83 Days to go

Had some great news today! Reach for a Dream has (finally) agreed to let me raise some money for them with the climb. I have been waiting for this permission before I can get the word out that I will be climbing to the highest point in Africa. I have fulfilled some dreams for them over the last two years (go here to have a look http://www.richardmulvey.com/content/view/137/81/) and as it has been my dream to do this climb for seven years it is entirely appropriate to combine my dream with some of theirs and raise money while I am climbing. The target I set myself is R100,000. This will be challenging now but I am sure I can do it with a little help from the local media. (With a bit of luck)

86 days to go

We left early this morning for Kloof Gorge and had our hardest walk by far. Six hours up and down the side of the Gorge was great exercise and I am beginning to feel as if we are getting fit enough to make it to the top of Kilimanjaro. The map we had wasn't very good (at least, that’s my story and I am sticking to it) and we came out of the reserve too early. We (I) must have missed a path earlier on and we were not in the mood to back track and find our (my) mistake so we walked around Kloof for a while looking lost until a friendly local (who happened to be a long standing customer) took pity on us and offered to drive us back to the car. (Thanks Robert).

Despite the mistake we had a good day and I was exhausted by the time we got back home

87 Days to go

Great News.... John has decided to come with us up the mountain. He has the stamina and he is a good friend so I am sure he will add to the event. We had a good walk through the Virginia Bush today. Tried some of the new twists and turns and found a lovely picnic spot that I am sure is a great place for lovers... Oh to be young again! John led the way and he will have to learn to slow down his pace. He is a fast walker and that will not do on Kili. We went shopping for him this morning and bought boots, a rucksack and walking poles. R3,500. I think he was a bit surprised! Oh well... you don't want to get to the top and realise that you should have bought better boots.

We still have a lot of purchases to make but we are leaving the clothing until we have found out more from the people who have done it.

At the bottom the weather seems to be warm and maybe wet, so that will be easy to dress for with a waterproof something to cover it all. The best advice for the top (where the temp can get as low as -25C apparently) seems to be four layers on the top (Thermal vest, t-shirt (not cotton) fleece and waterproof jacket with hood) and three on the bottom (Thermal pants, fleece and waterproof pants). Most of all we will need flexibility as the weather can change instantly.

We are still waiting on “Reach for a Dream” to see if they will allow us to raise funds for them and Geoff to see if he is joining us.

Off to Kloof Gorge tomorrow. We really battled to do that walk two months ago so it will be really interesting to see if we are fitter now.

101 Days to go

We discovered Shongweni Dam and Reserve this weekend. What a lovely place! We arrived, put on all our kit and made for the only hiking trail in the reserve only to discover that it had been closed. There are a few paths we could have taken to start the walk so we decided that we had taken another path and had not seen the notice! :-)

The walk only took 2 hours but it is most beautiful and rewarding.

We had plenty of time when we arrived back at the camp so rather than do the trail again we walked to the dam and back. This proved to be more draining than the trail but just as rewarding.

104 Days to go

We have just had a wonderful weekend at Giants Castle. The weather looked really bad all week and we couldn’t decide whether to go or not. Right up until Saturday morning we were still undecided. But we left anyway. It was raining in Durban but it cleared up on the way which was promising. Michaela came with us as we had decided to stay over and get in two days walking up the mountains.

At Giants we put on all our kit and set out for Meander Hut and Beacon Ridge. Within 2 minutes this walk gets very steep for about 30 minutes and you wonder if you have made the right decision, however it levels out and after that the views are spectacular.

The walk is about 15km and it took us about 4 hours with a break at the Beacon for a snack. Michaela was skipping ahead all the time. How does she do that?

It didn’t rain until we were just about back at the camp.

That evening we spent at White Mountain resort which was fun. Although the beds were hard we all slept until 08:00 on Sunday.

The morning climb included the caves and the river walk. Nice, but not mind blowing.

We are worried that we won’t be getting enough time to exercise in November. I am away for a lot of that month so we will have to be careful to walk when we can.

108 Days to go

Monday evening walking is always a challenge. After a hard day at work and school to worry about tomorrow there is never enough time. It was raining at 17:00 as well so the temptation to give it a miss is strong. We didn't give in however, and had a good 90 minute walk (about 7 km) in a circle around Durban North.

We are still doing a lot of reading about the climb and trying to make decisions. The main one at the moment is whether to take tablets to avoid Altitude Sickness. There seem to be two problems:

1. The best way to avoid altitude sickness is to drink plenty of water. Four litres a day seems to be the optimum. On the other hand the tablets seem to be diuretic, taking water out of the body which defeats the object.
2. The other reason to be concerned seems to be that the tablets seem to hide the symptoms, but if you don't know feel the symptoms how will you know if you have a problem?

The symptoms to watch out for seem to be: headache, nausea, dizziness, and difficulty sleeping, and are aggravated by not drinking enough water, drinking any alcohol, cold weather and climbing too high too quickly. I think we had better get some tablets (Diomax) and give them a go.

