Saturday, 7 February 2009
Friday, 6 February 2009
Goodbye Britain
Goodbye snowy Britain! Made it to Heathrow and all bags checked in. Now we've dispersed to all corners of, T4 I've opted to settle into Starbucks with my favorite Gingerrbread Latte, and observe the world from behind my hot drink. First thing to say is what a disaster T4 is at present. It used to be the taxi drivers dream fare for sparking conversation of far off climes. Today it is about as welcoming as the blizzard conditions outside. Nothing more than a building site! Rubbish! Not sure if the dim lighting is deliberate or BAA's attempt to save on energy bills!
Can't wait to get going now, find my seat and settle back for the night. Hopefully my next entry will be from Kenya as we transit on to Tanzania. Our flight appears full. There must have been one or two cancellations this week. I observed plenty of hiking boots amidst the trolleys and baggage levels. You forget that it's not just your group heading for the mountain.
Well here's wishing everyone a fantastic week. See you at the top! Cheers.
Can't wait to get going now, find my seat and settle back for the night. Hopefully my next entry will be from Kenya as we transit on to Tanzania. Our flight appears full. There must have been one or two cancellations this week. I observed plenty of hiking boots amidst the trolleys and baggage levels. You forget that it's not just your group heading for the mountain.
Well here's wishing everyone a fantastic week. See you at the top! Cheers.
On our way!
So we have all made the bus safely and just got on the M1 at 14 to find the wiper blades have failed. So here we are at Toddington services getting our vision cleared! Hooray sorted good job ! Onwards to Heathrow.
Thursday, 5 February 2009
Roll On the Morning!
So here I am, just a few hours before departure. I've packed my bags for a third time tonight, stripping out items each time as I go. When I look at my day pack it seems very full, more so than at any other time during my training. There just enough space for a couple of packs of jelly babies at the airport tomorrow.
Its been a strange day in many ways. Full of anticipation and nervous excitement and yet also concern over the weather conditions here. One thing I have learnt though is not to worry about the things you have no control over. We do make a fuss over the weather in this country. Its amazing how a few cms of snow can create such a fuss. I walked into Milton Keynes this morning pausing occasionally to look out for any signs of traffic on completely deserted roads. It reminded me of Christmas Day in the sense that nobody was about, the roads were quiet, and only a few distant voices on the wind gave away the fact that people were out playing in the snow. You would never have guessed this was a normal working day (or atleast supposed to be).
Unfortunately the snow prevented me from seeing Ben and Harry today. I hadn't anticipated not seeing them before I go and to be honest I'm pretty upset about that. I get little enough time with them as it is, so to miss out on seeing them today of all days is quite hard. I know they are quite apprehensive about this trip and what it means to me, and I had hoped tonight to have been able to put their minds at rest. Still, they will be able to follow my progress at school next week and no doubt we will speak before the flight.
What are my tips for packing for Kilimanjaro?
Take your time.....very important, you need to think things through (e.g what if my main luggage went missing in transit, could I start the trek without it?)
Medium size Frozen Food Seal Bags from Tesco's make excellent, cheap, (very cheap), waterproof compression bags for your clothes.
Decant what liquids you need, (shower gel, shaving cream etc..) into small 100ml plastic bottles from Boots (50p each) Brilliant!
Compress your Sleeping Bag (containing its fleece inner) and use the bag it comes in to store all your clothes compressed in the Tesco's Frozen Food Bags!
Wrap your walking poles in your Base Mat to protect them in transit.
Make sure whatever you have to do to pack at home is repeatable in a tent on the mountainside!
Thats it, I'm ready, roll on the morning!
Its been a strange day in many ways. Full of anticipation and nervous excitement and yet also concern over the weather conditions here. One thing I have learnt though is not to worry about the things you have no control over. We do make a fuss over the weather in this country. Its amazing how a few cms of snow can create such a fuss. I walked into Milton Keynes this morning pausing occasionally to look out for any signs of traffic on completely deserted roads. It reminded me of Christmas Day in the sense that nobody was about, the roads were quiet, and only a few distant voices on the wind gave away the fact that people were out playing in the snow. You would never have guessed this was a normal working day (or atleast supposed to be).
Unfortunately the snow prevented me from seeing Ben and Harry today. I hadn't anticipated not seeing them before I go and to be honest I'm pretty upset about that. I get little enough time with them as it is, so to miss out on seeing them today of all days is quite hard. I know they are quite apprehensive about this trip and what it means to me, and I had hoped tonight to have been able to put their minds at rest. Still, they will be able to follow my progress at school next week and no doubt we will speak before the flight.
What are my tips for packing for Kilimanjaro?
