Weeks review

So my weekend, and Monday were spent in the region of Chester, at the McDonald hotel, Portal, Tarporley.

This was a relaxing long weekend, however with walking in and out of Tarporley twice on Saturday we covered over 6 miles.

Sunday morning I hit the gym, which was very well equipped and I did the usual session of running and cross training.

Later on I spent a good afternoon in Chester sight seeing, down by the river.

Tuesday I was back at my own gym.


On Wednesday I was up very early to catch a flight to Brussels, then I have my first experience on the Eurostar later that evening, coming back into London.

This was a really pleasant experience, very smooth and quick, well while in Belgium & France it was quick, things slowed down once we got through the tunnel.

Then Thursday was London for meetings, but I did hit the gym again at the hotel, although there is very limited equipment, so just some running and cross training. However as is the case in London, plenty of opportunity to walk, even though it is mainly flat.

So the weekend is here again, and at this stage I need to get a walk in, or my legs will have forgotten what to do, let's hope for good weather.

84 days to go!

Believe it or not there is only 84 days to go before we set off! Aghhhhhhhhh.

This news is not helped by the fact that yesterday some of fellow colleagues were discussing the various UTube videos of Killi trips, some of which apparently didn't make good watching.

However it did spur me on to sort out my insurance (that tells you what some of the videos were like!). So I am now insured up to 6000m, just in case Kili grows between now and when we go.

So last night I did one of the shorter walks, which usually takes and 1hr 30, but had to speed walk the last half, so did it just over 1hr 10 mins, and then back at the gym this morning, where running was not so easy, so gave up after 20 minutes, around 2.5 miles, did my weights and then 30 minutes cross training.

I have the pleasure of a weekend in Tarporley coming up, so staying Saturday & Sunday night, taking Monday as holiday. Will take my gym kit as they have a fitness area, but unlikely to do any walking this weekend. Having said that, it will probably be better if I did, as finally my shin splints have recovered so know what they are needed for, and I am away on business a couple of nights next week, so will find it difficult to get any walking done.

So the week has been good from an exercise point of view , gym 3 days, the other two days I went walking, and also have lost 1.5Kg, which I assume is the effect of this diet I am following with Kate. However I feel a drink may be deserved tonight.

So you all enjoy your weekend, as I will be doing so, and it will be Tuesday before the next update.......

Some more background

Currently there are 60 people undertaking this challenge from across the UK, so as a minimum we will over £200,000 for Scope which is a great achievement, however the more we raise, the more support we can provide, so if you are yet to donate, get your hands in your pocket.

You can find more information on Scope here:  http://www.scope.org.uk/

Since there are so many of us, other than the initial flight out, we will generally travel in two groups of 30, but there are plenty of support people on the trek that allows the groups to split even smaller to allow for everyone's level of speed.

So that will be me dragging my boots at the back of the group.

Sleeping once on the trail is under canvas, two people sharing a tent,  while breakfast and dinner are served in larger "mess" tents, which is a very apt name, as if I am getting up at 6.00 to eat breakfast, or eating dinner after 10 hours of trekking, most of my food will miss my mouth on be on the floor!

We have porters who carry the tents and cooking gear, and are so used to the altitude that it is very normal for them to stay behind, tidy up, pass us on the trek, and have everything set up again before we arrive ! Now that is what I call service. So I just need to carry 3 litres of water, any clothes I need for the day, and any other items I may require. At this stage I am wondering if I could get a Landrover tucked away in my day sack, as this will definitely help me up the mountain.

More on the route tomorrow

I didn't walk last night, as I had been to the gym in the morning, so will consider a short walk tonight if the weather is not too bad. I know that is a little excuse, but there is only so many times I need to check out the rain proof nature of my kit.

Challenge details Part Deux

Sorry the title sounds like a Charlie Sheen film !

Ok so having arrived at out hotel in Moshi, of which I have seen one sample photo of a "typical hotel used", which means it will look nothing like, but hey we are only there one night!, we have lunch then do an equipment check. It is at this stage the guides, will laugh at all the gear we have brought, tell us to leave most of it in a bag at the hotel as we won't need it, then show us how to properly pack a bag !

This is then followed by a Welcome dinner where we will get to know each other more, no doubt be embarrassed by some of the gear we have bought, and start contemplating the real challenge.

An early rise at 6.30 is followed by breakfast, then off to the Machame Gate, and the real start of our trek, heading towards Machame camp.

We are only travelling 12km so relatively a short distance but gaining 1207m of height, so up hill all the way, and mainly walking through rain forest.

The photo makes it look reasonably pleasant, however it is normal for heavy rain at this stage. Dinner is planned for 18:00 so in effect there is plenty of time to cover the distance, and supposedly the intention is to go very slowly so that you get used to the pace later on in the trek!

So that is the plan, back to the here and now, well last night despite the rain and thunder storm, I ventured out for about 1 hour 15, gentle walk to let me legs know this is what they were designed for.

