After trekking for 5 days through 4 climate zones and some amazing scenery and having thus far climbed to 4700m we were finally ready to tackle the final summit push. At midnight I, along with my 24 fellow trekkers, started the gruelling, relentless 6 hour climb walking at a snail’s pace known as the “Death Walk” with temperatures well below zero and the only light coming from our head torches we set off one after another, like a gang of prisoners chained at the ankles, for the roof of Africa.

I don’t remember much about that climb other than to say it seemed to last forever but there was one period where we passed through a section with walls of rock towering on both sides with hundreds of crystals scattered on the floor and embedded in the walls all reflecting in the beam from my torch like diamonds a beautiful sight if ever I saw one, but none as near as the sight that was to wait us as we approached the summit of this great mountain

After 6 hours of slogging we finally reached Stella point on the edge of the great volcanoes crater

at 5685m, almost there where we stopped and watched the sun rise and had an amazing cup of tea carried up by a few of the Rafiki –porters. After getting a much needed breather, the air has 50% less oxygen at this point we set off on our final climb, the last 215m to the very summit Uhuru peak the Roof of Africa. Shortly after we set off from Stella point we started to see the amazing Ice Fields that straddle the top of mountain and are as old as 11700 years old but sadly are diminishing at a rate through evaporation that they will probably have disappeared altogether in the next 10 to 20 years. These ice fields are truly beautiful standing about 30m tall and 200m long and really make the effort to get to the top worthwhile and are probably the most amazing example of nature I have ever experienced. The last leg of our summit took about 1 hour and so it was that at 07:30 on the 20^th June 2013 I climbed to the 5895m summit of Mount Kilimanjaro the world’s highest Free Standing Mountain and in doing so completed the third of my 3 charity challenges having previously completed the Yorkshire 3 Peaks 12 hour challenge in 9 hours 55 minutes and the National 3 Peaks 24 hour challenge in 23 hours 41 minutes.

All 25 of us made it to the top however there were casualties along the way with some of the gang suffering various stages of altitude sickness some of them very bad including Hanna our team medic who later had to be stretchered of the top. I was one of the fortunate ones who didn’t suffer but my luck was soon to run out

Two and a half weeks before we set of for Tanzania I had a bizarre motorbike accident and bashed up my leg, undeterred by this and supported by an x-ray that didn’t show any damage other than soft tissue damage I was determined that I would make it to the summit. During the 5 Days of trekking although my leg hurt and was badly swollen by the end of each day I managed to slowly keep up roughly with my fellow travellers. It’s amazing what sheer bloody stubbornness and overdosing on pain relief can achieve, although I had to take it a bit easy I still managed the tricky terrain albeit I struggled more with the downhill sections rather than.

Having reached the summit we were now faced with a relentless downhill section with no let up and for the first 4 hours on uneven rocks and scree. I very quickly found myself in trouble and was experiencing great difficulty managing more than a few paces without searing hot pain in both my knee and foot, Roger one of the guides took my day sack and held on to my arm all the way back to Barafu camp where we had set off what seemed a life time ago but in fact 12hours previously. The descent was as relentless as the ascent and at some stage I was praying to whatever god would listen that the ground would level off or even go back up hill, it seemed that my prayers might be answered as we approached Barafu but the path going uphill that I saw was nothing more than an mirage. After a hour and a half rest some more painkillers and a bit of lunch we set off for Millennium camp another gruelling 5 hour trek once more all downhill by which time I was so tired and aching I almost gave up on my mantra of just one more step one foot in front of the other. Eventually we reached camp and after a light dinner and congratulations I crashed in my sleeping back for a sleep to beat all sleeps. The following morning we set off down the final stage of our adventure to be met with a chorus of singing from the entire Porter and guide crew all 100 of them singing in Swahili, songs of celebration for what we had achieved, there were garlands and hugs and handshakes and a welcome beer and BBQ lunch, the mountain was conquered.

