Market talk

One thing I hope we have time for is to visit the local markets when I'm in Arusha, my base town in Tanzania.  Apart from the fruit and veg market, I'd like to see the one run by the Masai too!  I eat a lot of West African food at home like plantain, okra, yam, fufu, dodo etc and I'd like to see what the east has to offer.

Well, I've had a busy day contacting local newspapers etc and hope to hear back this week for a photo shoot.  Diabetes UK kindly sent me a free T-shirt for the shot - thanks, Hannah!  I also had a good chat with my son's diabetic team at the hospital.  They're super keen to help out!  I'll e-mail them with some ideas.

The WorldPay aspect of the donation site STILL isn't accepting overseas payments - grrr!  I have loads of overseas family and contacts.  That's a biggie for Hannah to sort out!  Why call yourself WorldPay if you really mean UK pay.  Aaaargh!

On the kit front, spotted some reduced price Merino gloves/mit liners in Alnwick.  I might get them at the weekend.

Off to bed to read a couple of old guidebooks I've found on Kili and Tanzania!  Don't forget to comment, or donate!  :o)

Kit coming in and walking buddies

Well, I've made my first purchase for the trek, some Icebreaker longjohns and a top.  These are pure New Zealand Merino wool and act as a base layer to keep me warm.  Bigger news than that, though, is getting a whole bunch of stuff on loan from my mate, Rob.  This includes a top of the range sleeping bag, and a vaiety of clothes from fleeces to gaiters. He's used this kit on high altitude walks in South America and Nepal in the past.  Thanks, Rob!

On another front, my wife, Rexie, and I went to visit another ol' buddy, Tim, in the Lake District this past weekend.  I've known Tim for nearly a quarter of a century.  He, like Rob, is another hiking fanatic having specifically moved to Kendal to have access to the hills when not teaching at a local high school.  His knowledge of the Lakeland fells is enormous, having done well over 100 of the famous Wainwright Walks.  We spent a few hours going over a few routes we might tackle over the coming few months as I begin my preparations.  Tim is particularly good at working out the lengths and difficulties of walks, knowing which ones might mimic, though not in height, some of the Kili sections.

Looking back at my last posting, I see the problem regarding using World Pay on the donation site.  Having corresponded with the charity, they suggest overseas sponsors use the UK post (zip) code NW1 7AA, the charity's own, when completing the form online.  Hopefully, things should then progress smoothly.

And finally, for now, I made a fortuitous purchase at a local secondhand bookstore today.  While hunting through the mountaineering section, I came across a Kili guidebook from 1971!  It was weird hearing that, back then, one might encounter the likes not only of elephants in the rainforest part of the climb, still just about possible, but also black rhino!  These days, you'd have to go 100km to find the nearest one!

At the back of the book, a fold out map shows a much more extensive glacier ring to the top of Kibo, the highest of the three volcanic points on Kili, than is there today.  Indeed, it shows something called the Retzel glacier which no longer exists but nowadays forms part of the scree run that I'll have to negotiate when I push for the summit.  Current thoughts are that the glaciers might be wholly gone in the next 20-30 years :o(

Well, off to contact a few newspapers to get some press for the gym.  I'm also going to try to get through to my local diabetes teams, both here in Northumberland and also where I work in County Durham.  Here's to next time.  Please feel free to donate or comment.  Cheers!  Oh, and btw, the picture is of a Colobus monkey of the sort I'm likely to see in the forest on the first couple of days on the mountain.

More offers, more followers!

First of all, welcome to my latest follower, McMurdo!  Glad to have you on board along with the other two, one in the UK, the other in Oz!!

Above is an image of the route I'm taking up Kili.  Like all the other images, it expands if you click on it!  There are half a dozen routes up, but this is by far the longest.  This is a good thing as it'll give me more time to acclimatise.

Well, overnight another offer of help came in.  An old friend, Rob, who has trekked in Peru and elsewhere around the globe, has offered to lend me whatever bits of kit he has that'll be of use.  One thing that'll save me a small fortune is his 4 season sleeping bag.  His is top of the range and beyond.  The nights get colder as you ascend so this is a real boost!

We had Rob over for supper yesterday evening and spent ages chatting on about Kili and how it compares to, or differs from, some of the climbs he's done.  Like the chap in the hiking shop a couple of days ago, he had a wealth of useful information, pretty much concurring with what the shop assistant said, which is reassuring.

You may have noticed I haven't really mentioned much about training so far...well, that's 'cos I ain't done any, apart from walking our toy poodle, Summer, up the field at the end of our street.  I will get going properly once I've sorted the publicity for the gym but, in the meantime, I'm just going to go for longer and harder walks.  Both Rob from last night and my mate, Tim, in Kendal in the Lake District have suggested I go out with them when I can find the time to go for a day or a weekend's hike.  That'll be good and I'll have the chance to do both summer and winter hikes into the mountains, such as they are on this island we call home.

Off to clean house as we're expecting one of our daughters home with her new boyfriend for a few days.  Oh, and finally, I understand there are problems with using World Pay on the donation website.  I've e-mailed my contact at the charity.  I'll give her a ring from work tomorrow to see what the score is. 

Thanks for reading!  Please feel free to make comments.

Destiny!

You know those days when you get a confirmation that you're on the right track?  Well, today was one of those days for me.  I was in Europe's largest indoor shopping centre, the Metro Centre in Gateshead, when I chanced to go into one of the hiking shops, namely Blacks, and what a good choice that turned out to be!

I was met by one of the salesmen, Jason, who happened to be the deputy manager.  Not only is he ex-army and knew more about every piece of kit than anybody I've ever encountered but, wait for it, he's been up Kili not once but TWICE!  Well, you could've knocked me over with a feather!  I spent ages in the shop chatting on about all sorts of stuff, from insect repellent to fleeces etc, but, just as important to me, he told me loads about the mountain itself from firsthand experience.  It was really good to hear of some of the delights, as well as the perils.  As for kit, he did a great job talking me through the ranges telling me where my money could go, depending on my budget, of course.  The best thing came at the end, though. 

I'd gone out of the shop to grab a cuppa and returned to buy a real bargain, a set of thermal undies (both top and bottom) made of 100% pure New Zealand Merino wool from a firm called Icebreaker.  They're pretty expensive, though this is one of the things you don't want to skimp on as it can get to well below -20 degrees C on top of the mountain, especially when wind chill is taken into account.  With other things, Jason had shown me where I needn't break the bank. 

Having paid up at the till, I was just thanking him when the manager, Dean, came over and handed me a rarity, a card for getting 15% off all purchases!  Knowing that the company would not normally consider an individual for such a discount, and they'd only give stuff away for free to either celebrities or major corporate buyers, it showed they knew I was being serious in my quest. Okay, so they're going to get a good few quid out of me before I leave, but they didn't have to do it, especially as they didn't ask for publicity though, before I go, I think I'll try and get them some in the local media anyway!

So, all in all, a good day's work.  If you haven't made a donation yet, please go to my Diabetes Challenge website if you are able to support me.  Thanks.

Moving 3D image of Lemosho route

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2007/10/26/magazine/20071028_KILIMANJARO_GRAPHIC.html

Here's a link to a great account of a Kili climb done by a New York Times reporter.  There's a great 3D moving image included showing his route (on page 2), the same one I'll be taking - Lemosho.  The poor guy gets quite a bit of altitude sickness. 

As for the picture at the top, I'd be very happy to see that much snow!