My body just loves to wake up at 6:30am these days! It was so cold last night; I ended up putting Parker's sleeping bag over me for extra warmth as she didn't return from the other tent. I woke up relatiely warm, but it wasn't long before I was cold again. The conservation of heat within a sleeping bag is amazing, until you HAVE to get out of it! Breakfast was the same as yesterday, I ate even more porridge than yesterday, believing that it will gear me up for our trek today. The pasta gave me a dodgy stomach this morning; not what I need when i'm half way up a Mountain, but just one of those things you have to get on with

Our hike started at 8:30am and it was straight up hill, although it was no where near as difficult as yesterday's incline. Today is segment 4, the upland; there are a fair few rocks and a lot of baran land. The rocks are black and look volcanic, although the volcanic aspect of Kilimanjaro is dormant. We had four hours of incline this morning, but it was fun and easy; it was a small increase from 3800m to 4600m. Chelsea, the Canadian we met at the gates joined our group as her Mum was struggling to breathe at camp and took a car journey back down the mountain. She's a nice girl, but loves to be centre of attention, asking annoying questions and making stupid remarks. She latched on to Drew; he likes to walk ahead, which meant she walked ahead and he kept her occupied. She kept saying how her Mum had been annoying her as she was walking too slow, kept stopping, kept moaning and crying; but we all said that her Mum did remarkably well to get as far as she did. I couldn't imagine my parents attempting to climb Kilimanjaro!

Today has been my favourite day so far, the incline was really enjoyable. The sun was shining and the fog had lifted. It was the first day we could actually see and take in our surroundings. We had a fantastic view of Kilimanjaro until the clouds decide to hide it away from us! Any tough parts I tackled with ease this morning. Today I felt so motivated; in my head I could hear Arnold spurring me on, and I pretended that he was climbing with me, almost like having an imaginary friend for a few days.

We arrived at Lava Tower at lunch time, 4600m. Most people get a packed lunch, not us, we get the privalige of a warm lunch, beautiful! Just what I needed as it was so cold at Lava Tower. I put on my balaclava and my gloves to try and conserve some of my heat. Lunch was leek soup with fried bread followed by a vegetable sauce and fruit. It started snowing whilst we were at Lava Tower. Starting the walk after lunch was difficult, my body was stiff where it had tried to conserve heat at lunch time by curling up as small as possible whilst trying to shovel food down my neck. Slowly I started to feel warmer. Rafiki had said that we would be walking quickly to camp. When he said that we would be walking quickly I didn't imagine to be literally running down the mountain! My legs were running away from me, I couldn't keep up with them.

Corinne and I tried our best to keep up with Rafiki. In between our deep breaths we would talk about our home towns, our parents and what our family and friends thought of our trips to Tanzania. It sounds like Corinne is slightly henpetted..... This is her first trip outside of America. Her mum wanted her to cut her hair and dye it brown so it doesn't attract so much attention. Her mum packed her suitcase as she thought Corinne would forget something so wouldn't let her pack. All a bit extreme if you ask me. Forgetting items is all part of the experience! She was telling me that a volunteer at the school told her she wouldn't make it to the top and that was her motivator. I told her that my motivator was the belief my family have in me that I can make it to the top along with self-determination.

After 1.5 hours of down hill sprints we made it to Barancu Camp, 3940m. Rafiki had commented on my hiking boots, and that there were very good which would be part of the reason why I haven't lost grip whilst running and the others have. I was impressed that he knew so much about my brand of boots! Barancu Camp is in a closed valley; it is a lot warmer than Lava Tower. The sun is shining yet again and I am making the most of it knowing that tomorrow will be the coldest day so far! I chose a nap over a cup of tea; the sun was shining down on our tent and so it felt rather warm. It was our longest day of hiking so far and I felt rather whacked.

The toilets here looked rather swanky, however, DJ and Corinne were utmose disappointed when they were still squatters. They were just posh squatters; with lights, windows and locks on the doors! Better than the beaten up sheds we've been using for sure.

Dinner tonight was slightly earlier, 6pm, it seems to get earlier day by day! We had pumpkin soup. At first I thought ew pumpkin, but actually it was nice. We asked him what was in the soup, as it was a brown colour rather than the bright orange I pictured it to be like and he said that the pumpkin looks like a watermelon, so I don't know what pumpkins they've been using but it doesn't sound like the orange ones we carve faces in to on halloween! We had beef and rice again tonight, but I didn't feel hungry, I had to force feed myself food. Watermelon was for afters, so I had a few pieces of that to be polite.

Chelsea ate dinner with us this evening, but she moaned about everything that they gave her! Okay, they were still giving her portions for two as they had brought up enough food for herself and her Mum but she'd barely eat anything. At the gate she was telling us how you lose between 8 and 20lbs on the mountain and she'd read it on 5 websites, she didn't eat any breakfast or lunch today. We all said to her that she needs to start eating. Maybe she was hiking Kilimanjaro to lose weight, but that is not the right reasons for doing such a challenge.

I went to bed early tonight, 7:15pm. Tyler is staying in Chelsea's tent and Parker is staying with Drew.... On my own again. We have a spare sleeping bag and so I used that to keep me warm. The others are never as cold as me throughout the night, and I think it's because they share body heat within their tents, whereas I have a 2/3 man tent with just 1 body. Today I thought about Arnold a lot as he would be travelling back from his business trip to South Africa and I wondered how he got on.

There has been no signal for me up this mountain. Some porters are constantly texting and on the phone, but not me, I'm always on emergency only. Early night for me tonight! Feel zonked.

H