Climbing Kilimanjaro - Chapter 1
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What on earth have I let myself in for?
My decision to climb Kilimanjaro was one of those sliding door moments. An unexpected meeting with Christine, who I had met only once before, led to one of those slightly rash and split second decisions that we all make from time to time.
Kilimanjaro hadn’t really been on my bucket list, but I’d seen the Gary Barlow Children in Need programme and it looked like a good challenge. What’s more, I reasoned once committed past the point of no return, I love the mountains, I love being outside all day, it was a great cause (COCO, a charity which supports kids in Tanzania), and a chance to escape the UK in February. Let’s do it!

I had spent a small fortune on a cocktail of injections and pills, and in my bag were items which were novelties to me – strange vitamin drinks, merino wool jumpers, a head torch, hand warmers, a 4 season sleeping bag, socks of every length and thickness and purifying tablets. Also items upon which I did not want to dwell – an industrial supply of baby wipes (to be a poor substitute for washing), antiseptic hand gel, malaria tablets, altitude sickness tablets, an entire range of blister plasters, Diocalm, Dioralyte (thus covering both eventualities), and 36 identical snack bars bought as a job lot (this latter was to prove one of my poorer decisions. What on earth was I thinking that I would want to eat the same thing for every snack?).

I need not have worried. Kathryn was lovely and very down to earth with a good sense of humour. Sharing a tent with me, I knew she would need it.
- Read Climbing Kilimanjaro - Chapter 2
- Read Climbing Kilimanjaro - Chapter 3
- Read Climbing Kilimanjaro - Chapter 4
- Read Climbing Kilimanjaro - Chapter 5
- Read Climbing Kilimanjaro - Chapter 6
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