Since my return I have learnt that as a result of the motorbike accident I suffered before travelling to Africa I have been carrying at least one fractured bone in my foot along with damaged muscles and bruising to my bones, in addition in my knee at least two torn ligaments with various other damage including a small piece of bone floating about where it shouldn’t, suggesting it chipped from my tibia. It appears that I climbed to the roof of Africa with a broken foot and leg – ouch! That explains why I suffered coming down the mountain, during my climb and especially during the descent I was in considerable pain but I was determined to achieve my ambition to reach the Kilimanjaro summit not only for myself but to honour a pledge to little Katy Homes who I never had the pleasure of meeting and who died tragically last year of a brain tumour aged 10 years old and who like so many other young children will never have the opportunity to experience life in the same way as you and I, I can’t think what else a man has to do to raise funds for such a worthy cause.

In this time of austerity it is understandable that there is an atmosphere of charity apathy, should you have decided not to make a donation to my cause I respect your choice  if however you would like to make a donation and help save children’s lives and put an end to brain tumour deaths please visit my Just Giving site https://www.justgiving.com/Mark-Maynard1

Together with your help I have raised in excesses of £3700 towards the Katy Holmes Trust and in doing so have helped fund a cure for Childhood Brain Tumours So I would like to say from the bottom of my heart a great big

THANK YOU

For me the final phase of my journey is about to begin with the two time trials successfully and firmly behind me the real mountain is looming up ahead. My bag has had its final practise pack having needed a bit of surgery to reduce the contents to the allowable 15KG limit, who would have thought that baby wipes and energy bars would weigh so much. All my preparations are done or about as done as I can be with the exception of a minor setback involving a fight with a 220kg motorcycle using my leg to cushion the blow as it fell with me to the ground in a freak accident, obviously the god assigned the duty of looking out for me took his eye off the ball for a moment or two that day. But fear not the damage is minor with no broken bones the swelling has come down from the size of a water melon and now resembles something akin to a knee, nothing some painkillers and a good sports therapist and a bit of black magic can’t cure, one thing to be sure it’ll never be said that I like my challenges easy. But the really good news you’ll be pleased to hear, is my bike only suffered minor damages mostly cosmetic Pheew!!!

With just 2 days to go to get my leg straight Liz and I fly out to Heathrow to meet up with our fellow Kili travellers and our flight to Nairobi in Kenya where we catch a shuttle flight to Kilimanjaro Airport in Tanzania. After overnighting in Moshi at the foot of the mighty Mount Kilimanjaro we will set of on our 7 day trek to the roof of Africa 5895m (19340ft) above the clouds taking in 5 different climate zones including Savannah, Rain Forest, Mooreland, Alpine Desert and finally Artic as we pass through  16400ft with temperatures ranging from 25deg C in the Bushland to minus 20deg C at the summit, tackling the amazing Barranco Wall  a 1000ft vertical accent along the way

Apart from the lions and hyenas the major concern during the journey will be AMS acute mountain sickness, which can affect anyone regardless of their level of fitness and if not addressed quickly can be fatal, this usually takes affect above 4000m and is combated by acclimatisation which is done by climbing high then coming back down to sleep at a lower altitude. To give us a better chance of actually getting to the summit we have an extra days acclimatisation built into the trek and in addition we will be taking Diamox a medicine developed to help combat the symptoms of AMS. As it is a complete lottery who gets affected by AMS there is no point in worrying and is just something I’ll have to face and deal with on the day which leaves me plenty of time to worry about the lions and hyenas, with this gammy leg I ‘ll not be able to run as fast as everyone else  and will probably end up as the sacrificial meal, only joking, we should be well away from any such wildlife and will be very lucky spot anything more exotic than a monkey but you never know, if my god is back to paying full attention???

So the day is nearly here it has come round quite quickly and I am sure that you will wish me luck, I will in return do whatever it takes to get me to the top of this mountain taking your support with me and as always will remember that the reason for doing so is not only to achieve a personal goal but to remember Katy Holmes who should have celebrated her 12^th birthday last week, the day I had my motorcycle accident and to raise funds to help put a stop to this cruel illness. Since my last blog at least 2 more families life’s have been ruined with the news that their child has a cancerous brain tumour and with it a life sentence, so once again I implore you to donate if you can to this very worthwhile cause, please donate whatever you can afford £1 £5 £10 or more and in doing so help put an end to Childhood brain tumours. If you haven’t already done so please do visit my Just Giving page and make a donation https://www.justgiving.com/Mark-Maynard1  or by texting KMAN61 and the amount to fiths

