Switzerland June 2010

We returned to Switzerland at the beginning of June and had a great time with hubby's sister Sue and her hubby Francis. We did alot of what we usually do, including lunching on the waterfront in beautiful Montreux, sightseeing in the beautiful city of Sion, visiting Evolene and walking up from Thyon 2000 to get amongst the snow and admire the panoramic views. We returned to Zermatt to show Sue and Francis, but the weather wasn't particularly kind. It only spotted a bit of rain though, so we took a lovely walk up the Matterhorn Trail and were rewarded with hot chocolate at a tiny chalet restaurant before we enjoyed a picnic lunch on the way down whilst the sun came out (well almost!). We finally got to the Blue Lake, which we've been meaning to do for ages. The walk is well rewarded, as the lake really is blue! and is very pretty. We also did the St Bernard Pass on my 50th birthday - what a lot of snow! After the pass we spent the afternoon in the Italian city of Aosta before returning, this time through the tunnel. I will never tire of Switzerland. Even though we really only ever do a little bit of it.

From Switzerland June 2010

From Switzerland June 2010

Summer came in May!

Well, we've had some amazing weather so far this year. Long may it continue! This weekend has been wall to wall blue skies and nearly 80 degrees. We did a walk of about 10 miles locally today. It was very warm but the scenery just glorious - we live in such a lovely part of the world.

From Tenbury Summer in May!

To enable us to get away walking more often, we've decided to buy a new VW van and convert it to a camper. Hotels and other costs like food etc are quite expensive when you do it nearly every weekend and we'd rather spend that money on something else. Anyway, we're just deciding on the spec etc. so maybe we can get one converted before the end of the summer.

It's been too hot to use it this weekend but I bought a new bike! I had to put a very uncool saddle on it - I am old and need comfort, or I wont get on it very often!

It's now busy busy busy for 10 days before we take an 8 day break in Switzerland. It'll be my 50th birthday whilst we are there, so that will be nice. Simon's sister and husband are coming with us and her birthday is the day before mine, so we have every right to spoil ourselves!

The Peak District

We took a weekend in the Peak District a fortnight ago. We hadn't been to the area for years and when we got there I wondered why - it's beautiful!  We stayed in a lovely B&B River Cottage in Ashford in the Water. We arrived around noon, dumped the car and set off for Monsal Head. It was a gloious day and the views lovely. We stopped for lunch at the Monsal Head Hotel before walking into Bakewell via the Monsal Trail for a look around before walking back the the B&B. We covered 8-10 miles but it didn't feel like it because the weather and the views were so good. We met friends at the B&B a little later and enjoyed drinks sitting alongside the River Wye whilst feeding the trout.

The next day we took a 10 mile circular walk (which probably turned into 12 with detours!) that included Chatsworth House, Beeley, Rowsley and Bakewell. We had lunch enroute at the lovely Old Smithy in Beeley, where we had lovely sandwiches and tea in lovely china teacups and saucers. After some ablutions once back at the B&B (and some Ibruprofen!) we sampled the dinner menu at the Bulls Head in Ashford and we weren't disappointed. All in all a great weekend, assisted by the glorious weather. We'll be back!

From Peak District

Catching up.....

Well, I blinked and like 2 months went by! We've been busy as usual. A couple of weekends ago we had the pleasure of having Simon's niece Erica to stay for a few days, whilst she was over from Vancouver for a vacation. We'll be catching up with her during our September Canadian holiday when we visit her on Vancouver Island. Whilst she was here we showed her some of this part of the world. We went to Much Wenlock in Shropshire one a beautiful day and looked at the Old Priory. We found a property called Bastard Hall on the way, which was funny.....

We also took her to Chester, on another beautiful day. I didn't take my camera either day so I will have to nab some photos from her. She did post this one on Facebook which I found hilarious....

We walked around Chester's famous rows, had lunch and then walked all around the walls in beautiful sunshine.

Next steps

Update: This trip is postponed until 2011

Well, we don't sit still for long. We've been back from Tanzania under a fortnight and already the flights are booked for our next trip. Back to Switzerland on 4th June for 8 days to walk the mountains in the sunshine. Then we'll make the most of the short summer in the UK (we hope there is a summer!) until September when school terms begins, when we go to Canada to see a bit of Alberta, a lot of the mountains of BC, Vancouver Island and Southern Ontario for 3 weeks. We've done Canada a few times before but never explored the mountains of BC so we're really looking forward to that. We'll probably fly into Calgary then and do a one way self drive to Vancouver, taking maybe 7 days to get there. We'd want to see places like Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper, Kamloops and Whistler, so the route would be something like this.

