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Thanks

Scott

Scafell Pike - Sunday 21st March

With less than 4 weeks to go we met up for our last walk at Wasdale Head campsite on Saturday night for camping before walking on the Sunday.

The campsite nestles under the Scafell mountain range at the head of beautiful Wastwater, the deepest lake in England, with its distinctive Nordic character and the pyramidal peak of Great Gable reflected in its waters.

This stunning place is attractive for its remoteness and utter peace, or was until we arrived! The real reason for camping there was not for the beauty though - instead for the fact that England's highest mountain Scafell Pike is within easy walking distance.

Saturday afternoon was gorgeous as you can see - this was the view from our tent.

We went to the pub for dinner, although I have to advise you that if you ever go there, don't go expecting to be able to watch the rugby (it was England v France!) or anything else on the TV as they can't get a signal under the shadow of Scafell Pike. Gutted was the word.....

After a top notch breakfast courtesy of John the hairy biker, a cob grill, Mark's bacon and me, we were off on our way..

The view looking back towards Wastwater just before we started to climb

At the top of the first rise.. these apparitions appeared

Views looking up towards Scafell pike

John posing for his blogger shot..

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Ian and Dave stopped for lunch before the final climb

It was hairy at various times getting to the summit and the trip back down was equally challenging, in hindsght I wonder whether we should have attempted it without the gear but we all came back safe.

It is hard to believe that we are away in less than 4 weeks, but the clock is ticking and this was a good final walk to set us up. The highest mountain in England done, but will it stand us in good stead for one 6 times higher, only time will tell...............

I can see clearly now....

Well that's it - I think I have got the last bit of kit I need - my sunnies for the climb and summit day! It feels a bit like the Marks and Spencers advert - these aren't just any glasses and all that....



Alison and John from On-Spec (www.on-spec.co.uk) sorted me out with some Adidas prescription sunglasses with all sorts of cool things like different lenses and a headband to turn them into a wierd sunglass/goggle hybrid. Just need the sun and this big hill to try them out now!

And if you have ever wanted any, well now you know where to go and tell them I sent you!

If it is good enough for Jack Bauer .........

Did you see 24 last night? Jack was using a laptop identical to the ones Dell donated! Now I am sure it is going to be alright, he is still alive after 7 series!!!!!!!

Songs for the mountain

The summit day (21st April) of the Kilimanjaro climb is up to 16 hours (dependant on a number of factors one being suffering from Acute Mountain Sickness).

As a group we have agreed we won’t use IPODs until this day. But Aaron has suggested we should ask for songs to play on the climb - here is what he has so far - so any suggestions gratefully received..

Ain’t no mountain high enough, by Diana Ross
River Deep Mountain High, by Ike and Tina Turner
Kilimanjaro by Johnny Clegg and Savuka
Down Down, by Status Quo
Stairway to Heaven, by Led Zeppelin's
Move any Mountain, by The Shamen
The only way is up, by YAZZ
Up on the Roof - Kenny Lynch
Reach for the Stars, by S Club Seven
The Climb, by Joe McElderry
Don't Stop me Now, by Queen
500 miles, by the Proclaimers
It's a Long Way to Tipperary
I've looked at clouds from both sides now, by Joni Mitchell
Moving on up, by M-People
Bluberry Hill, by Fats Domino
I'm Walkin, by Fats Domino
Living on the ceiling, by Blancmange
Walking back to happiness, by Helen Shapiro
Cold as Ice, by Foreigner
Don't let the sun go down on me, by Elton John or George Micheal
Knocking on Heaven's Door, by Guns n Roses, or Bob Dylan
Free Fallin, by Tom Petty
I Won’t Back Down, by Tom Petty
Higher Ground, by Red Hot Chilli Peppers
Sometimes you can't make it on your own, by U2
Half the World Away, by Oasis
What a Wonderful World, by Louis Armstrong
I Feel Good, by James Brown
I Can See Clearly Now, by Johnny Nash
Walking On Sunshine, by Katrina and the Waves
What A Feeling, by Irene Cara
Unbreakable, by Bon Jovi
Mountains, by Lonestar
Rocky Mountain High, by John Denver
Climb every mountain by Julie Andrews

Sleeping Bag sorted

A friend has just lent me his sleeping bag and a load of dry bags for the trip, so that hs saved me a couple of quid....Thanks Paul

Plane Tickets arrived today

Got the E Tickets for the flight today, cant believe that it is only 54 days to go....... getting closer slowly but surely.

