My Story
As Debbie and I approach 60, have our first grandchild on the way very soon and triggered by the fact we are planning the holiday of a lifetime in Tanzania, including a little hike up part of Kilimanjaro, we sat down and thought about how we could use that as an opportunity to help others. As a Freemason's wife in the Province of Surrey Debbie has always assisted me in organising events and raising funds for charity, so I said "Let's go all the way to the top of Kilimanjaro and raise money for charity". With the help of our daughter in Tanzania we have decided that we should hike for 7 days up Kilimanjaro. Beating the fitness and altitude issue at nearly 60 seems a bit of a challenge but there again I like a challenge and Debbie will not be beaten, and it is nothing to what people have to go through to face up to cancer, so that was it! We will do our upmost to do it and hopefully raise as much money as possible. The training has just started along with the shopping for equipment and the hiking package is being totally researched and refined, so we are on our way to our target. We have even got the dog in training! We intend to let you all have a laugh with our updates and progress and will post pictures on here showing our challenges along the way. Well, when i say training had started I think that was wishful thinking! January as usual for me is a bit of a write off, but so has February and March been except for the occasional walk around Bookham Common, where we managed to find some hills! So on to April and into serious training, well more Bookham Common and a couple of the old Bookham 10K run route, which we extended to nearly 12K and still call it the Bookham 10k, yes logical but confusing I know, This become our once a week treat, usually on a Sunday morning, if I could manage to get Debbie up! Having cracked this and got our time down to just over two hours for just under 12K we thought the training was going well. This routine carried on through May, with the occasional walk in the evenings, where time permitted, and we thought we would take on the challenge of three days in Snowdonia after we visited Cornwall for a long weekend and some cliff walking. We have always loved Cornwall and there are some very special memories for us both down there, and one special person we always have to say high to in Coverack, as my sisters spirit, lives on there after fighting her battle with cancer. If only we could have found a cue in time. Love you Ross. So early June we set off for a long weekend in Wales, after a four hour drive we arrived at a site for a couple of hours walking. All going well at this stage, it was a lovely day and very pleasant for walking. Someone then decided that as we did the walk quickly, we had plenty of reserves and time to do a second walk that day. Fool!!!! After three more hours, a lovely long climb, and a clamber over the shores of a lake, because my dear wife wanted to see two lakes that day, we had done the first day and headed off to find our B&B. By this time we were shattered and both decided that we needed a beer. Great little b&B though. I will put the name in here when I get it from the Boss. Very pleasant evening meal with Rob and Ella and discussions around what route we would take up Snowdon the next day. Well, it was decided that we needed a challenge and we set off on the Rhyd Ddu trail next morning, and yes it was a challenge! We picked the hottest day of the year to do this and it was tough. After seven ad a half hours and nearly 18K of hiking we got back to the car, well Rob ran ahead 2.5K and pick the car up for us other wise we were not going to get in to the restaurant!. We were both very tired but me more so. It was only after the third glass of refreshment I suddenly realised that I had not been to the loo all day and was seriously dehydrated, even though we had taken three liters of water for the too of us. Not very good I know but it just shows how hot and tough I found the climb. Ella and Rob said they were fine, but I found out a few days later that they had been telling others that their legs had ached for two days after as well, at least my legs did not ache due to the training before. As for Debbie, well she was quite quite and slept like a log! On our last day my wife decided we should do another relaxing walk to get rid of any stiffness in our legs! A nice 3.5 hour trek. Yes there is a big difference between a walk, a hike and a trek, progressively harder. Anyway I set of in good faith Debbie taking the leading duties, as everyone knows she does like to take control. All was going well and we got to the highest point about 780 meters, in about 1.5 hours. The rest of the walk and coming down was quite different. Of course we had maps and a compass, but the Trek magazine was telling us something different according to Debbie. As you know if it is in black and white it must be true. I had two issue with this as there were no paths to follow and when I looked at the map we were going to have to abseil down the sheer drop! So after a discussion I took the map and compass. 3 Hours later we were back at the car after a moderate challenging trek. Then a five and half hour drive back home through the rain. I drove and someone slept for three hours, We did get home safe though after a lovely weekend, but with some serious thinking about how much more we needed to push ourselves in serious training. So mid June arrived and went and last week in June we started our serious training with the house now a gym and walking as well. I am sure I am going to be the fittest I have been for years when we return from this holiday! JUST over a week to go now before we leave and we are just off for another Bookham 10K (12K)!!! More as we go! We are determined to crack this challenge of a lifetime and we hope you will fight it with us. Thanks for taking the time to visit our fundraising page. Cancer is happening right now, which is why we are fundraising right now for Cancer Research UK. There’s no time to lose! Donate to our page today and help bring forward the day when all cancers can be cured or at least managed.
