Day 4 - DAY 2 OF THE CLIMB!!! - 24th August

Jambo!! Once again, a 6am wake up call today! (4am UK time!!) Greeted with a lovely hot ginger tea, which I didn't particularly like the taste of, but it was lovely, as it was FREEZING last night/this morning! Also because I didn't really get much sleep last night, probably because I've never properly camped before!

Our guides & porters!
Photo credit to Angela Carrabotta

Once we'd woken up and had a lovely breakfast of porridge (which is so good!), honey on toast, and egg, we had a talk from our head guide - Ami, who introduced us to the fellow 70+ guides and porters who were making our trek possible. It was so nice to hear what they all do and all of their names as they all really are amazing people! I couldn't ever even begin to imagine being able to do what they do!!

Beautiful morning views!

Then they all sang us their national anthem and also the anthem of the people of Tanzania - which they all looked so passionate about, it was touching to watch. Except it was a bit funny during their second song - as a couple people there did what we do as soon as we've passed the first verse of the National Anthem - kind of guess the words/ make noises that go to the tune so it sounds like you know the words - it's great to know it's not just us!

Once we finally set off, the sun had risen and it was getting a bit warmer, and the views were just beautiful!!! (Insight: I'm going to say this a lot!). 

Yeah, a little bit steep (but not that bad!)

Today was quite a steep day, we did a bit of scrambling up rocks and went through another change of terrain, although it's still kind of desert land kind of terrain, it's a lot different to our last camp - as that one was a bit more muddy and this one's a bit dry and dusty.

Had to have a picture with the amazing view!
Photo credit to Gabbie Majer

There was a point today where we'd all just finished walking up this really steep rock bit and we all just stopped to look back at where we've come from, and it was just amazing!! It felt amazing, looked amazing, and was insane to know how far we'd already come! (pictured below!)
One really funny bit of today was a point when Simon stopped to put some sun cream on, and the guides we were with found it really funny and we didn't really have a clue why, until they told us it was because of Simon's arm hair! We forgot that James had previously told us that out in Tanzania they don't grow arm hair, so they find it kind of funny to see! Which is great! and bizarre at the same time!

Couple photo in Shira Cave
Photo credit to George Murphy

After 6 hours of steep trekking we arrived at our new camp for the night and had some late lunch at 4pm - before chilling for an hour ready to do a little acclimatisation trek for about one hour and a half - on our way we saw Shira Cave and everyone took loads of photos in the mouth of it after Ami had told us about it and about how the porters used to camp in there, but they're not allowed to any more.

We then carried on up to Shira Peak, and when we got there the views were so beautiful, we could see Uhuru Peak in one direction and the rest of mountain immersed in clouds in the other direction and it helped a little with the headache and bad mood I'd gotten from the altitude. We hung out there for a little bit and took some more group photos (naturally) before trekking back down to camp! (Which, absurdly Simon & I led...)

When we got back to camp we had 'washy washy' and then our dinner - the food up here really is great! MORE amazing soup before pasta with beef sauce. Yum! 

Now we've just packed ready for tomorrow - expecting to be getting a bit chillier as we go further up - we're doing 6km up and then 4km down tomorrow - so it'll be another long day again! (obviously!)

So it's time to try and get a good nights sleep!!

La la salama!!!

Day 3 - Day 1 OF THE CLIMB!! - 23rd August

The Kilimanjaro National Park sign!

Jambo! Today we began our ascent of Kilimanjaro!!! We arrived at Machame Gate and then checked in and waited a while, and then we got a lovely lunch of sandwiches, soup, chicken and muffins! It was funny because while we waited for our lunch we saw one of the cheeky monkeys steal 2 muffins from our table! Which we thought was cute but I imagine it was probably not too appreciated by the chef!

Us at the 'Starting Point' sign!!
(Photo courtesy of Rory Orrell)

We then had a long wait while the guides organised all the stuff they were carrying - so naturally we took a lot of pictures with the Kilimanjaro National Park sign, so people definitely knew we were here! After lots of pictures we finally set off at about 1.30pm (to then stop again, and take another picture with another sign!) - which was important though, it was the starting point, and everything starts somewhere so it's best to get a picture of it!

