Thursday 23rd October, Flying to Vietnam

We are off to Pu Luong National Park in Northern Vietnam for a few weeks treking with a group from Discover Adventure. During the trek we will be enjoy the rare opportunity to stay with some of the local hill tribes in their villages.

Our route is through a little visited and fascinating area of Vietnam and we are looking forward to experiencing first hand the every day life and culture of the Thai and Moung people in their villages.

After the trek we head down to Halong Bay for a few days of R&R on a boat amongst the limestone sea stacks made famous in the James Bond movie "The man with the golden gun."

Internet access is likely to be difficult so we will update the blog when we get back.

Sunday 19th October, Loughrigg Fell

My plans for today had to change due to Kevins ankle injury becoming worse overnight. After some discussion we agreed that Day 2 of the scrambles course should be scrapped and instead I went for a walk onto Loughrigg Fell with Myra. The weather forecast for the day was poor with strong winds and heavy rain showers so I opted for a shortish route.

Our route started at Clappersgate and followed the path up to Lily Tarn before heading over the tops to the summit. The route back was a slight variation on our outward route.

We had a pleasant walk across the top of the fells and managed to avoid the worst of the weather today by having an early finish. We spent the afternoon doing some last minute "gear" shopping in Ambleside for our upcoming trip to Vietnam.

Saturday 18th October, Scrambling in the wet

Today I am working for Adventure Peaks in the Lakes with Kevin on his two day introduction to scrambling course. Unfortunately the weather is not very kind today, with strong winds and rain, our choice of location's has been dicated by the weather.

I decided to head over to Raven Crag in Yewdale, a Grade 2 *** route, for our first scramble of the day which is a good introduction and not too serious. We practiced movement skills on rock and explored the use of the rope to "protect" your partner before setting off to test these new skills.

After succesfully completing this route we drove to Conniston and headed up Long Crag Buttress, Grade 1***, the rock on this route is almost garbbro like in texture and provided good grip in the wet conditions. It is also a long route and we managed to have some fun working our way up the route.

After decending back to the valley we drove up to Walna Scar road and our next scramble The Bell, Grade 1 **, this is a nice route and after consulting the guide book Kevin lead his first scramble route. By now the weather was improving and we walked up to Levers Water before starting to work our way up the fellside to the start of our final scramble of the day, Great How, the wet rock made this route very slippy in places and we had to move carefully but we had managed to get shelter from the wind.

We stopped for a well earned break just below the summit, and enjoyed the clouds drifting over the fells. When we reached the top the wind was very strong and we opted to drop back down into the valley instead of walking along the ridge to Conniston Old Man. Once we reach the miners tracks it is an easy walk back to the car.

Sunday 12th October, A day of two half's

Today Myra and I headed off to Grasmere for a walk up to Codale Tarn. Our route followed the path beside the beck up to Sour Milk Ghyll and then Easdale Tarn. The cloud base was very low and only just above the Tarn. We followed the path round the tarn before starting the ascent up to Codale in poor visibility.

After a lunch stop at Codale Tarn we headed to the summit of Tarn Crags before descending back down to Easdale Tarn. By now the cloud had lifted and we were enjoying a tea-break by the Tarn when the Mountain Rescue pager went off. Our easy walk was now over and the second half of the day began.

We quickly descended back into Grasmere and drove round to the Langdale Valley where I was dropped off by Myra. The incident turned out to be on Jack’s Rake, a well known scramble on Pavey Ark, and involved a man who had fallen and sustained some nasty head injuries. The casualty was brought to the top of the route on a rope before being taken down on our stretcher to Stickle Tarn. Fortunately the big yellow budgie from RAF Valley arrived just as it was getting dark and airlifted the casualty to Barrow.

We then enjoyed a nice moonlight walk back down to the valley and the New Dungeon Ghyll where we had left the vehicles.

Saturday 11th October, Hadrians Wall

Today I was walking on Hadrian’s Wall with Myra to help her prepare for an overseas trek. We left the car in Greenhead and caught the early morning bus to the National Park visitor centre at Once Brewed. After a quick tour of the exhibition we headed off up hill to join the path along the wall.

