Thursday, 10 February 2011

Summit night

Well we are back at camp after a most eventful summit night. 13 of the 16 of the group successfully summited the highest free standing mountain in the world that is kilimanjaro.

Sadly Brian Harris, Tony Woodhams and Antonio duarte ( who chose yesterday not to try because of AMS but is already fully recovered) didn't quite make it.

But the statistics just don't tell the story on this climb. We have had extreme altitude induced nausea, sickness, complete personality and memory loss, dizziness, loss of balance, single eye and both eye temporary blindness and lots more besides!

We "arose" at 10pm Wednesday night local time already dressed in just about every piece of clothing we had with us. It was about minus 6 outside so not too bad. And fortunately no wind or rain. We ate a small biscuit meal, drank plenty of liquid and set off at 11pm.

Our summit attempt comprised a climb of 4,400 feet (so just more than Ben Nevis) but at altitude less than half of that at sea level. For non experienced climbers even putting one foot in front of the other at this low oxygen level is extremely challenging.

The first part of the climb was pretty straight forward but the gradient soon changed to very steep and loose scree underfoot which takes twice the effort. At this juncture our summit guide was, in my opinion, climbing far too fast. More on that later!

After an hour, and just as the gradient turned even steeper at about 15,500 feet our strong willed Irish member Allyson Gormley had a significant bout of altitude sickness and was markedly sick. Of course Allyson being Allyson, immediately she had been sick turned to Jaz (our maximum Adventure leader from the UK who organised the trip with me) and literally bellowed "I'm not stopping you know so let's get going". Now Allyson has pretty much been suffering from various forms of acute mountain sickness (AMS) for the whole trip. The fact that she stubbornly refused to admit defeat at any juncture and just got on with it and reached the summit is a frankly phenomenal achievement. Ireland be proud. Certainly we all are.

Just as Allyson started climbing again, and at approximately 16,000 feet one of the group's strongest climbers in Tony Woodhams who had made absolute mincemeat of every previous day was severely affected by AMS and literally lost his eyesight and had both eye blurring and no proper visibility. When a human body cannot cope with certain levels of altitude it tends to shut down what it regards as non essential functions thereby ensuring continuity of life necessary functions such as the brain, heart etc. In such circumstances the only solution is to descend immediately back to the level where things were fine. This was put into place immediately and Tony descended. He is fine and his eyesight is fully back to normal.

At this point our leader Jaz noticed that we were ascending too fast and made a "line order" change putting first Brian Harris and then myself at the front to ensure we ascended without using up our reserves too quickly. This worked.

Some time later at around 17,000 feet we then witnessed a truly bizarre event. Liam Robb completely lost all sense of where he was, who he was and what he was doing. As a result Liam has no memory whatsoever of the latter stages of the summit climb and the further trek to the summit post. The reason Liam was not asked to descend is that in this kind of AMS induced out-of-body robotic state people often breath fine and from a well being point of view are normal. Thus Liam was allowed to continue to ascend. Liam successfully reached the summit which is an amazing achievement given the fact that he genuinely can't remember a thing! The price Liam did pay is that in doing so and without any person - function to control behaviour, Liam has used up all of - and more besides - his energy reserves and is completely and totally spent asleep in his tent. He will be dine for sure in a few hours.

At about 18,000 feet sadly Brian Harris (who despite being in his 60's had easily dealt with all previous days) had a bout of AMS which brought on dizziness and a loss of balance. Even though we were so close to the top Brian's AMS had to be dealt with and he had to descend. This was so unlucky for Brian as physically he would have got there. Brian is back in camp and gas fully recovered already.

At 5.15am we reached to crater rim (kilimanjaro is an inactive volcano) called Stella Point. This was impressively quick at 6 hours 15 minutes given the stops we had made due to the AMS. What it also confirmed however was that we were indeed climbing a little to fast at the start.

From there, after a 15 minute break we made the further 45 minute journey to Uhuru Peak and the summit. We arrived well before sunrise and were one of the first groups to arrive.