Then we'll cross the water and spend a week on Vancouver Island with family, maybe with an overnighter in Seattle before flying to Toronto to spend the final week with family in Southern Ontario.

Jambo Sana. It's all over!

We arrived back in the UK today, marking the end of our long planned trip. We spent a month in Tanzania and only 7 days climbing Kili, so it wasn't all about the mountain, but it was a big part. Alas, I did not make it right to Uhuru Peak but Simon (other half) did, as did the other members of our trek.

I got to almost 5200 metres (still over 17,000 feet) before the altitude sickness got really bad. This made progress so slow that I also got very cold. So, after trying for a bit longer, I made the sensible decision to call it a day instead of continuing and giving myself further to climb down feeling even worse. I also feared that I would not make it all the way to the top without putting myself at risk (okay, I bottled it!). My daughter's words "Mummy, you wont do anything risky will you? promise?" also rang in my ears. I was very disappointed at the time but I have to remember that not much more than a year ago I couldn't have even dreamed of doing something like climb Kili, a few flights of stairs would have finished me off then! I had gone up 4 times the height of Ben Nevis and 5 times the height of Snowdon. Altitude sickness can affect anyone, young or old, fit or otherwise. I could have taken Diamox, a medication many (if not most thesedays) fellow Kili trekkers take to mask the effects of altitude, giving them a much better chance of reaching the summit. However, Simon and I decided long ago that we wouldn't do this and I am still glad we made that choice, even though I didn't make it to the summit.

I was reminded just how far up we'd been when I took this picture from window of the small aircraft that took us to Zanzibar after our safari. The captain had just announced that we were flying at 19,000 feet and there we were, above the clouds at the same height as he summit of Kili.

We packed a lot into our trip and, apart from me not quite reaching the summit and KLM losing my suitcase on the way back, it all went pretty smoothly. The case has been located and I'll get it back soon I hope. Anyway, I'll write up the whole trip on a seperate blog with all the pictures. Click here to see it or click the picture of the lion on the right at the top.

It did all go in (just!)

Well, the snow came and brought our county to a standstill this morning. It was a tad worrying first thing this morning to look at 2 inches of snow on the ground with it still falling heavily. However, we relied on the weather forecasters (eek!) and sure enough, the rain came later and washed much of it away. It's still white everywhere but the roads are now pretty clear and so long as we get to the airport hotel before it all freezes we should be fine.

So, the long wait is over. Did we do enough prep? I guess we'll find out very soon!! Until we find an internet cafe, its goodbye for a while.

Kwa heri!

Will it all go in?

I look at the trekking kit and clothing for over a month all laid out and wonder how it's all going to fit in the two bags. We can only carry as much luggage as the internal Tanzanian flights operator will allow, so the generous KLM allowance means nothing, as Precision Air's 20kg/1 bag each limit will apply.  Out of respect for our porters we are trying to do minimalist on the trekking clothing. There's no shower/bath for a week so there isn't much point in a full change of clothing every day, as one will stink anyway! However, there must be sufficient layers so that, when all put on together, they will keep us warm on summit night.

There is always the possibility of our luggage going astray during travel. Therefore, we will be wearing/carrying as much of the essential stuff during the flights. We can hire most equipment there if we need to but we wont be letting our expensive walking boots or outer coats out of our sight, so we will be looking very silly and wearing them - only a fool would trek a mountain in a pair of rented boots! If the weather forecast here for Wednesday is correct (heavy snow), we will be dressed appopriately to get to the aiport.

Trek Route

I won't compromise our trek company by giving the secrets of their route away - we chose it because it's away from the other routes!! However, the distances etc go something like this.....

Day one (25th January 2010)

The bumpy 4-5 hour drive on dirt roads to the start means we don't have to walk until around 2pm local time. After the bumpy drive, walking might be a welcome relief for our bottoms!! Then we trek about 7 km, going up by about 630 mtrs to around 2600 mtrs.

