Peak District – Kinder Scout.......

Kinder Scout may not have ascents that make your legs scream in and it doesn’t have the kind of drops that will make your heart pound and your knees tremble.

It does have a vast summit plateau that can only be crossed by negotiating your way through the channels and gullies between the peat hags that cover it and as the site of the Mass Trespass in 1932 it has a history that resonates to this day in the Access and Rights of Way that are enshrined in law as a result.

It's another beautiful part of our country with a cracking days walking which can become something quite spectacular IF the weather behaves......

Kinder Scout and Edale from Mam Tor

  

 

Morning Mist in the  Edale Valley.

 

Ringing Roger, which neither rings and or answer to Roger!

Negotiating our way through the peat hags that cover the Kinder Scout Plateau.

The view from Kinder Downfall.

 

Barren, desolate, must be Kinder Low.

What’s the only mature thing to do at a trig point, climb on it and strike a silly pose of course!

Never work with Children or Animals!

 

Admiring the view from Crowden Tower.

A glorious sunset to round off a cracking day.

Peak District – Dovedale.........

There’s only 20 days to go and so before it all starts getting a bit serious I’ve got a bit of a photofest for you from my latest (and last) training trip!

I‘ve always wanted to visit Dovedale with its Chocolate Box landscapes and in the summer the valley is crawling with hordes (and hordes) of visitors.  

So although I knew it wouldn’t be looking its best on a chilly Friday in mid January but even so the scenery was still achingly beautiful and I was very grateful to be away from the crowds.

Beats being in the office.

Looking down the Dovedale valley.

 .

Well I know there hasn’t been any heavy rain in Essex

Lottie looking less than impressed at being left behind.

Lots of caves but no hidden treasure (but we checked anyway)

There are some moments that simply take your breath away.  

I first watched this Heron, flying in almost complete silence for about 30 seconds, following the line of the river perfectly.

We found him again on our way back which is when I managed to get this pic!

The changes between light and shade as the valley twists and turns were breathtaking.

On the way up to Thorpe Cloud, Lottie in her usual spot, up ahead and waiting for me to catch up.

She wasn’t  too sure about the stepping stones though!

 But she soon got the hang of it.

Eat Less, Move More…….

In the last few weeks I’ve received some fantastic compliments about how much weight I have lost which over the last four years has adds up to over 80lbs (almost 6 stone).

After asking how much the next question is almost inevitably “How?”

I’d spent years kidding myself that I didn’t mind being the biggest person I knew, that I didn’t have time to get fit or have the money to eat healthily (even though there was plenty of time to watch TV and enough money to buy pizza, chocolate and ice cream).

The truth was I hated it, I hated the way I looked, I hated the way I felt but most of all I hated the compromises I had forced myself to accept and it wasn’t until I was able to admit this to myself that I was in a position to do something about it.

Previous attempts had been all about the big gestures, fad diets and programmes changing reigned supreme and inevitable fell flat on their face.

This time I realised that if it was going to work, if I was going to lose the weight (and keep it off) I had to do something different.

I started looking for small things that I could change, things that on their own wouldn’t make much difference but together would add up to make a significant change.

Over the next 18 months I started choosing diet drinks and cutting chocolate from my lunch, made subtle changes to our dinners at home and started walking (then running) further and more frequently.

As a rule I stuck to one change at a time, waiting until it had become habit before making the next. 

At times it was desperately frustrating and I wondered why I was bothering but I tracked my progress throughout so even when I couldn’t feel any change I had the numbers to fall back on.

Now those changes that seemed so difficult have become routine and the changes that felt so pointless have added up to so much more than the sum of their parts.

And the difference is clear…….

I now struggle to climb mountains instead of a flight of stairs!

November 2007

August 2011



Prior Planning and Preparation…….

It’s now just a month until I’ll be stepping off the plane and catching my first glimpse of the Kilimanjaro and Mt Meru and over the last few weeks the logistics have really started coming together.

My passport now boasts a Tanzanian Visa (complete with a shiny holographic representation of (Kilimanjaro) and my arm is being punctured on a regular basis to ensure that I return with no more than photographs and happy memories.

The pile of new kit grows ever larger and I’m pretty sure the days are numbered where I can use the trek as an excuse to indulge what is becoming an outdoor gear fetish!

So with everything else going so well it’s perhaps inevitable that my training has taken a nose dive!

