My stroll up Mt Kenya...

Surprisingly- it didn't feel like much more than a stroll! I was really surprised by my ability to climb the nearly 5000m peak on Mt Kenya, especially considering the previous two unenergetic months.

DAY 1; on meeting Simon in the morning of the first day- he informs me that he has, last minute, had to take on guiding an English school group of 25 children- and would I like to join them. Well, I didn't seem to have much choice in the matter, and anyway I thought it would be nice to have some company up the mountain. Within the first 1/2 hour, I realised there was no way I was walking to the top with these kids! All 25 had to walk in a group and everytime one wanted a drink, to put on extra clothing, have a moan, a cry or seek attention- everyone had to stop! Can you sense my frustration?

DAY 2; I managed to persuade Simon to let me walk with my porter, James from day 2 on. James was 22 and carried my backpack full of stuff- mine and his clothes, stoves, food, and much more. The landscape on the second day could have been in the Scottish Highlands- heathers and rivers crossing undulating hills. But that evening we reached Shipton's Camp (4200m) which is located at a truely impressive spot under the rock peaks of Batian and Nelion (see photo, Point Lenana is the most very right peak). The camps were far nicer than I expected. I had accommodation in the dormitories, which I was glad of as it snowed that evening, and would have been freezing in the tents. The porters/cooks continually supplied me with hot tea and biscuits and huge mounds of food for dinner.

DAY 3; was just an acclimatisation day around Shipton's Camp, and a leisurely afternoon admiring the scenery.

DAY 4; "The bigg'n!" We set off at 3am in the dark with only the light of the thousand stars (and our headtorches!). It was really surreal to plod "pole pole" (slowly slowly) up the mountain. In fact, I swear that I wasn't really awake, but half dreaming in an oddly transitional walking motion. We made it to Point Lenana (4995m) in time to see the sunrise, which had been brewing for the last 1/2 hour or so as a sharp scarlet band above the cloud line. Unfortunately, and much to Dad's annoyance- I was far too cold to take much care about my photographs because there was no way I was taking my hands out of their gloves to fiddle with the settings. The cold was the only thing that made me realise the severity of the trek, because other than that I had absolutely no symptoms of altitude sickness, not even breathlessness at the top, although many others did. It was a long 9 hour walk down from the top to Met Station, through dramatically changing landscape and vegetation, ending up in true misty humid rainforest.

DAY 5; the final 2 hours to the gate was an easy walk along a mud track. I had been briefed to drop my pack and be ready to sprint in the opposite direction if we were to come across a dangerous animal (including cheetah, leopard and elephants). At one point we saw two buffalo 50m away from us. James took a yellow plastic container and sprinted towards them banging it and screaming trying to scare them. For a moment they simply looked a little bewildered and then moped off into the forest.

It was a really enjoyable few days and a fantastic highlight to finish the trip.