No no no, not about going, I mean about which route to take! I will be going – definitely! Got to talk today to two people who have done the mountain before. One of them has done it twice, once by Shira and once by Rongai. The other has done it about 12 times, and said to me (amongst many other pieces of helpful advice) that I should do the Rongai route at that time of year. It’s apparently quieter, more scenic, and the ‘saddle’ is fantastic, and must be seen! I know I should listen to people who have done it before, but what about the voices in my head, shouldn’t I listen to those too? – I mean they’ve never let me down before:)

Oh and the second person above that I spoke to has lots of kit which I can borrow if I want to, which is really really nice of him. He said to drop him an email and ask him whatever I want, which I really appreciate (was introduced to him by a work colleague, and so us never having met each other before this is really great of him). Oh, and one of the other things he told me was to “take Diamox early”, like before getting on the plane. I’m unsure totally about this, I’m really not a pill popper at all, but if it stops me getting AMS then I’m not going to dismiss the idea altogether yet – more of Diamox I think in a later blog…..

I also got a wonderful email from Henry, who tells me amongst other things that Meindl boots are the absolute dog’s danglies, and that his have lasted him forty two billion trips up Kilimanjaro, and a lot more besides, so that is good enough for me. In the words of Roman Abramovic, ” I buy them!” Oh and he also offers to put a link to my blog on his website (not sure why yet, I am sure he hasn’t read any of it), which is very nice indeed….I must book a holiday with his company one day:)

Talked to my daughter on Skype tonight about the trip, it is the first time we have chatted about it. She said that she thinks that I’m mad, but that she can maybe understand it if it is something that I really want to do. However, she concludes again that I am mad, about three times. I think that on balance, she is probably right, so I agree with her.

Finally, I found a link to a way to test your fitness (or at least oxygen absorption) levels, which involves a VO2 test, or something like that (I thought it was a type of shampoo?). Apparently you download a pulse test, and play it over your MP3 player, and then place two traffic cones on a field twenty metres apart. Then you simply have to run between the traffic cones (do you need to dress up for this one?, I’ll have to find out…), and count the number of times you can do it backwards and forwards before you cannot get to the next traffic cone before the next pulse sounds. Sounds like I need to do it 63 times to be “average” for my age – sounds like a lot to me, especially if I am seen doing it and burst into hysterical laughter. Maybe my daughter is right……..