3 months on

total amount raised approx £1,200.00p not bad considering it was an add on.
the photos of the trip have been amalgamated and are outstanding, still cannot believe we did it, the success of the whole group was very high and outstanding.
Decided to think about next adventure, not sure what yet and then take a year to plan and save.

K5 made it

Well we made it, we started at 0.30hrs and reached camp at about 14.oohrs, they let us have 1 hours rest and then had to take us down so many meters as part of the acclimatisation process which required another 3.30 hrs walk, then yesterday we had a 7 hour trek to reach sea level, so today we are all quite stiff in fact we look like penguins in a row when walking. Annie Margo & Jo have had their massage Liz & I are having ours tomorrow.
All through the trek we kept talking about hot baths flushing toilets and beer, being the person I am I let Ann & Liz go before me for their showers and guess what when it came for my soak there was not a drop of hot water left !!!!!!!!! not a happy bunny.
WE have certificates to prove it, burnt lips, cold sore and lack of clean clothes ( been taking stuff out of the orphanage bag) but worth it .

Mission accomplished...

I received a text from Tina at 4am this morning, it read...
"Nearly at the top!"
I managed to phone her several hours later as she was making her way back down from the summit to the camp before continuing her journey down. All the girls made it to the top sucessfully and safely despite it being "the hardest thing I've ever done".
Magnificent!!
David

3rd day

This is our 3rd day, getting here was not to traumatic except for the plane from liverpool had to be de iced before leaving which was not to assuring.
Anyway we have made it to Moivora Lodge, which is in the middle of a coffee plantation, not bad very lush and has a pool. Today we are just chilling out by the pool. Yesterday we walked with a guide for 4.5 hours, we went inside a crater, walked through the coffee plantation and climbed t o about 1600 meters (small potatoes ) . We start our climb tomorrow, will try and keep blog. Yesterday was Margos birthday.

this is it! !

This is it, the final blog before we leave in 10 hours time. Found that I didn't have enough room in my bag, luckily we can take two bags (phew) and cabin luggage, I think it must be the sweets/peanut butter, chocolate and medicines. I will be going to bed at 8pm so that I can get up at 1.30 am, we will arrive at Kilimanjaro airport at about 9.30pm, we then have a 90 min drive to the hotel, just as well we have 2 days R&R. David will be trying to maintain the blog. People have been so generous, much of the donations have been through people not known directly but through friends families and friends of friends even work colleagues, so a huge

THANK YOU XXXXXX.

Ann, Margo, Liz & Joe are all ready to go, so here's wishing every one good luck Txxxx

Last push

Well only 4 days to go then off we fly. Been busy this week, walking to work, swimming 280 lengths this week, walked to Eastham Ferry and back about 5.5 miles and last long walk tomorrow. Apparently we shouldn't do exercise in the last week (hurray) that suits me fine. IPOD all loaded can see my self being lifted by the likes of Michael Jackson etc and lots of dance music. Been looking at the stuff to go not sure if its going to fit in the holdall, the food bars weigh heavy. Found myself on Voodou website very chuffed with that, although no one yet has logged on, Come on you fans get donating, £1 pp would soon add up. Great picture of Terry, still miss him loads. From Monday need to eat lots of carbohydrates not sure if I'm liking this, chocolate and alcohol not included.

Spent the weekend gathering medications, dressings, peanut butter, lots of chocolate bits, toiletries, selecting soft toilet rolls, alls I have to do now is clean my boots and start packing, not sure if it will all fit in. I had a funny thought, I have been buying padlocks for the rucksack when alls they have to do if they want anything is just rip it open, which highlights the point no valuables n the rucksack!!!

Ode to a mountain climber

The following ode was presented to Ann by her colleagues at the Chester surgery.

An ode to a mountain climber

"We had a thought this evening

Whilst looking for something to do

And we thought of you up the mountain

And what you would do for a loo

They say that the air gets thinner

The higher up you go

So take our advice make sure you look twice

And dont eat the yellow snow.

There's many a rock up that mountain

You can leave the loo paper behind

But don't stoop too low when you want to go

Or the rock will be up your behind.

SO when all you brain dead explorers

Have reached the dizzy heights

Youll be glad you've got shares in

San Izal

Cause your all bound to have the s*****"

Parkgate or bust

Ruby party

David and celebrated our Ruby Wedding, (some photos on Facebook) we had a fantastic night at the Racquets Club in Liverpool, instead of presents we asked for a donation for our charities, we raised £250, £50 will be going to Tate's Christmas card charity and the remainder will be going to Macmillan nurses charity. So thank you everyone who gave. XXX

Just to bring you up to date with our trip, we leave on the 4th feb 2010, we fly from JLA via Amsterdam and arriving at Kilimanjaro airport in the evening, we have 2 days RR at the Moivara Lodge and then the Africa Travel company (same one as used by the comic relief climbers) pick us up and take to us to Kilimanjaro Lodge. We actually start our climb on Sunday 7th and from then on in our lives will consist for the next 6 days and 5 nights of walking and sleeping in a bivouac. We will be slowly making our way to the top (i.e. becoming acclimatised
the phrase is)
If fatigue or altitude sickness doesn't get us we will be starting our last climb on 11th Feb at about 01.00hrs and hopefully reach the summit for sunrise. Apparently you can text from there how amazing is that. We will then make our way down and will reach the Kili lodge for the evening and shower/bath and a real bed. If all goes according to plan we will be taken back to Moivara lodge for R&R (2 days). We start our journey home on Monday 15th and arrive at JLA on Tuesday am. Apparently we are not for from a well known safari park so that could be a further trip on on of our R&R days. Thats it for now.

Here is the official photograph of team Kili 2010, from left to right , Margo, Liz, Tina (me) Ann (my sister) and Jo (Margos daughter), the photograph was taken in the village pub, which is where we have been meeting to plan our trip for the last year, (evidence of folders ++ on the table), this was our last group meeting before our trip starts (4th Feb), (Im sure bar profits will now plummet and shares will drop.) we discussed our list, important items such as the number of loo rolls required, plastic nappy bags, (don't ask), where can one buy peanut butter in a plastic jar and the best on line shopping. We also made the decision about where we were going to stay for our pre and post RR, Moivaro Lodge in Arusha, if you google it you can see it, looks lovely and you can see Kili from the hotel. I have spent the day taking things back to the shops and buying more walking items!!!, (not more says David). Tomorrow is our last walk unfortunately Lizzie can't come because of her hectic social life, but then Liz has done the marathon twice so I suspect she hasn't a fitness problem. Its a fairly easy walk from Bromborough to Parkgate about 13 miles but it is quite flat, should take about 6 hours and that's including our stop at the Ship In, Brian who you saw in our video is also coming, it promises to be a wet and windy day. will let you know how we get on.

Countdown...........

.....to 4th Feb 2010. Here is a video of some of the group of 5 nurses all considered by many for undertaking the climb "as mad, nuts, brave,". In our video you can see Brian Moses (our son in law) unfortunately he is not climbing but he has been on some of our walks and proved an invaluable team member especially when we walking Scafell Pike last summer. Other members in the video are Jo Baker (the youngest member of the team, next is my sister Ann (looking very professional) followed by Margo (daughter of Jo), I of course was videoing