready to go early.

Thank you everyone for your support, you know you are, we couldn't do this without knowing you are behind us all the way.  

Please comment on posts on our blog while we are away, we may be able to pick them up and we are sure they will give us a boost (please be nice!!).

See you all on the other side!

Packing Hell

Where is it all going to go?  The travel company have provided us with a kit list which we have strictly followed - however with a 12kg weight limit imposed and the sleeping bag weighing in a 2kg we are having to be very ruthless with everything.  Bare essentials only.  How many packets of baby wipes do we really need?  How many times can we get away with wearing the same t-shirt more than once?  How many layers do we really need on summit night?  The thought of being on the mountain and really needing something that you've "culled" from your packing isn't a nice thought.  It's a slow process that we've learnt is best done in stages.  Round 1 was completed yesterday - Round 2 today ........

One week to go .....

Only one week to go before we finally depart for our Kilimanjaro Trek.  A year ago leaving for Tanzania and starting the challenge seemed a long way away and was just something we were going to do next year, now its finally here.

We both keep getting asked "are you nervous?"  The answer a few weeks ago was always "yes, lots"; then when the first of September hit I think we both had a mild panic attack and the phrase "crapping hell" was said rather a lot when we realised "the real September" had arrived.

Now however, with only 6 days to go until we board our Kenya Airways flight from Heathrow, we can't really describe how we are feeling.  Whether it's nerves, excitement, apprehension or fear that caused us both to suffer with a couple of bouts of insomnia and loss of appetite we're not sure.  One thing we do know is though is that now the time is drawing closer, we just want to go now.

We've had our jabs, got our visas, received our final itineraries, bought most of the stock from Boots, not drunk an alcoholic drink for what seems like ages (lots doubted we could do that!) and have met most of our fellow fundraisers and trekkers.  We have all of our kit, and yes we don't know where it is all going to go, but we have it and it will all fit in .. somehow.

I think we'll both agree that the most emotional and amazing part of our experience so far is raising £8,000 for Marie Curie Cancer Care.  This provides 400 hours of nursing care to terminally ill cancer patients.  Thank you to everyone who has supported us and our fundraising efforts; everyone from those who attended or organised fundraising events, donated your hard earned cash, had your body parts waxed or sponsored a part of our bodies; you are all stars!

Thank you also to all of our families and friends who have supported us so far and who we know will be with us every step of the way.  To our Mum's who are nervous wrecks, to Lisa's Dad whose Bacon on Toast we will be thinking about when we need a bit of energy and all we have is a cereal bar, to Jim whose sleeping bags are keeping us warm at night, to Mel who will have the Pinot on ice for our return, to AJ and CPC who WILL miss us and Keith who wishes there was wifi on the mountain so Lyndsey can carry on working, and all of our other supporters.  Thank you all for having faith in us.

Everything is ready, we just have the small matter of climbing the 19,340 ft of the tallest freestanding mountain in the world and the facing the minus temperatures and prospect of Acute Mountain Sickness.  We may have got lost of various training trips, had our girly panic attacks about kit and leopards and laughed our way through the nerves,  but we are ready to go and we are confident we can do this, conquer this mountain and have an amazing adventure.  After all life begins at the end of your comfort zone...

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