George, Paul (one of our guides!)
and Simon

It was such beautiful scenery setting off through the rainforest, we saw some black and white Colobus monkeys jumping through the trees, it was bizarre because they just looked like skunks jumping around - which is kind of crazy! All the trees and vines were amazing - I just had to keep reminding myself to LOOK UP!! I just kept staring at where I was putting my trekking poles - which was really annoying!

We were all excited to see the "toilets" along the route (a.k.a. a hole in the floor in a hut!) Just for some shelter to pee in! Slightly more luxurious than squatting behind a bush!

We walked very 'pole pole' (slowly, slowly) because of my rubbish joints, so had some time to talk to the guides - we met Dennis, Paul, Ronald and Nixon - who are all amazing people. They've climbed the mountain hundreds of times and it's just so interesting to talk to them!! The strength they must all have is insane!

I learnt how to say 'my name is Molly' - Nina Etwa Molly (probably not spelt like that, but kinda pronounced like that!) and also to say 'Boa' when someone says 'Mambo?' - it's kind of the colloquial way to say 'how are you?' and Boa is 'good'.

The views along the walk were so beautiful (which I know I've already said, but THEY WERE!) especially as we looked back at where we'd been, at all the trees and just how far we'd already come! As we approached camp, the scenery gradually changed to desert terrain/scrubland - And it was equally as beautiful and I look forward to seeing more tomorrow!

It was so exciting to finally see camp after about 5 hours trekking and to get our tents! (I get to share with Simon, yey!) Then we went for another delicious meal - the soup was SO GOOD!! And I even ate battered fish!!! (which is saying something, cause I don't like battered fish...)

Now we've settled down in our sleeping bags before another early start again tomorrow! So, La La Salama!!!! 

Day 2 - Nairobi to Moshi! - 22nd August

One of our views out the window

Jambo! Today has been another long day! We travelled approximately 7 hours from Nairobi to Moshi in a minibus, it was interesting to see how different the scenery and the people looked from place to place - it was amazing how quickly everything changed.

There were lots of street side sellers which was pretty scary when we were at the Tanzanian border as they tried really hard to make you buy things, and it's something I'm obviously not used to. One put a bracelet on my wrist and tried to make me have it, so Simon had to come and give the bracelet back to her and take me to the bus as I got a bit out of my depth! It's hard being a ridiculously polite Brit sometimes!

After we passed the Tanzanian border we stopped off for a loo break at this lovely little shop, they were selling lots of wonderful things, but I didn't want to spend any of my money yet. Simon bought some things and it was funny as he tried to haggle and the man asked for a pen (which Simon didn't have), and then for his T-shirt (to which Simon was awkwardly a bit like "but I need it...") and then for his walking boots!! (to which Simon was like "I need those too!") So the man let him have it at the price he said and told Simon not to forget to bring his shoes with him next time!! (Simon wasn't sure whether he was joking or not!).

Our first glimpse of Kilimanjaro!

 As we carried on our drive we saw lots of little sand storms - which were pretty cool! We also saw lotsss of goats and even some gazelle and camels at one point!
We also saw our first glimpse of Kilimanjaro!! We spent a lot of the drive guessing it was different mountains, being like "do you think that one's Kili??" Until we finally saw it hiding in the clouds and Jo told us that's the mountain we'll be climbing tomorrow!

There was a lot of speed bumps on the way here, so the ride was a bit rough. But I couldn't help but enjoy the casual nature of our driver as he overtook everything in our path! Even the other minibus we were with he overtook!

Overall though it was a good ride with frequent naps and lots of thinking as I compared what I saw outside the bus to what we have in Britain - we're so privileged and we don't even realise it!!!

Anyway, when we got here we put our stuff in our rooms and got briefed on our coming week on Kilimanjaro - exciting stuff!!! We're setting off at 8.30am to Machame Gate, I'm looking forward to it as it will only be approximately 6 hours walking tomorrow, which I'm sure will be blissful compared to the coming days! - I'll say more about the climb when I'm actually doing it!

It's really nice here at Midlands lodge, I'm sharing a room with Tony (Antonia). Our room is really nice! - I enjoyed my last shower not long ago, and tried to make the most of it before baby wipes is the only answer!!

