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.