Last weekend I prepared my last visit to the mountain before the Lake district challenge, our training for Kilimanjaro challenge. I visited my brother and his family in Soria, a city located approx. 230km north of Madrid, and I climbed peak Urbión, which crowns the province with its 2228m and where Duero river is born. I spent a great day with my brother and one of my nephews enjoying the climbing and the spectacular glacial landscape, especially the famous and mysterious Laguna Negra (Black Lagoon), which has inspired great works like the poem, “La tierra de Alvargonzález”, by Antonio Machado.

Besides, I also confirmed that Kilimanjaro challenge is more than climbing Kilimanjaro, it is something special that changes your regular life and makes you share the experience with your friends and family. The example was my sister-in-law telling me: we are very happy that you are doing the Kilimanjaro challenge as you came and visit us the weekend for training and we can see you more often than usual! is this not a positive side effect?