Kilimanjaro – Rhiannon’s Story (8 The Final Word)

Finally, thank you for all your support. We put on many events in 2010 and did many different things to raise money for Help For Heroes in the lead up to the main challenge itself. But none of this would have been worth it, or even possible, without the support we’ve received, financially and emotionally, from our friends, families and even strangers who’ve contributed to this great adventure. The day before we left for Africa, we received a great boost in that we’d reached our target of £10,200. We felt on top of the world which, ironically in turn, helped us to get to the top of Africa.

Thanks again for all your support.

And please continue to support Help For Heroes as they really do do some truly great work.

Rhiannon xx

Kilimanjaro – Rhiannon’s Story (7 Nici and Stacey: Friends and Heros)

Without these two it’s safe to say getting up Kilimanjaro would have been far more difficult and really not as fun…

I spent most of my time with both Nici and Stacey who have so much dedication, determination and drive. We laughed a lot on the trip, from trying to work out what Mel and Steve really did to having our pulses taken where they were ridiculously high (I think the laughter there was more nervous laughter though!) to Nici wriggling around in her sleeping bag like a worm to Stacey having to wear ski goggles on the top of Kili despite it not snowing to having a beer and cracking up at how drunk Mel, Steve, Lee and Mark had got themselves when we got down to our last camp! Amongst many other times. We cried a lot together, too. Stacey had a couple of very specific fears on the journey that at times got to her but she was strong, faced up to them and did it. Nici, as she explained, took a big fall that shook her up. I gave her a hug when we were reunited at a break stop and we shared some tears – Nici’s of shock; mine, a few tears of relief that she was ok. And I cried, too. Tears rolling down my cheeks as the pain increased in my knee or as I finally reached the camp after getting to the summit.

But both girls were also with me at very defining moments, too, where again they helped me to get up and down Kilimanjaro.

**You can hear the audio blog here which features a little surprise towards the end or carry on reading below…

Nici and Stacey: Friends and Heros

Kilimanjaro – Rhiannon’s Story (6 The Group)

Meet: Nici and Stacey (obviously two of the 3 Girls, 1 Mountain, 1 Cause who also became Team Viagra members with me and the next two loveable rogues), Steve and Mel (aka our Kili buddies aka Team Viagra) Manisha and Harshil (two love birds who got engaged on Kilimanjaro), Salli and Michaela (mega amazing trekkers), Tommy, Christine, Chris and Neil (the bunch from Liverpool), Guy (who didn’t really like trekking that much!), Pauline (lovely lady from Newcastle), Padraig, Marion, Eva, Emma, Sean, Malachy, Declan (the Irish bunch), Mark and Lee (the Welsh boyos) and Annie (another lovely lady from Swindon of all places… that’s near my hometown!). Plus Simon, Hannah and Will – the Action Challenge Crew – and Emanuel, the lead local guide, with his team of guides and porters. Wow. There were a lot of us!

I always find it quite daunting at first meeting so many new people at once, especially when they’re in their own little groups. But it was fine. In fact, it was brilliant. Each and every single person helped me along the way because everyone was so helpful, thoughtful, caring and encouraging. We were one big team, all with the same aim. But there were some stand out moments from some individuals who made me laugh, feel better, feel like getting to the top was do-able and who were simply just great company.

**You can listen here to the audio blog or carry on reading the rest of the blog below…

The Group

Kilimanjaro – Rhiannon’s Story (5 Will, Assistant Leader)

Will was the assistant guide on Kilimanjaro for Action Challenge. Like Hannah, this was his first time climbing Kili and also his first time doing something like this as a team leader. Will at first was quite quiet. Although I guess it was more the fact that he had quite a big responsibility and this was his first trip of this kind in such a role so probably a bit difficult to know what to expect! But as the days went on, Will came out of his shell. I think I spent more time with Will in pockets of moments on the mountain; he’d pop up every now and then checking how the whole group was doing, spending time with different people to give encouragement. Another member of the team who made you feel reassured and comfortable (well, as reassured and comfortable as you can be half way up a massive mountain!).

**You can listen to the audio blog here or read below…
Will: The assistant Action Challenge guide

Kilimanjaro – Rhiannon’s Story (4 Hannah, The Doctor)

So I’d had a couple of problems getting up, and down, Kilimanjaro. I’d like to have been able to say that I got up and down that mountain without any help at all. But as you’ve heard so far, that’s just not the reality.

**You can listen here to the audio blog about how Hannah, the doctor, helped me get up the mountain or you can continue reading below…

Hannah: The doctor

Kilimanjaro – Rhiannon’s Story (3 Simon, The Leader)

So I’ve already touched on how the local guides helped me in my quest to get up the mountain but no bigger thanks goes to Simon, our Action Challenge leader, for his help on the summit day itself.

**You can listen here to the audio version of the blog with a clip of some of Simon’s inspirational words or you can simply carry on reading…

Simon: The Action Challenge leader

Kilimanjaro – Rhiannon’s Story (2 The Local Guides)

Let me introduce you to some people: Simon, Hannah, Will and Emanuel. Four pretty important people who without their expertise, help, patience, guidance and… funny stories (Hannah, you should write into a magazine with some of the things you’ve come across!) there’s no way I’d have made it up Mount Kilimanjaro. And of course, the local guides and porters, too…

**you can listen here to the blog where there are clips of the songs the porters and guides sang for us or you can carry on reading below…

The Local Guides

Plod. Plod. Plod. “Pole pole!!”. At times I wanted to shout back: “I’ll tell you where to stick that pole”

Kilimanjaro – Rhiannon’s Story (1 Setting the Scene)

Before I get into how I got up the mountain, let me set the scene with the build up to our first day of trekking and getting to Africa itself…

**you can listen to the blog here with a bit of audio from the trek itself or simply continue reading…

Setting the scene…

Kilimanjaro – Rhiannon’s Story (How Did I Get Up That Mountain?!)

It’s been four months since we completed the climb and I’ve been back from Africa for three. I’ve been meaning to get around to writing up my experiences of Kilimanjaro but for so many reasons it hasn’t been the right time. Originally, I was going to write-up everything in the few days after Kili that I had in Tanzania before going on up to Kenya. A stomach bug put a stop to that plan. I then thought I’d have loads of free time in Kenya. Yeah, not so much. And when I did, the internet was so slow that it took an age just to open a page! A new job in December, Christmas and a busy January brings us up to now. February.

The Soppy Part

And so… the end is near…

I hope you’ve enjoyed my write ups of Kilimanjaro.  I hope my long essays of inane waffling (which is my general state of mind anyway) provided some sense of what we went through and how it felt.  I hope that it inspires someone to do this, or to do another big challenge!

I can honestly say that was a life changing experience.  It was, without a shadow of a doubt, the hardest, strangest, most rewarding, most amazing thing I’ve ever done, and I suspect ever will do.  I can’t stop thinking about what to do next, I really, really feel the need for another challenge.  I’m sure my parents will be thrilled to hear that!  Of course, I’ll have to wait a while for my next challenge, for now I need to focus on my “real” life, not to mention to let all those pockets refill that we’ve emptied for the last 6 months!