During the latter stages of the climb, Shannon Millar also had AMS and has temporary blindness in one eye. This did not stop her submitting as she was so close. It will like all the others disappear later today when we start to descend to lower altitude and this improvement has already started to be evidenced at base camp.

So, the summiters:

Nigel Howlett, George Rolls, Mike Falconer, Grant Lumley, Dan Radley, the Sportingbet contest winners in Lisa Caswell, Allyson Gormley, Shannon Millar and Mike Wilesmith, Andrew Black, Liam Robb, Jane Kerindi and myself all successfully submitted.

All agreed that it was intensely hard and for most the hardest thing they had ever done. Some of the successful members have had notably tough weeks AMS-wise All have had an immensely challenging week physically and mentally.

There was a lot of emotion at the top with several men in tears!At the top the views were spectacular. We saw the sunrise, the crater, the glaciers, Uhuru peak, and neighbouring mountains in Mawenzi and Muru. Our time at the summit was short as several people had some form of AMS. Dan's AMS induced headache was particularly strong and one doesn't leave that to get worse at 19,341 feet! Again Dan has already fully recoved at base camp.

We are all back at camp now, pretty tired but extremely satisfied: as are our three friends who didn't quite get there but have played such an important part in this adventure.

Ad for me, well I am just made up. I'm made up for two reasons. Firstly, it looks as if we will have raised £120,000 for charity from this adventure which is just magnificent. Secondly, I managed today very well indeed and given that I struggled last time that is down to the understanding and selfish support of my family who have been "kilimajaro'd" for many months now as i have lost weight and got fit..... and also a man called Gareth Hicks who trained me for this and self evidently put me in great shape.

Well I'll sign off now. This will be the last blog posting as later today and tomorrow we will descend and rhen return to our hotels and then home. We all smell, look like death and are so looking forward to a shower, a change of clothes, a proper bed, a beer and then of course back home!!!

In the meantime thanks for reading. On average the blog has been read by 275 different people each day and that's just great. Every member of this very strong and friendly group has put their heart and souls into this week and no doubt will have many tales to tell and photos to share. We will be producing a website with the best of the photos on so if anyone would like a link please email me at nigel@nigelandpaula.com

Cheers

Sent from Nigel Payne's iPhone

Wednesday, 9 February 2011

Day 6 base camp

> We have arrived at base camp some 4,600 metres high after a difficult night on day 5 and a hard journey here.
>
> Last night in camp saw spectacular views of the mountain and the land below coupled with a fantastic electric storm..... But also the not so fantastic strong winds (literally nearly lifting the tents up....the toilet tent did indeed blow away).
>
> Last night Allyson was put through the wars. With her face and hands swollen, tightness across her eyes, a headache and nausea Allyson was uncomfortable to say the least. The determination of this young lady is however quite remarkable. Allyson has suffered pretty much from the get-go yet she has made it here.
>
> Allyson was medicated and the very good news is that the diamox treatment overnight has made very significant improvement. All of the swellings are gone as are the headache and nausea. At the moment and so long as there are no more adverse symptoms, Allyson has improved so much that she has been passed fit enough to start her summit attempt.
>
> Antonio, who is probably the strongest climber in the group, and has not even been remotely out of breath on any occasion so far, continued to struggle to adjust to the high altitude and his blood oxygen level remained low. For Antonio the diamox has sadly not worked. At 65% blood / oxygen this can become dangerous, thus when Antonio arrived in base camp with a headache and measured 69% this remarkably fit man took the (in my view) absolute correct decision to call it a day at base camp and not attempt the summit.
>
> Antonio was fit enough to start but the risk of something serious happening with such a marginal oxygen level is all too real and as he said himself - I love my family too much to take a risk for a photograph!
>
> It just goes to show how altitude can affect anyone at random - even the fittest. Without question antonio's climbing strength would have seen him conquer the summit but the random nature of AMS has struck again on the most unlikely person.
>
> All of the rest of the group ( save for me - see below) are in good health if somewhat exhausted. Shannon's headaches are better and everyone is looking forward to the hardest challenge of their life tonight.
>
> Sadly as for me, whilst my fitness remains good and i have no AMS symptoms, I managed to pull a leg muscle on the climb into Base camp. It has of course no time to repair. Whilst it is not completely debilitating, it nevertheless prevents me from stretching too far. I am advised that It may also do long term damage if I push it too hard.
>
> So it may be that this well limit my summit attempt to the first hour or so - but I will give it a go. Having done it before I am completely relaxed about it. I don't have that same urgency that i did last time and thus i can readily promise my family and friends at home that at the first sign of trouble I will descend. Promise!
>
> So all that remains is for me to wish everyone good luck tonight. As I am sure everyones family and friends strongly echo. Everyone is bow resting to conserve energy.
>
> I will do my best to update everyone around 12 lunchtime uk time tomorrow which is when the team will return to camp.
>
> TTFN
>
> Sent from Nigel Payne's iPhone
>