It turned out to be a fine Autumn day although it was still wet under foot from the heavy rains of the past few days. We saw relatively few people on the path all day and enjoyed the peace and quiet on this part of the wall.

Sections of the wall are still in good condition and are quite impressive. We made a number of stops along the way to explore some of the forts.

Eventually we descended down a long hill to the remains of Thirwell Castle before a short walk along the river led us back to the local tearoom in Greenhead and the end of our walk

Sunday 28th September, London

Finally arrived back in London at 0630 hours after an overnight flight from Nairobi. Fortunately Heathrow T4 was unusually efficient today and all our bags arrived quickly and in one piece apart from "Monkey" who was last seen in Moshi and rumoured to be possibly going back up Kili with another DA team. We promised to forward it on when it finally gets back to the UK.

We caught the tube into Central London and had a bacon buttie whilst I waited for my onward connection north to the Lakes for a well earned rest.

Saturday 27th September, London via Nairobi

We start our journey back to London later today, some clients spent the day by the pool relaxing whilst others headed into Moshi to do a bit of last minute shopping and bartering with the locals.

Our route home involved a 7 hour stop over in Nairobi before connecting with the overnight flight to Heathrow. Where we had time to catch up with the latest UK football matches live on the big screen. Others decided to sleep.

Friday 25th September, Mweka Gate

We arranged with the porters to make an early start today, for the walk back to the Mweka Gate and our transport back to Moshi. The route involves almost 2000m of descent through varied terrain but mostly now on a good path.

Some of the porters had carried fresh bread, a luxury, up the hill to our camp the previous night along with tins of Baked Beans which became part of our breakfast for the day. Just before we set off to complete our trek the local guides and porters sang to the group with Kilimanjaro as the backdrop.

The terrain we pass through is both interesting and varied and part of the group stopped to watch a group of monkeys in trees very close to the path. Many interesting plants were also observed and eventually our journey ended at the gats of the park.

Before we left the park it was necessary for everyone to complete formalities at the gate to finish our trek and receive our certificate. It was then off to the Glacier Bar for a few beers and lunch. The remainder of the group who had returned to Moshi early re-joined us in the bar for celebrations.

On Saturday evening we all enjoyed our celebration meal in the hotel before returning to Glacier Bar for some entertainment from a local reggae band!!

Thursday 24th September, Uhuru Peak, summit of Kilimanjaro

We awoke just before midnight and quickly got ready for the final ascent to Uhuru Peak, it is a short bumble to the top, approx 5km but with almost 1300m height (equal to a Ben Nevis) to gain, the cold and altitude combine to ensure that everyone will work hard to reach the summit.

A number of other teams set off just before us and we could the line of headlamps zigzaging slowly up the hill in front of us. The route is steep and climbs over two small rocky cliffs then levelling before the final steep climb to Stella Point, at 5700m. The ground under our feet is a mixture of rock and fine frozen scree on the ascent turning to dust on the descent. Walking poles and a good headlamp make progress slightly easier on this ground. The cold caused problems with our water supplies as many of the clients drink bladders and bottles froze on the way up and did not thaw again till long after the sun rose.


Our plan was to arrive at Stella Point as the sun rose at about 0630hrs. We left camp with 21 clients, during the night 2 returned to Barafu suffering from the effects of AMS. It was a bitterly cold night but eventually we arrived at Stella Point and a short time later the sun began to rise behind the silhouette of Mawenzi as the crater and horizon begin to light up before our eyes. It is a wonderful sight that I have enjoyed before and never tire of seeing.




From here we have a short walk around the rim of the crater passing the remains of the Rebmann Glacier to the ultimate top of Uhuru Peak, at 5895m, and a sign post “Africa’s highest point”. After a short stop for pictures and celebrations we made our way back to Barafu camp for a well earned meal and short rest.







