Give Love In A Box - Teams4u Christmas Shoe Box Charity Appeal

Tis the Season for even more giving! 🎅🎄🎁

It's Christmas time again and I think back on my childhood growing up in London in the 80's and 90's distinctly remembering the excitement bubbling in the pit of my 8 year old stomach after seeing neatly packaged presents (usually in red wrapping paper and with reindeers dotted all over it) nestled snuggly at the bottom of the Christmas tree (when we still had one up) along with all the other mysterious wrapped shapes that were also for my two sisters. We would often look at the name tags, to see how many presents we had that year - we pretty much were guaranteed to get the main present we wanted and more .

Pack for a Purpose - Stella Maris Primary School, Tanzania

Kilimanjaro Challenge : In The Press....

9. Kilimanjaro Challenge: Lemosho Route - The Descent, Sunburn and Asante Sana Kilimanjaro!

8. Kilimanjaro Challenge: Lemosho Route - Day Seven - Summit Night....My Story

7. Kilimanjaro Challenge : Lemosho Route - Day Six - Karanga Camp to Barafu Base Camp 4,673m

6. Kilimanjaro Challenge: Lemosho Route - Day Five - The Great Barranco Wall to Karanga Camp 3995m

5. Kilimanjaro Challenge: Lemosho Route - Day Four - Moir Hut to Lava Tower and down to Barranco Camp 4,600m

Jambo Jambo!

Thanks for sticking with me up to Day Four of my Kilimanjaro Challenge along the Lemosho Route. We had now from the start travelled 28km up 1,950 metres and made it to Moir Hut at 4,200 metres amsl and aside from the dose of nausea and the occasional pang of a light headache I made a habit of sniffing peppermint oil and was okay to press on. 

But Day Four was going to be our toughest day so far physically and mentally, as we would be following the golden rule of 'walk high, sleep low' passing up to 4,600 metres at the Lava Tower and then dropping down to Barranco camp at 3,950 metres to sleep, where the real signs of any altitude would come into affect - it is 'part of the game' our guides would tell us. A tough game to play in the undulating highs and lows of the Kilimanjaro experience.  

4. Kilimanjaro Challenge : Lemosho Route - Day Three - Shira 1 Camp to Moir Hut 4,200m

3. Kilimanjaro Challenge : Lemosho Route - Day Two - Mti Mkubwa - Shira Camp 1 3,610m

Jambo Jambo!

Thanks for joining me on my next blog documenting Day Two of my Kilimanjaro Challenge as I attempt to hike 6 days along the Lemosho Route heading out from Mti Mkubwa Camp and ascending 960 metres to Shira 1 Camp.

'Howwwlllllllll!!!!' a deep scream reverberates outside my tent. I snap my eyes open and listen hazily in the darkness, the African rain drops still softly pattering on my roof. The guttural yowls of a troop of monkeys punctuated the air of the forest outside again, causing me to groan and roll over in my sleeping bag. I wrestle around a few times and manage to squint my eyes at the light of my watch as I push it.

2am. Damn Colobus Monkeys.

2. Kilimanjaro Challenge: Lemosho Route - Day One - Londorosi Gate to Mti Mkubwa Camp 2,650m

1. Kilimanjaro Challenge - Lemosho Route: Jambo Tanzania and Meeting Kilimanjaro...

Jambo Jambo!

That's hello in Swahili! Welcome to the first blog documenting my attempt to climb the highest free standing mountain in the world and also the highest dormant volcano in Africa. Now as you know if you'd be following my training over the last 6 months for this challenge, you know I have trained to be as ready as I'll ever be and fully aware that this was going to be the most relentless, gruelling physical and mental challenge of my life. So lets start right from the beginning, returning to Africa after 12 years to experience the mighty Mt. Kilimanjaro.....and what challenges would lay ahead on our journey to reach to the top of the Roof of Africa.

12. My Kilimanjaro Training: 5 Months in - Prime Ministers Chequers and the Ridgeway of the Chilterns

Howdy folks! 

Thanks for dropping in to see how my last few weeks are going in my training for Kilimanjaro next. I'm now just 3 weeks away from leaving for Tanzania and have been squeezing in more training walks in the lead up to the big 'K'.

If you've been following my training journey since the beginning (nearly 6 months ago in Richmond Park) you've seen me all over the Surrey Hills, North Downs, The Chilterns, West Sussex and a week training holiday trying to get some mountain climbing in the beautiful Lake District (highly recommend).

Many of these walks I've been doing by myself with the occasional walking buddy or group - so this time I returned to The Chilterns joining the largest international outdoor group in London The Outdooraholics for a 21km trek along the Ridgway and through the Prime Ministers 'Chequers' retreat.....sounds an adventure. 