February Training Walk - Cheviots

Richard was kind enough to take the group on a gentle training walk in the Cheviots today - well when I say gentle turns out it was more than 16 miles.


I couldn't make it but the team tell me they enjoyed it! and they took some photos which I have uploaded here.








The Group at the top of Windy Gyle

A Different type of Training? Bums N Tums.........

So obviously in order to do Kili you need to have a good base level of fitness (Still can't quite believe it is only 6 weeks to go) and I have been trying to get into it with some sessions at the gym. Im doing 3 days at the moment totalling 10 miles running, 5K on the rower and then spinning with my mrs on a Wednesday. Unfortunately last wednesday when we went to spinning the class was full, so after some discussion we went to a "Bums N Tums" class........

After getting over the fact that I was the only bloke in a class full of women (well that wasn't that difficult) I have to say it was one of the hardest classes I have ever done equal to circuits at Lambton street! I have suggested that they change the name from Bum N Tums to something more masculine - so suggestions please......

The Laptops have arrived

I have just received some seriously rugged laptops from Dell to take on the trip - Latitiude E6400 XFRs! Have a look at them! http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop-latitude-xfr-e6400?c=us&l=en&s=hea

Many thanks to the guys at Dell that have sorted it out!

Steve Cram - A Kilimanjaro climber gives us his top 10

Steve Cram was kind enough to come and speak to us all and offer us his top ten tips following his successful climb in November 2009, before he went out to Vancouver to cover the winter olympics. Even better he had climbed the same route as we were going to take - the Machame route and had done it over the same number of days. In Steve's group 28 climbers started and 21 managed to get to the summit.

As well as regailing us with stories of beautiful sunsets and his first meal on Kilimanjaro of chicken and chips cooked by the team, he gave us a really honest account of how hard we would find it and shared some of his top tips.

These included:

• Drinking lots of water and then drinking a bit more
• Take a really good sleeping bag
• Make sure you purify the water
• Keep your water bottle in someone eles bag - so every time you stop you don't have to take your bag off
• Eat Jelly babies!
• Take things to break the monotony - Joke books, quizzes etc
• Celebrate the little things
• Adopt a positive mental attitude (sounds like an advert for lucozade doesn't it)

All the way through Steve reinforced the fact that it was as much about desire to get to the top as opposed to being superfit. Some poor soul on his trip actually managed to get to the top, but on the final day was sick 32 times and was walking for 19hours!!!! We did ask who had counted it - but everyone questioned whether if they were feeling that rough if they would have been able to keep going!.

Finally he showed us a picture of them all at the summit - which made it worth it!

Chair of the Partnership says a few words

Interview by Claire Jones

3rd trip - Langdales - January 16th-17th 2010

Saturday lunchtime saw us heading over to the lakes. The snow still had a good covering and the A69 had just opened that morning.

The drive over was spectacular with even some of the lakes frozen solid!

The original plan was to camp in Wasdale and climb Scafel, but weather had stopped that, so we ended up in Great langdale near to one of the most famous pubs in the lakes The Old Dungeon Ghyll - not a bad location if you ask me!

We arrived half an hour before dark and set about getting the tents put up, have to admit it was certainly the first time I have ever had to break the ice on the floor before I could hammer a tent peg in!

This was the scene and I was certainly worried that my sleeping bag wasn't going to be up to the challenge!

The next problem was that the with the tents up it was only half past four and whilst we thought we had earned it - we couldn't bring ourselves to go to the pub quite yet.

After a brew and checking everyone that had arrived was ok, it was five O'Clock and we decided that it was pub time!