Right, time to finish my packing and get myself to sleep for my early start tomorrow!!!

Lala Salama!!

Day 1 - UK to Nairobi - 21st August

This was a particular point
I got quite excited!!

Today was my first time flying! The day started with us (Simon & I) waking at 4am, driving to Oxford, getting a coach at 5.30am and arriving at the airport at 6.50am for our flight at 10.15am! I was naturally like a big kid in the airport, excited to see all the planes up close and nervous for if I accidentally set a metal detector off or something! In my opinion airports seem like big, posh train stations, but for planes... Obviously.

Nice view out the window!

Our flight was great! (in my opinion) I just really enjoyed the whole thing (especially the food!) We had chicken curry for dinner and then got a yummy sandwich and scones later! I watched Insurgent (which was really, nothing like the book! Annoyingly!!) and Home - which was great, such a sweet film even if it was absurd to hear Sheldon Cooper and Rihanna!  And I also had a little nap (8 hours travelling is a long time!) Asides that, I had a great view as I had a window seat, going through the clouds looked so amazing, and seeing all the places we flew over was also a pretty amazing sight :)

In the minibus, tired & hungry but happy nonetheless!

When we arrived at Nairobi, it was scary checking in, as this was my first time in a place not in the UK, and we got health screened as we walked through and none of us really knew what was going on, but it was pretty simple and we stressed about nothing. I thought we'd all got there okay and got all our bags, then I found out that someone hadn't even got the flight and poor Angela had lost her bag! Then we met Jo, Sarah & Ben (the staff of Dig Deep) at the airport and walked over to our minibuses. The air smelt very petrol-y, which wasn't that nice, but seeing Nairobi as we drove to our hostel was exciting and... THEY HAVE WOOLWORTHS!!!! Which, everyone was excited about - naturally!

At the hostel they have such a cute dog, apparently called Scooby, and he's just so chill!! We got given our rooms and also given some food (which was much appreciated!). I'm sharing a room with Angela, Ro and Gabby and the beds are real comfy! - except the mosquito net which I was constantly faffing with trying to get it over me properly.

Overall, everything's great so far! Time to get some sleep before a long day tomorrow!

See you later!

Kwaheri!

'Cause Baby Now We Got Bad Blood! (literally)

Hey!! I'm back again after a long time of telling myself to blog, and then not doing it... (naughty me.)

I've had a jolly ol' couple of months doing various things such as, finishing 2nd year with a 2:1, completing my fundraising for Dig Deep, joining the gym and finding out I'm going to be the team leader of a group of fundraisers next year!!! Exciting stuff!

So yeah, I'm still on with the Kilimanjaro climb, in fact I'll be leaving to do that in less than a month now!!! Scaryy!!! But I've been going to the gym and doing walks and stuff to try and improve my fitness, so fingers crossed, I'll manage it! I hope, even more-so because I'll be leading people to climb Mt. Kenya next year, and I'll look a bit silly if I couldn't even climb the first mountain I set out to do! (in my opinion). 

I went for a walk in the Peak District yesterday with some fellow future team leaders, and it was great! Very pretty, and thankfully the weather held up for us! (Here's one of the nice pictures I took) :)

Anyway, with regards to the Arthritis, (seeing as this blog IS about that) I recently got put BACK on Sulfasalazine.... To then come off it again 2 weeks later as it was making me really poorly again (if we recall last time I had it, I lasted 4 weeks before being taken off them). Fun times! And now in consequence, I'm having to have 2 weekly bloodtests as stuff has all been off with my blood (hence the title of the blog), I'm hoping that my next bloodtest will be fine as I'll have been off it for a while by then. Silly medications!

Along side that I found out I'm not able to have the Yellow Fever jab for my travels  due to being on methotrexate (You need to have a Yellow Fever jab & certificate to prove it to enter Tanzania due to the risk of it in Kenya)... Sooo thankfully I am able to get an exemption certificate so they will still let me in! And then I just have to pray (and cover myself in insect repellent) that I don't get Yellow Fever. You'd never think ARTHRITIS could cause so many damn problems!! 

Anyway, I think that's all, I'll try post another update before I head off to climb Kili!!! (aaah excited!!!)

