Day 8: To The Summit of Kilimanjaro!

By Bethany Ansell

They did it!! They climbed all the way to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro at 5895m and here they are flying the Dorset flag looking suitably chuffed.

Huge congratulations are in order to The Lucky 13 for all they have achieved on behalf of The Steve Charles Help a Friend Fund.

Unfortunately our lovely Donna had to stay at Barafu Camp because she was hit with altitude sickness. When this happens, for health and safety reasons, climbers are advised to stay at a lower altitude.

We are gutted for you Donna but you still reached 4600m - which is near as dammit! The rest of the climbers rejoined Donna at Barafu Camp this morning for a rest and they are all now on their way to Mweka camp at 3100m for their last night on the mountain.

They will have a traditional Tanzanian meal for dinner tonight and a chance to say what I imagine will be an emotional goodbye to their guides from Private Expeditions, before heading back to the hotel tomorrow.

So they reached the top - all but one, who with altitude sickness was overcome (you can have that one Alistair Chisholm if you're reading this).

Please join me in congratulating all 13 of our climbers for such a tremendously epic effort!

http://www.justgiving.com/schaff

Saturday Morning Training Walk

By Lee Burton

Saturday morning. A small group of the team met at our house to start a training warm up of bacon and sausage sarnies. Tommy was in need, after all he had a Friday night with a few drinks clearly forgetting his age. Then the four of us - Tommy, Jack, Jaime and moi, set off on a more gentle but longer round robin around Dorset. Not hitting the altitude but making sure we put miles and hours on our feet.

A few hills thrown in for good measure but none good enough for Sir Daniels who continued to chunter on his way around. The weather was excellent, better than expected. 3 hours, 10.5 miles and plenty of banter all the way around with each individual being systematically bullied through one form or another. I think I won the overall Jaime 'F-off' requests.

Tommy managed to pass all three of his shirt front sponsors on the trip so they know they are getting value for money and he is putting his miles in.

Rounded off with a cuppa on our patio and some forward planning.

Until the next walk.

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