A View from Kilimanjaro - its all over

Those of you who have been following the blog you will be aware of my recent successful climb up Mount Kilimanjaro as part of the Sunderland Partnership's charity expedition. I was interviewed for the work magazine and i thought the interview would help me explain how amazing the trip was. 

So in answer to the big question - what was it like?

It was the toughest physical experience I have taken part in. The first three days lull you into a false sense of security with relatively straightforward walks on well worn tracks, but day four is an absolute killer. It’s the first time you really reach extreme altitude, when you reach Lava Tower we really started to suffer with altitude sickness, nausea and headaches were the biggest issue. We had good weather even though we had chosen to climb in the rainy season, there were only two days when we got totally soaked.

The food on the mountain was great, breakfast was porridge and toast with plenty of tea and coffee, lunch was a packed lunch we carried with us, that consisted of sandwiches and some marble cake, a boiled egg and citrus fruit.  For tea we always started with soup and a variety of different meals on each night from fried chicken to spaghetti bolognaise with cheese. All in all we were well fed and didn’t go hungry.

The sunrise at Stella Point was definitely something I was looking forward to and I had seen many pictures from other people’s blogs and books. I had also read as much as possible about the climb to Stella Point and Uhuru Peak. The books were right - it was a slog of a climb setting off at midnight and walking slowly following the person in front. My head torch was sadly quite dim but thankfully others had better torches that I could follow. As I reached Stella Point I was greeted by some of the team that were ahead of me and one of the guides gave me a cup of hot sweet black tea, the best drink I have ever had! The sunrise was worth the climb and I would swear I could see almost all of Africa.

Reaching Uhuru Peak was amazing, and slightly disorientating. As were climbing in the rainy season the whole top of Kilimanjaro was covered in snow, at points it was hard to see where the snow stopped and the clouds began. We all cheered and posed for our photos at the top which I am sure most of you will have seen by now. We were only allowed to stay at the top for a short time due to the lack of oxygen.

The way back down Kilimanjaro is not well covered in the books I had read. The ones it was covered in suggest you can “Scree Slide/Ski” down the mountain which would be great fun, if you weren’t so tired that even walking in a straight line was a problem. Coming down from the top was a four hour trek with help from the guides, I have to admit I have never been as pleased to see my tent as I was when I walked into camp that morning.

The final day took us back down to the gate and onto our waiting mini bus, the trip was over and I was looking forward to a long shower and a shave. All of our trip would not have been possible without the aid of our amazing team of guides, porters and cooks. So before we got on the bus the group thanked the team by singing a traditional Sunderland folk song “The Lambton Worm”.

As everyone will know the climb was for charity and I am pleased to report that the group have now raised £69,306. I raised over £3,600 though personal sponsorship and support from PCT staff, that will go to support the Kilimatinde Hospital in Tanzania and the African black wood project in Tanzania.

Finally, I want to say a massive thank you to everyone who supported me in the trip.

Blog feed from our site while we are away

Hi all while we are away on the mountain we will be using another blog
http://www.usskilimanjaro.co.uk/

The following may be a feed from our blog site while we are on the mountain if you click on any of the links it will take you directly to the main blog site with picture and will help to keep you updated on our progress. Many thanks Aaron

Thanks for the help Fundraising

With just 6 days to go before I fly out to Tanzania I wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone who has helped with the fund-raising, if you have been keeping an eye on the Just Giving site you will have noticed that it is now at 130% as we have raised £2,620.72 for the 2 charities. 

 

Charity Fundraising has included: 

Cakes sales, an Easter quiz, pancake sales, weight loss clubs with forfeits, guess the baby competition, raffles, a magic night, a dress down day, a charity auction of photos, sponsored children's mini Kilimanjaro climb (at my daughters nursery), personal sponsorship and donation.  

The generosity of the everybody, who has helped with and has taken part in the events, has blown me away. 

Just to remind you all the money goes to an excellent cause, the NHS SOTW charity is the Kilimatinde Trust, a charity that supports a hospital with four community clinics and a nurse training school in one of the poorest provinces of Tanzania.

Outpatient Clinic, Kilimatinde Hospital.

Operating Theatre, Kilimatinde Hospital.

Many thanks Aaron

Successful Magic Night & Band of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers

On Friday night, 26th March, Stephen Taylor, Neils Vinter and I hosted the magic night at Seaham hall and I am please to report it was a really good night. John Archer was very good with comic songs including a classical piece on the ukulele and psychological magic as well as some very clever maths with magic squares, which had everyone guessing. 

The cake went down a storm with everyone getting a piece, I also took the little people off the top of the cake for safe keeping and plan to take them to the top of Kilimanjaro. There was some concern that there were only 17 people on the top of the cake; however the other 3 were just round the corner less than one hour from the top. It was an excellent night, a big thank you to all who came along to support as.

The summit of the cake 

On Sunday night, 28th March, Neil and Jessica two of the other climbers, arranged for The Band of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers to play a charity concert in Sunderland Minster as a fund-raising event. The band were joined by guest singers John Rowland and Julie Pendleton and Neil plays the Clarinet in the band.

It was an excellent evening with the band playing rousing military marching tunes and tunes from the movies and shows including Oliver, Phantom of the Opera and the Sound of Music and when they played “Climb Every Mountain” I did smile. I’m not sure the song will make it on to my ipod but it is a funny song for the trip. The evening finished with “Rule Britannia” just like being at last night of the proms.   

 The Band of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers

Magic Cake Arrives

Just a very quick post to show you all the magic show cake,  it was created by Janice who works in the Stop Smoking Team in NHS SoTW

 The cake in all its glory, almost seems a shame to cut it up  

 

Cake Maker Jancie in the middle and the smoking team who all contributed

The cake will be at the magic show tonight where it will be cut up and sold to those who are coming along.

If you fancy a piece the only way to get some is to come along.

Tickets available on the door £25 per person with drink and food and magic and of course cake included.

Meet Some of the team - Taken at Scafell

Some pictures of the team while on our Scafell Trek
Gillian, Aaron, John, Emily, Chris, Jessica, Karen and Stephen

A Big Big Thank you - Cake Competition

I wanted to say a big thank you everyone who took part in the cake competition,  and guess the baby  competition that took place in Rapier House. Sadly I was on annual leave so was not able to taste the wonderful cakes, however Hannah stepped in the breech and helped out as a cake judge.

The cake rush  

 The baby competition

 There we so many cakes that i can't show them all on the blog, but thought I should show you the first and second place cakes, well done to Jane and Judith.

The event raised over £113 thanks very much it is very much appreciated.