TTFN, ta ta for now!!! :)

OOH! P.S. I got a haircut (I forgot that happened since I last blogged!) This is me now, with all short hair!! (and I love it!) :D

Byee!! :D

Yesterday I Conquered A Mountain!

Hello!... And as the title says... Yesterday I conquered a mountain!!! To be precise, the mountain that was conquered was Mount Snowdon! Woohoo!! I also conquered an (almost) mountain called Y Garn the day before, which is pretty epic seeing as for me, both days were about 8 hours of trekking.

On the way back down Snowdon!

Yes, what was meant to be, an approx trek of about 6 hours, took a couple hours longer for me, as my ankle really doesn't like going downhill!... But I did it! So, naturally I feel really quite impressed with myself.

Everyone at the summit of Y Garn!

The weather was beautiful, and the views were absolutely stunning, and the feeling of accomplishment as I reached the summit on both days, was really something else!

Simon may look drunk, and I may look like an old lady, but being amongst the clouds at the summit of Snowdon was amazing!!!!

 Admittedly, it caused me a hell of a lot of pain, and after doing Y Garn on Saturday I worried that I wouldn't manage Snowdon on the Sunday, but I did!! Along with my pain endurance, I'm also pretty proud of my ability to keep high spirits, naturally, being with a group of people who have the ability to walk off while you straggle behind, is a pretty naff feeling, but with the company & support of Simon and the Dig Deep team, I managed to still feel pretty good about it, and kept pretty jolly in my opinion!

It's times like these where I really wish I'd thought higher of myself these past 7 years... I mean, yes I've got on with life, and gone to college and uni and such, but I've spent the past 7 years moping around thinking about what I can't do in life... When I should have spent the time thinking about what I can do. This weekend has really proved to me that I probably have the ability to do whatever I want if I put my mind to it (I mean, apart from wearing high heels, but who cares? I don't want to wear bloody high heels!) I aim to start thinking more positive from now on!! And I WILL conquer Kili!!!! (well, I really hope so anyway :P)

Trekking poles were a God send!!! They made everything so much easier!

Thanks for reading again folks! :)
By the way, if you read this, which... I assume you do if you've got this far down, thank you! It really does feel pretty awesome to know that people out there read this, and also to see that my views come from all over the world! If you feel at all inspired by what I'm doing (which, I hope I have inspired at least one person out there!) share it? As a bit of inspiration can never go amiss :)

Keep smiling! :) TTFN, ta ta for now!!
(See more photos!! at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/127985693@N04/sets/72157649475013486/)

It's Been A While!

Hello!! Sorry it's been such a while since I last blogged, I just haven't had a clue what to blog about - so if anyone has anything in particular they want to see, comment it, or tell me in some way, shape or form!

Not a lot has changed of recent... I had a hospital appointment recently, and he sent me for an X-ray... And that's about it. Super interesting! Apart from that... My ankle has been the same annoyance it always has been and my knee has been on/off bad - I've discovered that just standing for long periods of time irritates my knee, but walking or generally moving for long amounts of time is fine, it's just if I'm still.

I've done some filming recently for a 3rd Year Media project, in Harlaxton Manor, which is such a beautiful location (google it!) and also Broadbent theatre (also a great location!) and we had such wonderful costumes provided by Pauline Loven (check out her blog! at: http://www.periodcostume.co.uk/ )... Here's a beautiful picture she took of me & Simon in our costume on set, it's probably my fave photo that was taken!

When the final piece is completed I'll be sure to share it with you! It's been such a great experience and has felt so professional - it's definitely given me a taste of what might be in store if I decide to continue film acting in the future!

Apart from that, I've continued fundraising for Dig Deep, as I previously mentioned, I'm climbing Mt Kilimanjaro this Summer for it, and this weekend we're taking a visit to Wales to climb Mt Snowdon as training/fundraising, it'll be nice to see how I cope, and I'll probably tell you all about it when I'm done with hopefully some nice photos! Once again, if you're interested in sponsoring me, visit: https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/mollyclimbskili , every little helps, and I have an awfully long way to go!! So if you're feeling generous, share! :D

Thanks for reading, I'll be sure to blog sooner this time :P

TTFN, ta ta for now!!