I’m sitting in my tent in a torrential downpour. The guides got us up and off early to try to get to camp before this hit. We walked mostly dry but did get our wet weather gear out for the first time today. The surroundings are like strange moorland. It’s beautiful and I really enjoyed walking today – even in the rain. I’m not talking much and Chema told me to take smaller steps – which has really helped with the altitude. I feel fine – the air is thin and you have to move slowly but I have no headache or sickness.

Yesterday in camp we had the most amazing experience when after arriving surrounded in cloud and huddling in our tents and the clouds cleared and we say Kilimanjaro in all it’s glory – up and close for the first time! This was the most amazing experience for all of us – especially Juan who had missed seeing Kili in the distance from our lodge.

We say enormous crow-like birds in camp and sweet little birds looking for scraps. We haven’t seen another group this entire trip and have the camps to ourselves which is really special.

Last night at dinner we were all in high spirits and had an absolute hoot! Even though some had headaches and not fully 100% our general 1-10 scores were good – much better than night 1. Without going into detail we had a hilarious round having to say our roll call number, our tent number and our 1-10 feeling number. Some got mixed up – some offered up their tents – and a very very funny night.

The difficult bits for me have been unexpected. Not the walking – every day I have felt I could walk much much further. I have not wished for breaks or to reach camp – very different to how I felt in the Three Peaks. I have felt quite comfy in my tent and so no problem being on the ground in the tent – maybe a little cold sometimes. It is the not sleeping that is getting to me. I am so so tired but have just not been bale to sleep. And the rain is torrential and goes on and on. The stops then starts, then thunder, then lightning. I didn’t sleep at all on night one and only a few hours last night between 3am and 5am. But despite that I feel able to function and have fully enjoyed the walking.

I am borrowing an extra sleeping bag liner from Martin tonight and ear-plugs from Keris to see if that helps. Fingers crossed! And thanks to Jan for a watch last night – it was awful on night one and not knowing how long until morning.

But despite the lack of sleep and the rain, I am really loving this amazing experience. It’s a total adventure, the changing scenery is strange and spectacular and there is always someone watching your back.

Big shout outs to all the guides, porters and chefs that I have got to know so far but may not be spelling their names correctly. Whitey, our head guide, who calls me Precious Pippa. Ettonay and Chunga and other guides – along with main man Julio. Manuel who is my main man on tent 14 and always greets me with a smile and makes sure I’m up in time. And vincent and Elli who manage to create amazing hot food from a tiny space.

The weather still guides what we do for the rest of the day – an aclimatisating walk if it’s dry – or maybe just resting if it’s not. Big day tomorrow – so we need all the energy we can get!

Pippa 🙂