Everyone was very sensible and despite the temptation, no one had a skinful. Personally I was having none of it as I didn't fancy getting up at silly o'clock and skidding all over the place to find the loo! So before 11 everyone headed back.


Home sweet home???

After a cracking breakfast prepared by the hairy bikers and enough tea to banish the chill from overnight, we set off to tackle a low level walk around the langdales and some fabulous scenery and views.

Blea Tarn


Aaron and John - do you like his hat?

So that was it, job done, another 9 miler nailed and after a coffee stop - back home.

Thanks to John for the lift!

Second Trip - Derwent Hill 13th -15th November 2009

The second trip away saw us go to Derwent Hill for the weekend. Derwent hill is owned by Sunderland City Council and they were kind enough to allow us to stay for the weekend.

Further info can be found at www.derwenthill.co.uk/derwenthill/

After arriving on the friday night we had dinner then set out on a night walk from Hawse End back to Derwent Hill, when it proceeded to absolutely lash it down.

Saturday morning dawned with more rain and after a cracking breakfast and some light naps (Chris)




We headed outside to do some orienteering in more rain which was really enjoyable (if very wet)

We then were fortunate enough to have a talk on what we could expect on Kilimanjaro by one of the course instructors who had done it the previous year.



This was really helpful and everyone in the group found something from the presentation and certainly gave us plenty to think about.

After some warmup teambuilding excercises we then went out to "the High Ropes" and set about challenging the Derwent Hill record of 16 milk crates.

Jackie getting ready

Getting a safety briefing before we went to the high ropes course

First view of the ropes


After the safety briefing one aim - get the milk crates higher and higher



Nearly off....



Done record broken!!



Sunday saw us split into 2 groups and we headed out up to Haystacks - final resting place of Wainwright.

Weather was interesting with horizontal rain and sleet and I then decided I needed to invest in some waterproof trousers! Highlight was the flask of hot chocolate on top of Haystacks provided by one of the instructors and it was almost magical when we go to the top, as the rain stopped and the clouds parted for maybe 2 minutes to show us the view.

First walking trip - October 2009

The group met up for the first time in anger back on 4th October to do some training. The first walk we did together was a flat one in the Langdale area, near Ambleside in the Lake District. It was a pleasant route with the opportunity to get to know some of the people who were doing the walk and also an opportunity for people to try out their walking equipment.

These 2 photos are of some of the most popular pubs in langdale - not that we would know.....

The Brittiannia Inn, Elterwater
















The New Dungeon Ghyll

Retrospective Training Information

Well following a meeting at the Berghaus headquarters in September 2009, a series of training (ish) weekends/walks were suggested running up to the climb in April 2010.

In essence we agreed that we should meet roughly once a month - so October, November (December timeoff) January, February and then the last one in March, just before the off.

There was also was a possibility of having one of the weekends at Derwent Hill.

The Sunderland Partnership Kilimanjaro Challenge 2010

In April 2010 a group of 20 people from the Sunderland Partnership (comprising Public, Private and Voluntary Sector Organisations) will be attempting to reach the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. The climb will attempted over a period of seven days from the 16th April - 22nd April.

The climb is a charitable one and myself and 2 colleagues from City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust are supporting The Princess Royal Trust Sunderland Carers' Centre, a charity which offers a confidential advice, information and support service to carers throughout the City of Sunderland.

Half of our money raised will be going to work of the charity which provides:

• Information and advice
• Support and a listening ear
• Support at meetings with health, social services and other agencies
• Carers support groups where carers can meet others in similar situations
• Courses on a range of caring-related subjects
• Social activities to give carers a break
• Newsletters every two months
• Complementary therapies
• Support and activities for young carers
• Opportunities to influence service development

The other half of the money will be going to the Africa Blackwood Conservation Project which is planting trees on the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro to reverse the devestating effects of deforrestation, hopefully mitigating our carbon footprint and leaving it in a better place than it was when we arrived.

All of our personal costs are covered independantly which mean that 100% of your donations go to the charity (even more with gift aid!) donate online at www.justgiving.co.uk/scottelwell