Thank You for your Support and belief in me

Kind Regards

Mark

The National 3 Peaks challenge to climb the three highest mountains in Scotland England and Wales within 24 hours started with a minor setback: When offered the free use of a 17 seater minibus and free tank of fuel from Northgate Vehicle hire in Horwich we jumped at the chance, however considering we were setting on of a time trial you can imagine the language as we hit the motorway and discovered the 60mph limiter

As for the peaks themselves individually they were challenging but collectively they were tough, on “the Ben” we started in rain at 4pm leaving behind the cosy warm comforts of the bar at the official start to the Nevis climb just as the atmosphere was picking up as the day trippers all came down from the mountain with their tales of snow and fog and howling winds at the summit. They weren’t wrong, with a snow and ice capped peak and winds blowing 90 to 100 miles an hour did proving to be a problem and people literally being blown off their feet as we got to the top  we sensibly made a decision not to hang around especially with 2000ft vertical cliffs just meters away, so we quickly headed down  back through the rain to complete our first peak in 5 hours and 5 minutes.

The journey to Scafell was hampered somewhat with fog over the Cumbrian fells reducing the speed to 10mph and a stop to throw up what little food I had consumed thanks to the wallowing nature of the bus and travel sickness. We arrived at Wasdale Head shortly after 3am donned our gear turned on the head torches and set off up Scafell Pike in the dark and fog at 3:30am up its punishing relentless path, remembering to keep left at the fork for fear of crossing the scree. Just short of the summit Dominique could go no further as she was in severe pain from an injury she picked up on Nevis when she slipped and hurt her leg, so she turned back whilst Kev and I finished our climb and quickly caught back up with Dominique only to find she too had thrown up. The top of the mountain was even more so covered in cloud and although it was daylight by now there was not a view to be seen. With Dominique suffering from her leg strain and Kev’s knees starting to cause him some pain we carefully made it down the hill as quickly as possible getting back to the bus at 7:47am having completed the hill in 4 hours and 17 minutes things were still looking good.

After a change of clothes we left Cumbria at 08:30 and headed south once more to Wales and the promise of sunshine on our third and final and definitely my favourite mountain Snowdon which from my from a point of view that unlike the Scottish and Cumbrian mountains with a peak that towers on the top of an almost pyramid shape block of rock and granite with stunning views over lakes and mountains and which looks beautiful just as much covered in grass or snow, fortunately for us there was no snow to be seen as we set of in the sunshine, joined by Liz by my Kilimanjaro partner, at 1:36pm on this our last leg of this great challenge feeling tired having only cat napped for about an hour and a half in the last 28 hours. Kevin and Dominique struggled up the steep inclines but their spirits never broke no matter how much pain they were in and although we were going slower that hoped we made good progress cheered on by Liz and her friend Cath and we made it to the top of Snowdon in the cloud touching the summit in 2 hours and 35 minutes later at 3:41pm 23 hours and 41 minutes after setting off up Ben Nevis, the 3 mountains in 3 countries conquered. To celebrate this and because of the amount of Pain Kevin and Dominique were in we decided to have a wee sit down to a cup of tea and cake in the café at the top before heading leisurely and carefully back down the mountain to arrive back at the bus to Andrew our driver and a glass of celebration Champagne at 18:53 were waiting for us- Job Done

Would I do it again? – Possibly, certainly as individual climbs without the clock ticking and definitely not before Kilimanjaro, I kid you not it is a tough challenge but once you have completed it you know you have achieved something special, there was a fleeting moment on the Snowdon ascent when I doubted that I could do it but the thought that I was doing it in memory of beautiful little Katy Holmes who suffered much more than I was and more than I could imagine before finally succumbing to the Cancer of her cruel brain tumour and knowing that she was looking over us and willing us on gave me the strength to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Another child somewhere in the UK has been diagnosed with this cruel illness this week and his or her parents will have been told that there is no hope and in all likeliness they will die. What I am doing is nothing compared to the suffering these children and their families are going to suffer, please you know I am doing my bit to put an end to this, do your bit, please donate to this cause, £1 £5 £10 whatever you can afford and help put an end to Childhood brain tumours. If you haven’t already done so please do visit my Just Giving page and make a donation https://www.justgiving.com/Mark-Maynard1  or by texting KMAN61 and the amount to 70070