Day two

About 12 km today in total, rising by around 1000 mtrs. I am sure headaches will prevail today as the effect of altitude kicks in! We've been to 4000 mtrs before and we knew it!

Day three

A short day today, only about 4 km and rising only a modest amount to aid acclimatisation.

Day four

About 10 km today, rising to about 4600 mtrs but then descending, to aid acclimatisation, finishing at around 3700 mtrs.

Day five

About 10 kms today but turning away from the other Rongai route users (hooray!!) early on. This will take us to about 4700 mtrs.

Day six

Beginning at midnight (after a full days walking on day 5!!) the assault on the summit commences. The distances are:

Day five end point to Stella Point 3.5km (uphill obviously!)

Stella Point to the summit 1.2km (again uphill LOL)

Summit to Gilmans (downwards - yay!!)

Gilmans to Kibo huts 3.4 km

Kibo huts to Horombo 9.6km

Making a total of something like 20kms on the summit day - probably over some 18 hours!!

Day 7

This is a walk in the park at some 20kms downhill to the park gate!!

From here we have to do the (shorter but equally bumpy) ride back to Songota, where hopefully Joice has the hot water flowing (as we wont have bathed for 7 days!!) and food aplenty. After a long sleep, we have to packed and ready for our private safari driver when he picks us up at 2pm the next day!!

Why, oh why?

People recently have kept asking me things like "why (at your age) the hell are you putting yourself.....?"

George Mallory, when asked why he would want to climb Everest said "because it's there". Good answer - if you are prepared to take what, at that time, was an indeterminable risk to achieve something. I am a complete chicken - of an indeterminable magnitude compared to Mallory's (and Irvine's) braveness but opportunities in travel thesedays means that insignificant people like me are able to challenge themselves like never before and step outside their comfort zone. We're all here for a blink of an eye in terms of man's evolution and, when I depart this earth, I want to be be able to say I made the most of it!!! As one gets older, this becomes more of an imperative. We have been fortunate to be able to travel extensively but I need more than the fact that I have 'been somewhere'. I am as scared (facing the risks of Kili) today as I was when I decided it would be a good idea to back pack alone around Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast when I was 18, but again, nothing would stop me doing it (and look how volatile this region of Africa was at the time!!). However, age teaches you to better mitigate the risks where you can and we have taken the time to prepare.

I found out today that 2 of our trekking party are late forties, both females. I am soooooo pleased that our party doesn't consist of mainly youngens who will race ahead and leave me looking like some geriatric! Hubby will be the senior! I think we'll have a great time, no matter the ages etc..

Final Preparations

Well, its just a couple of weeks until we go to Tanz. All the jabs and tabs are organised - it costs some serious money to avoid malaria, yellow fever etc! The last four days we have made the most of the lovely cloudless skies here (and the sub zero temperatures!) to put in a bit of walking locally to where we live. We've just done 4 days on the trot - 6 miles the first day, then 7, then 8 and just finished with another 8. We have just two more weekends to step it up and then it will be "coming ready or not!". Below is the snow capped Clee from the other side of the valley where we walked. We did the same walk daily but added some time on the end. I wanted to see whether it felt any easier up the same inclines on day 4 than it was day 1!!

We're not the only ones off far and away. Our eldest, as I write this, is waiting at Birmingham airport for a delayed flight to Dubai to take off. I hope he gets the window seat and sees the newly opened Burj. It's just a stopover for him as he will be taking in Japan, China, and Hong Kong in the next fortnight. Younger son flies off to Hong Kong in 10 days time leaving the daughter at home in the cold - bless her! It wont be long until she's off somewhere too.

Christmas 2009

As usual, the run up to Christmas seemed like and age and when it came, it was over in a flash!! All the children came home and we had a lovely white wintery scene on the day. We all ate and drank loads but tried very hard to esure the excesses didn't alter our waistlines too much! Simon and  have agreed that the less (weight) we have to cart up the mountain, the better. As a result, we have lost over a stone in weight each so far, with another half a stone easily achievable before we go.