Day 6 base camp

We have arrived at base camp some 4,600 metres high after a difficult night on day 5 and a hard journey here.

Last night in camp saw spectacular views of the mountain and the land below coupled with a fantastic electric storm..... But also the not so fantastic strong winds (literally nearly lifting the tents up....the toilet tent did indeed blow away).

Last night Allyson was put through the wars. With her face and hands swollen, tightness across her eyes, a headache and nausea Allyson was uncomfortable to say the least. The determination of this young lady is however quite remarkable. Allyson has suffered pretty much from the get-go yet she has made it here.

Allyson was medicated and the very good news is that the diamox treatment overnight has made very significant improvement. All of the swellings are gone as are the headache and nausea. At the moment and so long as there are no more adverse symptoms, Allyson has improved so much that she has been passed fit enough to start her summit attempt.

Antonio, who is probably the strongest climber in the group, and has not even been remotely out of breath on any occasion so far, continued to struggle to adjust to the high altitude and his blood oxygen level remained low. For Antonio the diamox has sadly not worked. At 65% blood / oxygen this can become dangerous, thus when Antonio arrived in base camp with a headache and measured 69% this remarkably fit man took the (in my view) absolute correct decision to call it a day at base camp and not attempt the summit.

Antonio was fit enough to start but the risk of something serious happening with such a marginal oxygen level is all too real and as he said himself - I love my family too much to take a risk for a photograph!

It just goes to show how altitude can affect anyone at random - even the fittest. Without question antonio's climbing strength would have seen him conquer the summit but the random nature of AMS has struck again on the most unlikely person.

All of the rest of the group ( save for me - see below) are in good health if somewhat exhausted. Shannon's headaches are better and everyone is looking forward to the hardest challenge of their life tonight.

Sadly as for me, whilst my fitness remains good and i have no AMS symptoms, I managed to pull a leg muscle on the climb into Base camp. It has of course no time to repair. Whilst it is not completely debilitating, it nevertheless prevents me from stretching too far. I am advised that It may also do long term damage if I push it too hard.

So it may be that this well limit my summit attempt to the first hour or so - but I will give it a go. Having done it before I am completely relaxed about it. I don't have that same urgency that i did last time and thus i can readily promise my family and friends at home that at the first sign of trouble I will descend. Promise!

So all that remains is for me to wish everyone good luck tonight. As I am sure everyones family and friends strongly echo. Everyone is bow resting to conserve energy.

I will do my best to update everyone around 12 lunchtime uk time tomorrow which is when the team will return to camp.

TTFN

Sent from Nigel Payne's iPhone

Good Luck!!!

Good luck to you all in your final challenge, the biggest of them all. I think you are all amazing and our thoughts are with you.
 
To my Shannon, so far you have come and so proud I am. Tell the mountain to be kind because we have 23 sleeps until Rome :-)
 
Big hugs,
LR xo.

Tuesday, 8 February 2011

Day 5

Day 5 is over. It was a tough day but a fantastic one. Adjectives such as incredible, awesome, magnificent are flying around camp! A couple of people are suffering (see below) but we are all still standing and all 16 of us should be in a good enough condition to attempt the summit tomorrow night.