Thanks go out to Andrew our trusty driver who was steady and kept us on track and provided moral support and made sure that we arrived safely and on time at our designated drop of points and being there ready to go at our pick-ups. Thanks to Liz and Cath for geeing us along on the Snowdon and a special thank you to my daughter Dominique and her fiancé Kevin for doing the challenge with me and for working through the pain and the sleeplessness to see it through to the end

With Less than 3 weeks to go before My trek up the 5500m Mount Kilimanjaro I would like to thank you for your support and well wishes, Kili will be different especially with a vastly depleted oxygen supply, about 50% less than we breathe down here and the inevitable worst hangover possible effects of altitude sickness but I am now beginning to get excited about the prospect of standing on top of the roof of Africa

Watch this space for updates to see how I get along

Don't let anyone fool you into thinking the Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge is a walk in the park, its a walk and its in the National park but it is anything but easy. We set off with a target of achieving the 25 mile 5200 ft challenge in less than 10 hours and made it with just 5 minutes to spare clockin out at 07:33 and arriving back at the car at 17:28 with aching feet and limbs the likes I have never experienced before. We might have done better but for some cramps slowing us down a couple of times.

Pen-y-Gent is an impressive start to any walk and for the first mile is mostly hidden by the lower hills but pretty soon it towers above you leaving you wondering how you’ll ever get to up its steep slopes. Just as we start the ascent a snow shower passes through just to let us know that the tail end of winter is still lingering on and refusing to let go, so it’s heads down follow our fellow 3 Peakers and before you know it you are on the windswept summit with time to catch your breath and take a few photos as evidence of the achievement before the downhill slog and the long walk to Whernside

People had warned me that the toughest section would be the long section between Pen-y-Gent and Whernside and there not wrong it seems to go on forever. We shared the day with a lot of others all eager to conquer the 3 peaks but the most surprising were the crazy people who were out in force for the annual 3 peaks fell race. Just as John and I were contemplating the best route up Whernside the leading runner came running past us at a pace I couldn’t consider and then shortly followed by a train of hundreds of crazies running in his footsteps to run directly up the shear face of the hill, well if it was good enough for them we said.... so we set of behind them only to experience a trudge up the steepest of slopes which left the calves burning, but it was hard to be critical or to complain as the never ending snake of runners kept coming by but even these hardened athletes had to slow down at the almost vertical ascent as we approached the summit. Having reached the summit it was a bit of an anti climax and very non-descript and windswept emptyness which makes you wonder why anyone would want to climb to the top of it, at least with Pen-y-Gent and Ingleborough there was a sense of achievement once you got to the top and there wasn’t the ankle breaking, knee twisting paths on the way down, again I applaud the runners not only for running the 25 miles up the same hills we slogged up but for running on such poor surfaces my hat goes off to each and every one of them.

After we descended from Whernside we were faced with a 5 mile or so trek to Ingleborough which is where the cramps started in the inner thigh enough to make an old man cry but with so far still to go the only way to deal with them was to walk through it and hope they didn’t reappear as we ascended the “staircase” up to the top of the rock strewn summit of Ingleborough where we take a moments pause to take the obligatory phots and to celebrate the achievement of climbing the three peaks,before starting the 6 mile ascent back to Horton village. Sadly they the cramps started again within 4 miles of the finish but with the end in sight and a well earned beer awaiting us there was no stopping

So apart from recommending that they remove Whernside from the challenge and calling it the “Twa Peaks” what have I learned:

25 miles is a long way especially when carrying excessive unnecessary weight, so for the Nationals and Kili  I will reduce the weight of my pack to the bare essentials
Previously I just take water with diluted squash to provide a bit of sugar and flavour as a means of rehydration, despite drinking all of the 2 ltrs in my camelback and a half of the reserve bottle I still suffered cramps probably because I sweated a lot of salts and minerals so a larger 3 Ltr reservoir is required and use the of sports rehydration drinks will be a must especially for kili where I expect to leak a lot in the heat

