Day two on the mountain was in some ways my favourite day of all, and in other ways it was the worst. It was a heck of a day, that is for sure. It had so much. We met and took a photograph with all of the the crew for the first time; we got absolutely stunning views of Kibo for the first time; it was our first full day walking on the mountain; and then later on I got to understand what AMS, albeit mild, felt like. So here we go:

So we were woken at about 6am, with tea in our tents – how civilised! We had to be ready to start trekking at 7.30, as we had 12k to walk today, and over 1000m of ascent, so it would be our first proper exertion really.

The views early on were stunning – here was my first proper view of the summit from our camp:

Kibo - so near and yet so far.......

And very shortly after breakfast at about 7am, we get a view of the other peak on Kilimanjaro, which is Mawenzi, at 5,100m. This time we have all of the crew to meet, porters, cooks, assistant guides you name it, they are here all twenty five or so of them:

Mawenzi Peak, and all of our crew.

We are soon walking, and the weather is totally cloudless, and before long we are greeted with outstanding views of the summit (Kibo), and here is a picture of all of us together:

Nice spot to stop for a picture, don't you think?

The summit at times looks tantalisingly close, and at others looks like it is perched in the sky about a million miles away. Either way, it is fixating, magnetic. It is all I can do to to stop myself taking a thousand photographs, but am conscious of the need to preserve batteries – I have three all together, but have no idea how many will last on summit night when the cold hits.

We stop for lunch at a place called Second Cave at about 3,500m. It is so hot and the sun is burning. Without sunblock (I had Factor 50) you would really fry here, as each of Kamal, Tamara and Tayma found out. We were also already above most of the clouds. Lunch was great, although I cannot remember what it was:)

We head off in the afternoon for Kikelewa Camp, at 3,700m, a further 6km or so away. Although not particularly strenuous, the walk is hard. I realise already that I am not drinking enough water. My Camelback has 3 litres in and I have a separate 1 litre bottle – but I drink probably less than half of this. It is not enough, with the sunshine, the walking and especially the altitude, which is already enough to affect you if you are not used to it.

On the way to camp, we are definitely two distinct groups at all times. Kamal, Tamara, Tayma and Ronan are at the front by some margin, but they are all in their twenties. We nickname them “the tweens’. Caroline and Heather take it easy, and I am glad of it. The motto for walking slowly in Swahili is “Pole, Pole” – as far as I am concerned you cannot go  slowly enough, so I ask Deo if we can go “Pole, pole, pole, pole, pole” – I am not sure he sees the joke, but we go even slower anyway, so that works for me.

On the way to camp, Caroline introduces Heather and I to the Shocker (not literally I hasten to add). I think I should just leave it right there, and so I will:). By the time we get to camp it has been a long day already. I am starting to feel a headache coming on. Kikelewa is not pretty, but we do have great views of Mawenzi and also Kibo (seen below) in the distance:

Kikelewa camp, approaching sunset

After getting to camp I feel pretty bad. My head pounds like I have been hit with a cricket bat, and I feel nauseous. The popcorn that I have been looking forward to sounds revolting, and I go and see Deo and tell him what is wrong. He says “take 500mg of Paracetamol”. Although I hate taking tablets of any kind, if he had said “take two kilogrammes of Paracetamol”, I would have done it. I just needed some relief. I went straight to my tent and slept instantly, like I hadn’t slept for a week. I was woken by someone for dinner, and ate it, feeling mildly less nauseous, but stilll headachy. It was all a bit of a blur really – I think we may have played cards (Yuker, which I learn afterwards is spelled “euchre” – thanks Caroline:)), and I think this may have been a picture of Heather after she had done some sort of barn door thing after winning or something:

Hmmmmm, not a card trick that I have seen before....

But I am ready to hit the hay and do so relatively early. I am grateful for a great and long day on the mountain, and hope that the night passes without incident…………..