11. My Kilimanjaro Training : 5 Months in - Tanzania Visa Time, Pack for a Purpose and One Month to go in the Gym!

Hi all!

Thanks for dropping into my next post about my Kilimanjaro 2019 Training, if you've been reading my blogs since the start over 5 months ago - thanks so much! Others I'm sure have been dropping in to read a few so if you've read them all then I'm hugely flattered and touched.

So, the expedition date is scarily getting closer and I'm coming up to my last few weeks of training and have had to get together all the little bits of pieces you need for an expedition on Kilimanjaro. 
But above all, you can't get to Kilimanjaro unless you've got a valid visa into Tanzania so I've been off to the Tanzania High Commission in London to sort out all this official legit stuff....

Behold The Tanzania House! Just off of Oxford Street in London - applying for a visa for Tanzania seemed pretty straight forward. If you have a British passport you can get an e-visa online but being in London, I think its all part of the adventure visiting the embassy yourself! The visa office is down in the basement which the big bold yellow sign quite rightly directs you down to - how shady and cryptic!

10: My Kilimanjaro Training : 5 Months in - Ivinghoe Beacon and The Chiltern Forests

Howdy folks!

Fantastic news! I've finally reached over £500 for Action for M.E! Thanks so much to everyone so far for donating towards my climb but with one month to go I'm still welcoming donations to make as much as possible! 

Over the past 5 months of my training I've been having adventures all over Surrey, Sussex, the seaside and the majestic Lake District as I prepare for the epic trekking challenge which is Kilimanjaro next month - of course I'm terrified but excited at the same time!

So this training blog follows an 10 mile circular hike (which ended up being 12 miles) north of the city to Tring to follow the oldest road in Britain 'The Ridgeway' up to the Ivinghoe Beacon and back round to end in the village of Aldbury ...with my friend Nicky as a guest training buddy.

Shouldn't be too hard right?

9. My Kilimanjaro Training - 5 months in....Seaford to Eastbourne and the Seven Sisters

Hi!

Thanks for dropping into my latest blog from my Kilimanjaro Training - time is flying by and I now have only 6 weeks to go before I head out to the big 'K'.

So, let me fill you on my trip news and updates on my training - this time heading to Sussex and the South Downs, right to the seaside to take on the 21km hike from Seaford to Eastbourne over the Seven Sisters...

8. My Kilimanjaro Training - 5 Months In... - Steppin' it up, Chilworth Gunpowder and The Silence of The Pools..

Howdy folks!

Grrrr!!! My best Hannibal Lecter impression. With now just 8 weeks to go until I'll be in Tanzania at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro over the last couple of weeks, I've stepped up a bit of resistance in the sports mask - now sweatin' away with intake of half the amount of air. I now believe training with the mask maybe more beneficial for more my cardio fitness than preparing me for actual altitude but I find it better to train with the mask than without - psychologically anyway!

At this point, with 2 months to go I have done 54 gym sessions (which I'm really pleased I've strictly stuck to), 12 training walks and a 2.5 days steep mountain walking in the Lake District over summer (it rained the rest of the time!).

If this isn't a reasonable amount of training for Kili, I'm not sure what is!   


Hopefully its going to pay off!

1. My Kilimanjaro Training - 2 months in....Gyming it up and Richmond Park

Behold the almighty Mount Kilimanjaro, the tallest dormant volcano in Tanzania standing at 5,895 metres above sea level and my next adventure. 

In October 2019, I will attempt to climb to the top of 'The Roof of Africa' over 8 days using the Lemosho route with a full team of porters, other climbers and guides. This is a personal physical and mental challenge I've always wanted to attempt and I'm sure will be the toughest and greatest adventure yet. 

I sometimes wonder what on earth I've got myself into!

Cambodia Volunteering: 7. Last House Build #5 Storm Family in Trach Village Rice Paddies

Soo-a-s'day!

Last House Build! in Trach Village in the Siem Reap Province....in the rice paddie fields is where I find my fifth and final house build....*sniff sniff*

Cambodia Volunteering : 4. Treak Community School, Shadow Puppets, Artisans DÁngkor, Silk Farm Factory and Phnom Penh Children's Hospital

Soo-a-s'day!

Greetings from Cambodia on Week #4 of my volunteer building relief work in Cambodia.

No house building this week, so I decided to go to a Cambodian School partnered with Volunteer Building Cambodia in the Treak Village Community. The school which I have to ride 4km from Siem Reap on a bicycle, provides free schooling for children aged nursery age plus, have been raising money through volunteer donations to build a vast expansion to their school as a community centre -  new classroom, toilets, meeting room, library, workshop rooms for women's courses, wash facilities and a playing field to provide modern and fresh facilities to the community.