But did it rain, and a real test of the gear. So my rain coat works great, though it was rather warm in there, the boots were fine, the issue was my trekking pants. After about 30 minutes they weighed another 3 pounds, and were soaked, ok they are only shower resistant, but amazingly 5 minutes before I got home, the rain eased up, and they dried out. When I took them off, they were practically dry!

So considering the first day is subject to heavy rain, and I don't fancy walking in soaking pants for 8 hours, I may need to consider some waterproof trousers !

This morning was gym, where I only ran 2 miles, then did some weights and finally crossed trained for 20 minutes, to be honest it was a bit of a struggle this morning, I think this diet of Kate's I have joined in, is not helping.

Anyway I am hoping for relaxing night, may try another walk on Thursday if the weather is not too bad, and not as bad as it was last night.

Details of the challenge Part 1

So October 15th is the big day when we set of on our challenge. We depart Heathrow at 20:00 on Friday 15th (thankfully not the 13th), and fly overnight to Nairobi with Kenya Airways!!

 So Nairobi is 2 hours ahead, we arrive at 6:30 the next morning, so that is an 8.5 hour flight - ouch.

The advice is to pack the essentials for the challenge in your day sack, carry that as on board luggage and wear your boots !

8.5 hours sat in my walking boots - that is a big ouch.

On arriving in Nairobi we then have another shorter flight of around 1 hour to Kilimanjaro International airport on a small hopper plane.

Apparently due to the size of the group, there will be two of these hopper flights, so arrival could be at 09.00 or 11.30. We then transit to the hotel at Moshi where we will find out hotel.

So since we are up North, we need to add on the time to travel down to London, plus the Scope team would like us to get to Heathrow at 16:00 for some reason, so a long old travel out time. Let's hope I avoid blisters on the travelling bit !

ok so this was the boring intro, although if anyone out there has experience of Kenya airways give me a shout.

More tomorrow........

by the way, I seem to have pulled a muscle in my side at some point, don't know if Sunday or Monday, but making life interesting. I was going to try a short walk tonight but the forecast talks about thunder & lightening and very heavy rain, so will have to see what happens.

Long Time

I seem to have written a few of these starting sorry for no updates !

Ok honest I am sorry, holidays, illness bad few days at work, all compounded to give not a lot to update about. So now I have plenty of information to give you on the up & coming trip, so will drip feed it out over the coming few days.

In the meantime - I went for a walk yesterday ! After attending Mark & Eileen's wedding on Saturday, good luck to them, I got up early on Sunday, with a slightly heavy head, and went off out into the wind and rain. It was remarkably refreshing and invigorating. I did the route around coombs ridge, which took me about 2 hours 45 mins, which considering I had to lean into wind on several occasions I was quite pleased with.

Today back at the gym, it is a week since I was last there, but amazingly ran for 30 minutes without collapsing, and followed up with 10 mins on the rowing machine and 25 minutes cross training, so a good work out for the morning.

So if you stay with me, I will start giving you some details of the trip from tomorrow.......

Exercise to defeat colds

So i have, and still am travelling, which makes it a bit difficult to update. My blackberry doesn't like updating on this blog for some reason.

So two morning session in the gym are hopefully helping me to sweat this cold out, but I just wish it would help with the headache.

Didnt' walk, the gardening won, and it looks like plenty more of that to do this weekend in preparation for the log cabin / large shed arriving in two weeks.

So off to London now, I will try an dbe more exciting tomorrow.

Under the weather

By the time I got home last night, I was feeling a bit rough around the edges, sore throat, headache and no energy, so my good intentions of going for a walk feel by the way side. I did however go out in the garden for an hour and started breaking up the remnants of the sheds into wood to burn and things to go to the tip. So I did not let the man flu beat me :-)

Having said that, today I don't feel any better, and a bit light headed and dizzy. I hear that Cheryl Cole, or is that Tweedy, has Malaria from her last trip to Tanzania , maybe I have pre Malaria ?

Anyway on the assumption i make it through the day, i have a choice of walk or continue wood chopping tonight, probably the walk is the easier option.

I have also been reading up on toe bruising in walking boots when coming down hill, apparently I am not lacing my boots correctly, so best get a grip on that. Can't have bruised toes for Killi.

I am waiting on the itinerary information from Scope so that I can explain the details of the trip to you day by day. In the meantime prey for a quick recovery, as I need to walk and the go to the gym tomorrow.

Sorry

So yet again I have to apologise for the lack of updates, but I was away in London last week, and find it very difficult to update when away from the office.

So Saturday was a meeting at Scope head office to discuss the challenge a bit further and also to meet some of the people going on this trip.

We will have 60 people on the challenge, which is a fantastic number, and as long as everyone hits their charity targets, we will raised over £200,000 for Scope, which is an amazing amount of money.

There is a really wide range of people attending, all ages, sizes , and levels of fitness.

We got an hour session to help us with fund raising, followed by a 40 minutes talk on the actual trek and daily schedule. The people running the event seemed really knowledgeable and were reassuring about the challenge. The main stressing point, was take it slowly and you should be fine. They reckon that they can get a higher percentage of people to the summit, so around 80%, so that means 12 out of the 60 won't get there!!!!

So more about the trip later this week, stick with me, I need the support.......