Whilst ambitious, I have also tried to be realistic with my training plan and always knew that it would be difficult to maintain over the Christmas period.

What I wasn’t expecting for was having broken the routine, just how hard it would be to get going again in the New Year.

I could provide any number of excuses to do with the weather/work//illness (delete as appropriate) but the simple truth was my motivation had taken a nosedive and I simply couldn’t be bothered!

However the harsh reality is the mountains aren’t going anywhere and they’re not getting any smaller, so the time to stop making excuses and get the training back on track because it’s the best way I know to……..

Prevent Piss Poor Performance!

Sometimes Ignorance Really Is Bliss…….

This week I’ve been to the doctors to arrange my travel vaccinations and the nurse practitioner there was extremely helpful and gave me lots of helpful information:

Malaria – Apparently the cheaper of the two treatments has been known to be hallucinogenic (which surprises me as I would have thought a lot of people would pay more), it may have been the way my eyes lit up but she quickly recommend the more expensive option for me!

Rabies – Costs a whopping £150 and the good news is that it is widely available through Africa. The bad news is this doesn’t actually matter because if bitten the stuff used for treatment isn’t so you have a maximum of 7 days to get somewhere where it is (i.e. HOME)!

Yellow Fever – Apparently not necessary however the Tanzanian officials may or may not let you in the country without it largely depending on which side of bed they got out of that morning. 

If necessary there may get the option of getting this vaccination on arrival but there’s a chance it will be administered with a rusty needle that has already been in a dozen other arms and given the prevalence of blood borne diseases (Hepatitis & HIV amongst others) in that part of the world it’s probably better avoided!

So whereas I’d started out the visit with no significant concerns I’m now convinced that I’m going to return needing urgent medical attention following an attack by a rabid monkey that was attracted by the gangrenous stench coming from the wound in my arm due to a vaccination I didn’t actually need!

Still with any luck it won’t really matter because I’ll be convinced that I’m being treated in a hospital made from gingerbread with the Sugar Plum Fairies for Nurses!

In (cyber)Space, No One Can Hear You Scream…….

There are times when my mind wanders and manages to find all manner of bizarre situations for me to worry about.

Often these are easily brushed aside but occasionally they are camouflaged by a shroud of plausibility and so this week I’ve found myself panicking over lost luggage.

Normally it’s not something I would spend a lot of time fretting about but this time everything I’m taking will have a very specific purpose and if lost there will be virtually no time (or shops) in which I could replace it.

So I found myself on the internet trying to establish just how likely it would be that both my luggage and me would make the same connection between flights in Nairobi.

And needless to say that was a mistake!

You see virtually no one goes onto the internet to comment on how their luggage arrived OK, or that their flight departed and arrived exactly on time, or how every member of airline/airport staff they encountered were friendly and helpful!

By the time I had spent the rest of my lunch break reading an array of horror stories about people that had lost luggage/valuables/relatives whilst travelling to Kilimanjaro my initial concern was bordering on a full blown panic attack!

Then the voice of reason kicked in (admittedly not mine) and helped me remember not to believe everything you read on the internet.

And as my breathing returned to normal I smiled and thanked them, all the while wondering just how many clothes I can wear on the Airplane!

Keep Calm and Carry On…….

Firstly belated Merry Christmas, I hope Santa was very kind to you all, he brought me a map of Kilimanjaro and possibly the last remaining guide book that I haven’t (yet ) spent hours scrutinising every detail.

I’m really not sure what happened this year, one minute Christmas felt like it was a very long time away, then suddenly there was complete panic as we ran about trying to get everything sorted in time.

Now that Christmas has flashed by and we hurtle towards the New Year, Mount Meru and Kilimanjaro are looming larger than ever as I start to count weeks instead of the months, and I’ve little doubt that in no time at all that I’ll be down to counting the days.

And there still feels like there’s so much to do!

There’s kit that needs buying (well perhaps not but it’s too good an excuse to miss), Insurance and visas to arrange and immunisations to check and of course the other couple of dozen things that I’m forgetting right now.

And somewhere amidst all this there’s training that I need to get back on track (yes it did lapse over Christmas and no, let’s not talk about the diet) and the small matter of sponsorship that needs to be raised.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I know that I’ve got everything under control and there’s still plenty of time to get it all sorted so for now I just need to do as the slogan says.