Unfortunately we have to move further down the mountain to High Camp to make way in Barufu camp for the next groups. This involved a short downhill bumble of approx 2 hours but it does present the opportunity to buy a few celebration beers when we arrive in the new camp site.

A total of 18 clients out of an original group of 25 made it successfully to Uhuru Peak this morning along with the DA team of Dr. Alice, Simon and myself.

Wednesday 23rd September, Barafu Camp

We awoke in the shadow of the Barranco wall with a heavy frost covering our camp. We began to organise the team for an early departure in an attempt to reach the top of the wall before the support teams set out from camp and made it more difficult.

Although the wall is imposing and looks to be very steep it isn’t difficult to climb and is an easy scramble. The rock face is near vertical in places but a path zigzags its way up the wall avoiding the sheerest faces although it is exposed in places.

One of the clients, Andy, had a restless night worrying about the wall and after a long chat we agreed that I would use a confidence rope to help him through this part of the challenge. He showed amazing strength of character as he fought a real battle to overcome his fear of heights but after approx 1 hour we reached the top of the wall and a well earned rest.

We also used this stop for team pictures as the views of both the mountain and the African plains are stunning from this point.

This is a long day today and we soon were off to our next objective ,the Karanga Valley, the last water source on the mountain before the summit, where we would stop for lunch and gather water. The climb from the valley is steep and during this ascent Jan’s fitness was pushed to the limit and she opted leave us and to take the lower path down to High Camp on the Mweka route.

After lunch the team continued up to hill towards our camp at Barafu Hut, at 4600m, which would be our final camp for the summit attempt. We arrived late afternoon into a rock strewn, windy and desolate camp perched on the edge of the SE valley but with stunning views towards Mawenzi and the broad expanse of the Saddle.

Our summit attempt would start at 2400hrs, so the group prepared kit, had a quick meal and retired to bed for a few hours sleep in this cold hostile camp before the final push.

Tuesday 22nd September, Barranco Hut

Overnight Tom had been ill and he decided to return to Moshi with a local guide. Shortly after leaving camp we had another client, James, take ill who also returned to Moshi. Our plan for the day was to walk up to the Lava Tower, approx 4500m, before dropping back down to Barranco Hut, at 3950m, to spend the evening and help with our acclimatisation.

On the trail we meet another group, some of them had some wonderful hats.

Below: George teaching Howard how to navigate on Kili, follow the signs.

We stopped at the Lava Tower for lunch and a well earned rest. Dr Alice held surgery with a few clients who were beginning to suffer from the effects of altitude sickness.

After lunch we descended down the lush valley, passing large quantities of Senecio and Lobelia to our camp at Barranco Hut. We also got our first views of the imposing 300m high Barranco or Breakfast Wall that we would need to ascend tomorrow morning to continue our journey.

On the final approach to camp, Viv slid on lose stones and badly jarred her back and a previous injury. After an amazing effort by Viv we managed to get her back to camp to rest for the evening whilst we planned her evacuation from the mountain. This is usually a very cold camp and it lived up to expectation with Simon measuring a temp of -7oC in our tent overnight.

Monday 21st September, Shira Caves

Our cooks awoke the group with a cups of hot tea or coffee in the tents. The path has a rather energetic start after yesterday’s steady “bumble” up the track. But we quickly gain a rocky ridge and good views of the peaks at Shira and Meru. Our route crosses the ridge many times and we eventually encounter our first Senecio trees. Shortly after this we stop for lunch cooked by our porters who have walked ahead to prepare our meal.

The lunch stop also attracts the attention of the large white necked ravens who scavenge the area where we have stopped looking for food scraps.

From here the path winds its way slowly across the side of the hill before finally reaching Shira Plateau, at 3840m, and our campsite for the evening. This area of the mountain has many examples of obsidian, a shiny black rock formed by very rapid solidification of lava.

Just before we reached the campsite the weather changed suddenly and a few who “forgot” their waterproofs today got very wet. The campsite offers stunning views over the plains and after a spectacular thunderstorm cleared we enjoyed a meal and watched the views unfolding on the mountain.