We went out at the crack of dawn before Christmas for a long walk at minus 8 celcius to see how 3 layers top and bottom with coats on top felt (okay, okay - if you're Canadian I know that isn't that cold, but it is  for us!). We were sweating! So, with an extra top layer in the daysack and outer gloves, I feel we're covered. We've been out every day over the holiday doing about 6 miles with some hilly bits. We need to keep this up daily now but I go back to work tomorow (Tuesday). So, as I don't get home until after 6pm, we'll have to do the work days with head torches, which is good practice too I guess. One weekend, we might even try a night in a tent in sub zero before we go - even if it's in our garden! - so it's not too much of a shock when it comes!! However, for me it is the toilet facilities (or rather the lack of them) that will be the hardest thing for me!! (not that I plan to try out cr*pping in my garden!).

Anyways, after the Christmas pressies, we only need a couple of bits and bobs and we're sorted. Well, apart from the anti-malaria tablets, which are going to cost a small fortune for 5 weeks :(

The Itinerary for Tanzania

Well, its all sorted! Given the current economic climate, we have decided not to climb the mountain for charity, so have booked a private trek. The whole trip looks something like this:

21st January - Fly to Kilimanjaro from Birmingham via Amsterdam - lets hope that this time we have enough time to walk between the two gates!

21st - 24th January - Exploring Arusha, Moshi and the Kilimanjaro and Arusha National Parks. Might do a bit of Mt Meru for a bit of acclimatisation. We'll be staying at the Songota Falls Lodge a very modest and simple lodge away from the hustle and bustle of Arusha run by a local family. We were particularly keen to see as much of local life as possible during this trip and Songota has some great reviews - and the falls sounds so much more appealing than a lodge pool!! We've booked a whole day walking safari on 23rd January in the Arusha National Park that will take us up around Ngurdoto Crater, with our own private armed ranger.

25th - 31st January - 7 nights Trekking and camping on Kilimanjaro via the northern Rongai route (Kenyan side of the mountain). Hopefully summiting 30th January the day before the full moon. We are trekking with a company called Climb Mount Kilimanjaro (oddly enough!). There are so many companies offering the Kili trek, it's hard to choose but I figured I was more comfortable handing my hard earned money to a company associated with the author Henry Stedman.

1st - 9th February - Safari, including the Ngorongoro Crater, the Serengeti and Tarangire national parks, travelling with The East African Safari & Touring Company on a private safari. As with the Kili trek, there are hundreds of companies to choose from but liked the 'off the beaten track' nature of what they were offering and the fact that their main lodge at Boundary Hill is part owned by the local masai village, is in a great location and only has a few rooms. We'll also be staying at their tented camps. More here.

9th February - Fly to Zanzibar

9th - 19th February - The Echo Beach Hotel in Zanzibar, snorkelling, swimming, relaxing etc. with a trip to Stonetown in there somewhere. The location and size of this hotel sold it to us. Its right on the beach and the two storey bandas offer lovely views from lovely rooms with huge furnished terraces. It also has a great pool and its own dive centre and we hear the food is terrific!

20th February - Come home :(

I can't tell you how long it took to research everything and choose but thank heaven for the internet!! Time will tell if we made the right choices but I am confident that we'll have a great time.

The Kilimanjaro Route

I changed my mind on the route in the end. I detailed earlier the Lemosho Route as our preferred route. However, its not very well travelled. Although we wanted a quiet route, we wanted other trekkers with us in case one of us had to come down before the summit. We figured it would be difficult for the other one to keep going if there was only a guide and the porters. We have an extra day for acclimatisation so hopefully we'll do well but if either of us doesn't we both want the other to continue. The route is also drier than the southern routes and there is more wildlife.

It's going to go so fast but is going to be the first of many more 'adventurous' trips, now the children have left home and we have more time to ourselves. We are already talking about trekking to Everest Base Camp in Nepal if we deal well with the altitude on Kilimanjaro.

The Shropshire Way

A dry day thankfully albeit but a bit cloudy for good photographs, we walked to the top of Shropshire's highest hill - Brown Clee, at 540 metres slightly taller and a little more scenic on top than it's nearby sister (seen here in the foreground). Despite a walking book we didn't find the trail we intended to follow but we found our way round the tor pretty easily and from the top we could see some of the much higher peaks in Wales that we'd walked - Cadair Idris, Aran Fawddwy etc.

From Shropshire

Less than 4 months to go until Kili!!