Take your time.....very important, you need to think things through (e.g what if my main luggage went missing in transit, could I start the trek without it?)
Medium size Frozen Food Seal Bags from Tesco's make excellent, cheap, (very cheap), waterproof compression bags for your clothes.
Decant what liquids you need, (shower gel, shaving cream etc..) into small 100ml plastic bottles from Boots (50p each) Brilliant!
Compress your Sleeping Bag (containing its fleece inner) and use the bag it comes in to store all your clothes compressed in the Tesco's Frozen Food Bags!
Wrap your walking poles in your Base Mat to protect them in transit.
Make sure whatever you have to do to pack at home is repeatable in a tent on the mountainside!
Thats it, I'm ready, roll on the morning!
Monday, 2 February 2009
Crestfallen to Inspiration
Today I had thought about introducing in a lighthearted way my fellow climbers and team members. I woke excitedly and tuned in to Messrs Moyles and Barlow on Radio One launching their respective Red Nose Charity Pages to get me in the mood and find my own inspiration for the nicknames missing from my list. I thought to myself how glad I am to be climbing Kilimanjaro ahead of the Comic Relief Nine, because after March 13th its bound to be on everyones list of things to do given the amount of publicity the event will generate.
Enter Cheryl Cole (who I like a lot, and is usually on the money when it comes to giving interviews) but who today went on and on about how dangerous Kilimanjaro is and how many people had died attempting the summit.
Her uninspiring contribution this morning itself, then gave way to news from Snowdon concerning the deaths on the mountain overnight, of two brothers, caught out it seems by the extreme conditions.
Suddenly all my exuberence was gone. I recalled my own hands and knees crawl in terrible conditions to the top of that very same mountain.
The joviality of Moyles and Barlow seemed out of place. I was completely crestfallen! Exactly a week ago today I wrote about "Never Never Ever Underestimate the Mountain" How those words have haunted me today.
I thought about my boys and the comments from their mother on Friday who is completely unsupportive of my existence let alone my climb. I thought also of the families of those two men and what they must be going through today. And I thought of my own mortality and the fear of something happening to me over the next couple of weeks.
Suddenly I remembered Charlie saying one of our team, Dean, had gone to climb Snowdon himself this weekend, so I called to see if he was back OK. Charlie didn't know and seemed somewhat indifferent to my enquiry. I felt a bit foolish for asking and began to think I was sounding just like Cheryl Cole myself. Then I remembered my "writing on the wall". The inspirational sayings that were until recently stuck to my bedroom wall and which I carry with me at all times. These have been invaluable to me these last few months. Today one in particular has struck a cord and seems entirely appropriate.
As I finalised my Kit List this afternoon and struggled back through the ever increasing snowfall I said it over and over again to myself whilst recalling the contents of the Kilimanjaro Project I completed with Ben last week. If Ben and Harry learn anything from me, it will be this:-
"In the end, its not the years in your life that count. Its the life in your years!"
Enter Cheryl Cole (who I like a lot, and is usually on the money when it comes to giving interviews) but who today went on and on about how dangerous Kilimanjaro is and how many people had died attempting the summit.
Her uninspiring contribution this morning itself, then gave way to news from Snowdon concerning the deaths on the mountain overnight, of two brothers, caught out it seems by the extreme conditions.
Suddenly all my exuberence was gone. I recalled my own hands and knees crawl in terrible conditions to the top of that very same mountain.
The joviality of Moyles and Barlow seemed out of place. I was completely crestfallen! Exactly a week ago today I wrote about "Never Never Ever Underestimate the Mountain" How those words have haunted me today.
I thought about my boys and the comments from their mother on Friday who is completely unsupportive of my existence let alone my climb. I thought also of the families of those two men and what they must be going through today. And I thought of my own mortality and the fear of something happening to me over the next couple of weeks.
Suddenly I remembered Charlie saying one of our team, Dean, had gone to climb Snowdon himself this weekend, so I called to see if he was back OK. Charlie didn't know and seemed somewhat indifferent to my enquiry. I felt a bit foolish for asking and began to think I was sounding just like Cheryl Cole myself. Then I remembered my "writing on the wall". The inspirational sayings that were until recently stuck to my bedroom wall and which I carry with me at all times. These have been invaluable to me these last few months. Today one in particular has struck a cord and seems entirely appropriate.
As I finalised my Kit List this afternoon and struggled back through the ever increasing snowfall I said it over and over again to myself whilst recalling the contents of the Kilimanjaro Project I completed with Ben last week. If Ben and Harry learn anything from me, it will be this:-
"In the end, its not the years in your life that count. Its the life in your years!"
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