Kilimanjaro - Day 1

Lemosho Gate - 2,100m Mti Mkubwa Camp - 2650m

7 km hike - approximately 4 hours

The day I had been waiting for had finally arrived. The start of my trek along the Lemosho route on Mt Kilimanjaro.

I was ridiculously excited - and had absolutely no idea what was in store for me. That's probably just as well as it was tougher than I could have ever imagined.

We had our briefing at around 6pm the night before. We were briefed by Isaac, who was the base guide for G-Adventures. He led the introductions and we were a group of 8 people. As well as myself, there was Margot and Brandon a mother and son from Ireland, Gavin also from Ireland, Ursula from Germany but now living in Canada (who I spent the last couple of days with), Zak and Natalie a couple from Wales and London and Nicole from Switzerland. Everybody in our group was really nice - we all got on very well and it was apparent from the outset that we were going to make a great team.

At this point, we were paired off but I was an extra female so discovered that, although I didn't pay for a single supplement, I would be on my own in my tent - probably a good thing as I have discovered that I'm a bit of a nightmare with always needing to visit the bathroom in the night etc!

We were introduced to James, our mountain head guide or CEO (Chief Experience Officer) and he seemed very quiet but very nice. His full amazing personality would appear once we hit the mountain!

We were told what to expect and we discussed our kit and what we might want to hire. We were also offered a kit check in our room, which I was grateful to take up. James came to check my kit and was happy - he told me I had obviously done my research and was well prepared. The only thing I needed to hire was a set of gaiters.

After our briefing, we all had dinner together and then got an early night - we were all nervous and excited, although I was a little intimidated by the levels of fitness of the others. They were all super fit, doing Iron Man, running marathons, lots of trekking and mountain experience - and then there was me!

I was way too excited to sleep and spent the night visualising what it would be like at the top of the mountain that I could see from my window.