Well, the training really must start in earnest now. We leave the UK on 21st January 2010. Christmas in between now and then will make the time fly by. We are due to summit Kilimanjaro on 29th/30th January treking the Rongai Route with an extra day acclimatisation. After a couple of days rest we will spend 9 days on safari in the Northern Tanzania parks before flying to Zanzibar to spend 11 days there. Our month long adventure will fly by I am sure but will be worth it.

I had a second cardiac ablation on 12th August and after a little blip, things are going well with the old ticker now, so I am feeling a lot more confident regarding my health. My cross trainer is my daily friend when I don't have time to get to do a proper walk. The painting in the background is an oil by my daughter, which helps with the boredom of indoors training (- as does the TV :)

2010 will be a busy year. Whilst we are in Africa, the baby of the family (20) will be in Hong Kong. Both Uni student offspring (20 & soon to be 22) will be in their final term before going out into the big wide world (and getting a job hopefully!). The eldest (soon to be 24) will undoubtedly be off to the far east on business early in 2010 and the middle sized one won't be outdone and will be off somewhere far away over the summer. We promised to visit the Canadian family members in the summer and as I have never been to BC I'll look forward to that (we were going to include visiting the Alaskan branch of the family too, but they will have moved to Texas by then!). Hubby retires in November and we'll be able to think less about work from then on.

Autumn in Switzerland

We returned again to Switzerland for an extended weekend last week with some friends and found the weather as warm and as lovely as it was back in June. As it was so good, we returned to Zermatt and took the high cablecar up to the Glacier Paradise again, where this time we got the great views we missed in June. At a further 2000 metres up, if we get a clear day at the top of Kili in January (providing we make it to the summit!) the views from there will be spectacular, albeit very different.

Needless to say, we packed a lot in 5 days with lots of walking. We finished it all with lunch on the Lake at Montreaux in beautiful sunshine before hopping to Geneva for the flight home.

Aberdovey/Aberdyfi

Aberdovey on a Sunday afternoon during an unseasonably warm weekend in September was just lovely. We enjoyed ice cream on the beach watching a boating competition. Watching lots of children making sandcastles and flying kites was simple quiet fun but the hard working rowers in the background made us feel quite guilty!

There is nothing like the Welsh coastline on a lovely day :)

Aran Fawddwy

A couple of weekends ago we decided on a Friday afternoon that we'd go to Wales for the weekend walking. We phoned the Wynnstay in Machynnleth and they had a room for 2 nights so we were off! We decided to hike up Aran Fawdwy. Living in the shadow of its more famous neighbour Cadair Idris, Aran Fawdwy actually stands a fraction taller. The weather was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky and very warm for mid September.

 

Near to the summit my foot was hurting. Fearing a blister I whimped out of the last 15 minutes to the top, as we'd chosen a demanding route down. Demanding was an understatement! I would call it rock climbing (or rock descending), but we made it down safely and the day gave us a great appetite for the dinner awaiting us at the Wynsnstay.

 

Summer in Switzerland

We returned to Switzerland in June for a couple of weeks. We thought that, as we hadn't done it for a while, we'd take the car across the channel and drive there and back for a change. My new car sits on the drive a lot of the time so she probably enjoyed herself too!! We did lots and lots of walking and, as the weather was good for most of the time, we saw some wonderful scenery. We chose the wrong day to visit Zermatt and take the high cablecar though. The views disappeared halfway up and you couldnt see more than 6 feet in front of you, let alone the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc!

From Switzerland June 2009

From Switzerland June 2009

Househunting

We have been looking for a little while for a 'weekender' cottage in Snowdonia, to enable us to escape without notice to without having to pack a bag. I found a sweet little place on the internet the other night and this morning we decided to go and have a look at it.

Anyways, we went into both Barmouth and Dolgellau for a walk and refreshments but the rain somewhat spoilt this part of the day. We had phoned the elder son earlier in the day and he said he was doing what he does nearly every weekend at Bala (this is him doing it somewhere else).

So, we arranged to meet him after he'd dried off and go for dinner. We drove the single track road from Dinas Maddwy (just outside Dolgellau) over the top and down to Bala, which was lovely as the clouds were clearing and the sun trying very hard to shine. We met up and drove to Llangollen and parked up. We went to Caesars Restaurant by the river in LLangollen but before we went in we took a few minutes to admire the river from the bridge, as the weather was glorious.

Then it was back home. Until next time............