So I rocked up at Peter tours office at 9 o'clock (filled with apprehension and excitement) and we headed for the Machame gate (1800M). When I arrived there I met the team of 6 staff (including my guide Praygod, a chef and 4 porters) who would have to walk up the mountain too just so I could have a jolly.

I was really surprised by the number of people at the gate waiting to start the climb and was even more surprised to learn it was a quiet day (they have up to 300 people per day with all the support staff on the Machame route alone).

So we started our first climb to the Machame camp (3000M). This was a fairly enjoyable walk up through a rain forest. Although I was climbing solo there were loads more people climbing at the same time so I managed to chat to a fair few people. At the camp I was served a feast (all week the food was awesome, what they manage to cook on the side of a mountain is amazing; chicken and chips, spaghetti bolognaise, beef stew and rice etc and fresh made soup everyday) and then grabbed an early night (I already had a headache).

The following day was a walk to Shira Cave (3800M), it was still a fairly nice walk but a bit steeper than the previous day, when I arrived at the campsite I was camped next to some people I had met the day before so got chatting to them. They were going for a walk to Shira hut to help acclimatisation so I tagged along with them. By now I had quite a bad headache and it was bloody freezing. That night I broke out my thermals - oh how I love my thermals - how did I get this far in life without them! The group camped next door invited me to their tent to listen to some music (big mistake on their part as they were stuck with me for the rest of the trip).

The next day was a walk up to Lava tower (4590M) followed to a descent to Baranco hut (3900M). This helps with acclimatisation and obviously brought us closer to the peak (in distance not in height).It was a nice day, I did struggle quite a lot with a headache especially on the climb to Lava tower.It did get better as we descended though. Lava tower was cool - although I got no pics as about 5 mins after I got there so did a massive cloud. Some of the scenery on the way down was fairly cool with some waterfalls and cool looking trees.

So now it was Thursday and we were hiking to basecamp (Barafu hut 4600M). It started with the Baranco wall which was like proper climbing up a rock face. This is where my respect and awe of the porters was solidified, they climb the mountain with 5kgs of their own stuff on their backs and then 20kgs of my stuff/equipment/ tents etc (and apparently often more) balanced on their heads or back of their necks. It is absolutely amazing - if you look at the pics there is one of some porters setting off.Anyway from the top of the baranco wall we descended into a valley and then up another hill and then down a steep hill and then finally up another steep hill to where we were having lunch (Karanga Valley). I had a really sore head now and this was possibly the most soul destroying moment of the climb when we arrived at the camp for lunch and it was at 3950M - I had a terrible headache, had only ascended 50M from camp and had 650M more to go to get to the Barafu hut! Anyway I ate my lunch, sucked it up and headed for Barafu hut where I would get a few hours rest before attempting to summit at midnight. This was the worst I had felt, my head hurt and I felt quite week. I also encountered my first snowstorm - up until I had been really lucky with the weather (other than the cold which was to be expected), it actually didn't rain at any point during the climb.

Feeling rough and fearing for what was ahead I grabbed an hour's sleep, had tea and then managed to get another 1 ½ - 2 hours sleep before I got up at 11.30 pm on thurs night to attempt to summit Kilimanjaro (the tallest free standing mountain in the world). I felt much better after sleeping, so well wrapped up (thermal base layer, 2 pairs of socks, walking trousers, t shirt, fleece, jacket, hat, scarf wrapped around my face and 2 pairs of gloves) I headed with Praygod to the summit. For the first time I walked with my ipod on - I needed the distraction. I also decided I wouldn't check the time (I managed 4 hours before checking). Like Mariella - I had (by accident) managed to arrange my summit night for a full moon and it was fairly spectacular - I didn't need my head torch on at all. At about half 5 the sun started to rise and I figured I must be near the top. I saw what looked like the top not too far away - but was sceptical as I had been fooled by this mountain many, many times before - it goes on forever! But it was the top - it was Stella point, the last push was really difficult, I was really fortunate not to have a headache or feel sick but the air is fairly thin up there. I was taking really deep breaths and still felt constantly out of breath. I just kept putting one foot in front of the other (with a lot of help from my climbing poles) and ploughed on until I reached Stella point (5725m) - from here it's only a brief (less than an hour)walk to Uhuru the highest point in Africa (3895M). This was quite a struggle, I was light headed and perhaps a tad delirious from the lack of oxygen but I made it and was fighting back tears when I reached that famous sign (to be honest I think the only reason I didn't cry is because it was too cold and my tears actually were frozen).

After all that - what I wasn't prepared for was the difficult descent, but there's only one direction you can go in and that's down. So a few hours later we were back at base camp and I then had an hours sleep and then headed back down the mountain. Since arriving in Tanzania I'd tried a few of the local beers but had avoided Kilimanjaro - so now I had my first Kilimanjaro beer at the Mweka hut (3100M) after reaching Uhuru. Then this morning (Sat 23rd) I descended to the Chagga gate (1800M) where I was picked up.

It may seem like I've mentioned a lot of negative things about the climb and it is without doubt the hardest thing I have ever done. However, it also the single most rewarding and amazing thing I have ever done - the feeling of reaching the summit is amazing (this may in part be due to hypoxia).The views along the way are stunning and at the top are breathtaking (again in part due to hypoxia). I really enjoyed it, met loads of amazing people, had a bit of a laugh, achieved something immensely difficult and will never do it again.