Ice packs applied to my worn out knees are very useful after long walks, the ice bag I bought from the Physio Room is a godsend saves on having to eat all those defrosted peas

And most importantly it is possible and no matter how crap it feels as you plod on you just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other and you’ll get there

3 Peaks – Bring it on

With less than 3 days to go to the Yorkshire 3 peaks, my first challenge, I ask myself "have I done enough"? I am not fooling myself into thinking it will be easy, 25 miles and a total climb of 5200 feet all within 12 hours it is certainly going to be a challenge. I have worked hard in the gym and on the hill I just hope I have done enough and that my knees and I don't let you all down

There is an early start up at 5 before driving to Horton and starting the challenge at 07:00 wish me luck and watch this space for an update

With snow covered peaks set against beautiful blue skies, slopes that looked like you needed a ladder to climb them and with snow so deep in places you sank up to you groin we set off to conquer Snowdon. It promised to be a wonderful day even as we approached the Snowdonia National park and could see the beautiful outline of the great mountain itself. I have to confess to thinking that Snowdon

 was a boring flat topped mountain typical of the mountains and hills in the UK as such was not prepared for the beautiful sight that awaited me, as the peaks rose out of the rocky ground I swear I could have been in Switzerland.

Liz and I were accompanied for the weekend by Sarah who started the whole Kilimanjaro thing but now sadly cannot come and an old work colleague of Liz's Tim and his 12 year old Son Findlay and their two dogs. We had set off having decided to take the “easier” Miners trail but soon realized that getting to the top would be harder than we imagined with 3 seriously steep snow covered slopes  to tackle and had to turn back after a couple of hours slogging in knee deep snow and a monster of a climb up a steep slope to approximately 2/3rds of the way to the top, Findlay was cold and wet by this time so for safety reasons we decided to call it a day and headed back to the hotel for a shower and beer

After a few good beers, a lovely meal and acomfortable bed we god up to here the tales of woe as Tim regaled  the unfortunate incident of one desperate dog and a locked door without a key, fortunately the hotel were rather understanding but will need to clean their carpets. Following a good breakfast and after Sarah deciding that she didn't feel well enough to make it to the top and decided to stay near the hotel we set off once more as intrepid adventurers to conquer Snowdon only this time taking the Pyg route which although is a long incline it gets height quite quickly and avoids the first of the steep slopes. The conditions were much as the Saturday with deep snow and very narrow paths carved out in the footprints of fellow adventurers but it was steady going. We met so many different characters along the way most of them sensibly kitted out with ice axes and crampons, I confess to thinking on more than one occasion how handy some crampons would’ve been. Some people were bizarrely dressed in jeans and training shoes and one guy even put a pair of gloves over the toes of his training g shoes in order to give him grip, it obviously worked as he sped past us on the way to the top of the mountain, whether his gloves held out for him on the way back down I cannot tell. Any way 21/2 hours after setting of we finally made it to the top to a wind-blown point with an uninterrupted 360 deg view of some spectacular scenery, the hopes of a hot coffee and a chance to rest were dashed as the café was closed as was the railway. 

We stopped only long enough to take some photos and made our way back down following the railway track to a welcome beer at the end of our journey Snowdon conquered and some useful information gleaned for the 3 peaks in May, without the snow I think it is very reasonable to tackle the climb up and back down in 4 hours but having said that it will be the last peak and the bones will be weary – bring it on!!

What a busy Easter weekend started off by finding myself out of breath after crossing the road in Accrington from the Nationwide Tyre fitting centre to the Home Base across a busy road, when I came back fto my car which was having a couple of front tyres fitted, carrying a log burning bowl which I begged off them as a raffle prize I found myself out of breath. That doesn't bode well for Kilimanjaro does it? I am not sure if I was feeling unfit or it was the effect of having to pay £250 for the tyres