109 Days to go

We were up at 05:45 this morning and we drove half way to the Drakensburg today only to be driven back by the weather. I don’t mind rain but knowing that it would be wet and muddy kinda put us off the whole idea.

Back in Durban an hour later we drove to Umhlanga Rocks and walked two and a half hours on the Lagoon walk and then onto the beach before the rain sent us back.

Actually had a great day and having Michaela with us helped to make it even better. We saw a tiny deer on the path the size of a cat (Sheila called it a Piete Buck and who am I to argue) He was very friendly and didn’t mind having his picture taken.


We have started to investigate the equipment we will need. The boots we were using, although comfortable, were not good enough so we had to buy the real thing (R1200.00 each). Typically they are less comfortable than the R300.00 pair but these will last at least until the end of the climb in January at least. They are welded rather than sewn so there is no chance of letting in any water. The rest of the gear will be about R8,000 each I think, so I just have to get a couple of extra speaking engagements over the next three months to pay for them.

110 Days to go

Just did 2 hours walking around Virginia Bush today. I love that walk and being so close to home is a great attraction. There are a lot of flowers around as we walk. I will put a few on here when I see them.

We will need to go father tomorrow and we are planning to take Michaela to the Drakensburg early and get in a good 6 hour walk. The movie below is just a little snipit of Virginia Bush

115 days to go

Discovered a great walk today. We went to Giants Castle in the Drakensburg and walked to “World’s View” 5 Hours (14km). The weather wasn’t great but the walk was very exhilarating with fantastic panoramic views and plenty of flora and fauna to keep us interested. We are getting a lot fitter now and I am sure we will make the main climb. Reading the other Kili climbers Altitude Sickness is the main thing to worry about and it will be difficult to know if that will affect us or not. We will need to get to higher altitudes in our training soon.

This picture shows where we were going to end up on the walk. We didn't know that when we started of course!

129 Days to Go

Monday is not a good time to get away to train. by the end of the working day there is food to cook and children to look after, but we got in a 2 hour walk (8km) around the area, and both came back exhausted. I have just looked at the Photo on the previous entry... I expect we will look more the part in 130 days, especially if we keep up this level of training.

The trip is paid for now so there is no going back. Reading some of the other blogs from people who have done the assent it seems really tough but really worthwhile. We will see.... (Watch this space).

I have decided to raise funds for Reach for a Dream with this trip. I should at least raise R100,000 if I put some effort into it.

130 Days to go

Had a great walk today. We, of course, had the parental duties to perform as well so we didn’t go far, but we did find a great walk on our doorstep. Just 5 minutes walk from our house lays “Virginia Bush”. I have known it is there for the 14 years we have been in the area but I have never visited the place. Today we went for a fascinating walk in the bush which was both tiring and interesting – just what we need. The place is amazing and will certainly be an attractive 2 hour walk in the future. Apart from anything else it was totally empty. You get the feeling of being a hundred miles from anywhere deep in the bush, but just 5 minutes from home. Great!

We are both getting fitter – I can feel it, and tomorrow is the day when I pay for the trip, so there is no going back after that.

131 Days to go

After Kloof last week, we didn't find time to walk at all during the week and only managed 7 km today. We Dropped Michaela off at school to play Soccer and took 90 minutes to walk 7km in a round trip from the school, over the hill in Umhlanga Rocks Drive and down nearly to the Mall before walking back up to the school. It was a fast walk but enjoyable none the less. Tomorrow we will need to do something more strenuous.

I have found some pictures on Kilimanjaro that I will post on the side of this blog. They show the receeding snowline. This is the reason I need to do this now. When Michaela wants to climb Kilimanjaro there probably wont be any snow on top.

137 Days to Go

We have started to train in ernest now. For the last couple of weeks we have been walking 3 times a week but we will need to move on if we are going to be fit enough to do the climb.

We drove up to Kloof and walked the Yellow Route on Kloof George. This was particularily draining, especially the hard climb on the way back. This really focuses the mind, and makes you wonder how hard the Kili Climb will be. I have no fear of the actually walk. I know it will be hard and I will wonder on the way up why I do these things to me body, but I think that the altitude will be the real risk.

Sheila has been doing a lot more reading up about the climb than I have. She tells me that 10 people each year die trying to climb the Kilimanjaro. Strangely this news excits me. This means that the walk isn't just a "walk in the park", and it will be tough.

138 Days to go

Finally decided to take the plunge and Climb Kilimanjaro, the highest point in Africa.

Interestingly the few people I have told about this have all, without exception, asked "Why?" and I have yet to come up with a good answer. Of course "Because it's there" seems to put them off asking more questions, but in truth I am not quite sure. I have been talking about this climb for 7 years but there has never been a time where all the factors came together. Now I have discovered that there may not be snow on the top of the mountain in a few years so now is the time I guess.

It’s more than that though. I need a challenge. I haven’t done anything that stretches me for years, and now is the time to explore.