I had a restless night’s sleep, possibly due to the heat and noises coming from outside.  During the night we heard monkeys clambering around underneath and on the roof of our hut.  John and Caroline both snored, a consequence of being at such altitude.  Anne-Marie talked in her sleep too.

We got up at 6:30 and were met by a glorious red sunrise.  Words couldn’t describe how beautiful it was.

I went for a wash and got back to the hut to sort out my baggage.  We went back to the dining hut for a breakfast of cheese, bread, porridge, coffee and mango.  It was a huge meal but everyone woofed it down as we were going to need to.  I even managed to get some bacon too!

After breakfast I went back to the hut to gather my baggage ready to start trekking again.

We soon got into our rhythm and were ploughing along at a fair speed.  Within 30 minutes we had cleared the tree line and were treated to some tremendous views.  We could see for miles as the clouds don’t appear until after midday usually.  We were also lucky enough to get a good view of Uhuru Peak.  After a few attempts Brendan managed to get a good picture of me in front of the summit.

Because we were not covered by the trees we baked slowly as we made our way through the arid desert style landscape.

We stopped for lunch at about 11:30 after having crawled up what was by far the hardest point of the trek so far.  The last half an hour was really tough but John and I kept pushing each other on and I was pleased to make it to the lunch stop without having to pause for a breather.  It was good to stop though!

For lunch we were treated to peanut butter and jam sandwiches, with a banana, carrot and an orange.  I have to admit that it didn’t taste very nice but it was gobbled down quickly anyway!

As we were having lunch the clouds closed in and everything became murky and cold.

We pressed on after lunch and I spent some time talking to our guide Godliving.  He’s been doing his job for 10 years now and has lost count of the number of times he has been to the summit.

The altitude was becoming obvious to everybody now as breathing became harder.  Most people in the group started to get headaches too.  Fortunately, I was okay and kept pressing on.  El was beginning to feel pain in her knee and Amanda was feeling sick and was really struggling.  Hopefully after a good sleep they will be fine tomorrow.

We passed some unbelievable plants as we kept trekking.  Just before 2pm Horombo Huts came into view.  We’d made it and were now at 3,780m.

We checked into our huts, where I was again with John and Anne-Marie.  I went to the toilet and had diarrhoea.  The altitude was beginning to take its toll!  I immediately took two painkillers and Imodium to settle my insides down.

We had our usual cups of tea/coffee etc. with popcorn and biscuits in the dining hut.  I tried some ‘Milo’ which is a hot drink that tastes like a hot OXO and chocolate and hazelnut thrown in too.  It was okay but I think I’ll stick to coffee next time!

We went back to our huts at 3pm and whilst everyone else slept (no doubt their tiredness was caused by the altitude) I wrote my diary and read some more of ‘A Short History of Nearly Everything’ by Bill Bryson.

After several more trips to the toilet to rid myself of the effects of altitude sickness I started to feel on top of the world.  I didn’t seem to be the only suffering those symptoms either.

Before I knew it, it was time for tea.  We’d got talking in my hut and the time had slipped by.  I had three huge helpings of rice and chicken and felt great. Some people couldn’t manage much food but it wasn’t a problem for me!

I went out to do some stargazing and was lucky enough to see Orion, The Milky Way, shooting stars, satellites and Moshi down below us.  We were all in bed though by 8:30.

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