Climbed my favourite hill on Friday covering 9 miles and about 2000ft accent in under 3 1/2 hours, maybe not so unfit after all. met Liz to have a workout at her gym and then lunch, did a crazy work out involving ten 30 second sprints on the treadmill at a steep incline followed by an amazing stair machine, basically   climbing up an escalator going the wrong way all the way to the top of the CNN building in Toronto. Don't remember the guy who threw the bucket of water over me but I wish he wouldn't. After lunch we had a nice 3 mile walk down the canal to the pub and 3 miles back

Sunday was a lazy day but Monday Liz Tim and I set off for Kinder Scout a 636m peak in Derbyshire which made a nice change from

Pendle and a bit of practice for Liz before we tackle Snowdon next weekend

Only 3 weeks to go to the first challenge in Yorkshire and my knees are killing me already, after a little panic with having no driver for the National 3 peaks I sent out an advert on Tuesday and got a volunteer, panic over

With only 5 weeks to my charity dinner my event’s organiser bailed out because of other commitments, panic back on, still it can’t be that hard to organise   a 3 course dinner with Champaign, Hollywood themed Glitz and Glamour reception for 120-150 people and live music can it?? It would be a shame to cancel it so there is only one thing to do  so I'll have a go

Watch this space

Woke up this morning and the sun was shining, seems a long time since that happened, so I donned my new boots and set off to tackle Pendle hill from the east a different direction to my normal climb which would see me on a new 9 mile route  passed woodland copse's and reservoirs but no matter how beautiful the scenery there was no escaping the 250m climb to the top of the hill, but it was warm and I had time on my hands and it gave me some extra time to road test my new boots and Pacer poles. The boots aren’t the most comfortable I’ve worn but I am sure once I have bedded them in they will do the job just fine, at least they are dry which is more than I can say for my other pair. The poles are proving to be a god send and once you get used to walking with them, it’s a bit like being back on the parade square, you really notice their advantage feeling less tired and out of breath on the steep accents. For those of you who are interested i9n what I think about the Pacer pole I wrote a review for John Smith, yes that really is his name, of Whalley Warm and dry who kindly donated a pair of poles, please see the attached document. Pacer Poles.docx (17,2 kB)

I spent a very enjoyable evening with a kind lass named Rachael who climbed Kili in Sep 2011 and who very generously offered a couple of hours to discuss her experience of the climb she offered me so many little tips that should provide invaluable not least of all using the ribbon you tie around your bags handle, so you can identify it at the airport baggage collection, to tie on you tent so that you can identify which out of the 30 or more tents in the pitch black darkness is yours after you come back from having a wee. She told the story of one man who couldn’t find his tent so started calling out his tent buddies name, who unfortunately was wearing ear plugs and was the only person not to be woken up by the poor chaps desperate calls

Donations to the fund so far have reached £450 in cash donations and pledges of another £350 if you have donated a great big thank you it really is a fantastic cause. If you are reading this and haven’t yet donated please do give whatever you can via www.justgiving.com/Mark-maynard1 or you can text KMAN61 to 70070

After a period of absence during the Christmas frivolities and a bout of illness, well I am a man and life wouldn't be the same without a bout of man flu

So what's new, well not a lot actually, back to the gym 5 days a week, I really am learning to hate that bloody rowing machine, thank goodness for my I-pod and some well selected tunes. I have been up Pendle hill every weekend with the exception of one when the weather was foul but failing that I have been up in freezing conditions with howling winds reminiscent perhaps of what life is going to be like on top of the mountain and then this weekend past 6 inches of snow sometimes up to my knees. Given a choice of walking in the snow or wet I think I'd choose the wet, you get

 just as wet but it is easier to walk in than snow I felt I walked twice the distance, it took me almost an hour longer to do the same distance

I have been test driving a pair of Pacer Poles to which are trekking poles with moulded hand grips to give a better thrusting action which reduces the energy used for each pace you take. Using the poles will save energy and improve my posture and ultimately help me

 walk faster which will come in useful during my the two timed three peaks challenges. I have been asked to write a review on the poles which have been kindly donated by Whalley Warm and Dry watch this space

Have also distributed my Charity Challenge poster to all the high street retailers in Whalley and had some positive feedback and although promises of donations none yet received in the pot, this is proving harder than I thought. Still There is an article coming out in the Live Ribble Valley magazine next week perhaps I can use that as a platform to propel my campaign forward

Until next time