Just over two weeks ago, I experienced the most unusual Monday morning “at the office” of my life, standing on the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.  This was the culmination of a very long journey, from the initial application in 2018 to confirmation of dates in early 2019 to 5 days of slow, steady plodding through rainforest, moorland and Alpine desert to reach the roof of Africa.  A few days later, sitting enjoying breakfast at the hotel in Moshi after a couple of wonderful hot showers and a night sleeping in a proper bed, Pippa asked me to pick a magic moment.  What an impossible question to answer – I had lived months of magic moments!

The trip to Tanzania, with its extraordinarily beautiful and ever-changing landscapes was, of course, a highlight.  Despite the challenges of altitude and sleeping under canvas, spending 7 days living for the moment, disconnected from the day-to-day, and savouring all that Kilimanjaro had to offer was life-changing.

It is, however, the spirit of Ubuntu which I will treasure always.  Without the support of my friends, family and colleagues, I would never have got out of the starting blocks – the messages of support and encouragement; the enthusiastic participation in training hikes; the generous donations of time, money, unwanted books and items for fundraisers, baking, knitting, giving up smoking – all have meant such a lot to me.

Then there was the support of Autovista and especially the People & Performance team, guiding us through the process from start to finish and ensuring that everything ran seamlessly.

Mike and Christine were hugely helpful, literally guiding us every step of the way with wise counsel and tips, even when they were suffering the effects of altitude themselves.  And the local Tanzanian guides and porters  were true heroes, doing the hardest work carrying us and our gear up the mountain with a humbling generosity of spirit and joie de vivre.  Their exuberant singing and dancing brought tears to my eyes (which leaked a lot anyway :)) and I am sure I would still be descending from Gilman’s Point without them!

And lastly, my team mates – Ana, Ernesto, James Kati, Paul, Paul, Rickkie, Robert, Rodri, Rolf and Kirstin – thank you for sharing this incredible journey with me.  I am, because we are.  I stumbled my way to standing at Uhuru peak, thanks to you.  Here’s to the next adventure …..