Day 4 night was cold and it rained in the night as well as quite windy. Allyson's tightness across her face and hands did not improve so we were monitoring this very closely. Also antonio's blood oxygen level fell to a low reading of 75% (should be mid 80's) and he developed a headache and temperature. A number of the group were also quite anxious at the prospect of climbing the pretty sheer looking 500m high barranco wall.

Day 5 dawned to another stunning blue sky morning. Antonio and I struggled with sleep again but we did manage to get some. At breakfast antonio's and allyson's condition had both improved and they felt much better.

We set off and set about this Goliath of a wall some 1,700 feet high. Now I as well as many in the group get vertigo so you can understand that we were a little nervous. Lisa in particular was on edge.

But we loved it. Every one of us. The young members of the team in dan radley (who is doing great) and mike Wilesmith (equally so) leapt up like mountain goats. Jumping over 4 gaps with pretty much nothing below is not something that any of us would normally be that comfortable with - but we did it and we loved it. Perhaps the most telling comment was from Andrew black (who is also doing great) who simply said "I just didn't know that I could do something like that". And that's really what this massive adventure is all about - scaling new heights both literally and within one's self.

After the barranco wall we then undulate up and down for a couple of hours and finally scaled a monster hill to enter camp.

At camp everyone is well. To help Allyson and Antonio acclimatise a little better the team leader has prescribed a small dose of diamox which should help. Both however remain strong and are walking and climbing well.

Well tomorrow is a massive day. We get up very early and climb another 2,000 feet to base camp. Arriving mid afternoon we then rest before we make our summit bid from 11pm through the night until around 9 in the morning.

All of us should be good enough to start which is a fantastic achievement in itself. I do not know when the next signal will be so please bear with us if we cannot update you until after we gave tried to summit.

Wish us luck!!


Sent from Nigel Payne's iPhone

Monday, 7 February 2011

Day 4

Well that was tough. Very tough! We are all at camp, pretty exhausted though we all remain standing!

The day began with an early morning call at 6am with breakfast at 7am. By then everyone had to be washed, packed and ready to go. The weather was sunny but again overnight the temperature had fallen to well below freezing leaving everyone's tent very damp.

Most people got a few hours sleep though for many (including yours truly) just a couple of hours.

The morning views of the summit and the clouds (now well below us) were magnificent.

We set off in bright warm sunshine and climbed steadily to 15,200 feet which was some climb! As we ascended each step became harder and harder and most of the group developed noticeable headaches. Lisa, Allyson and Shannon were particularly affected - but for friends and family of theirs this is not a concern. It is usual for ladies to acclimatise quicker than men (more oestrogen in their bodies) and this, when passed is usually a very good sign. The men have theirs to come!

After reaching 15,000 feet we had lunch close to the famous Lava Tower and by then we were shrouded in very cold mist.

After lunch we descended back down to 13,500 feet to the barranco wall camp. The weather is cold but the scenery beautiful.

Everyone is shattered after a gruelling 8 hour day and resting now before we climb the barranco wall tomorrow.

Tomorrow night (Tuesday) is our last sleep before we travel on Wednesday to vase camp and attempt to summit Wednesday night.

The team is in good spirits - but everyone is very well aware how difficult a challenge this is!

TTFN

Sent from Nigel Payne's iPhone

Sunday, 6 February 2011

Day 3

Day 3 was fascinating and enjoyed by everyone. The team remain in great spirit and good health. We are approaching the serious part of the climb bow - as we do a few headaches are appearing but nothing untoward.

Day 2 evening was cold and below freezing. For the first time people cane to dinner in arctic fear!

Everyone retired early to sleep though several people are bit sleeping well with me and Antonio leading the way with little sleep to date - but this hasn't affected us.

On day 3 morning the tents were damp caused by a huge overnight frost with ice on the tents. When we emerged at around 545 am the ground was white, about minus 5 which is unusual at this altitude.

A cold night however left a blue sky morning leaving a stunning view of the summit which lies ahead on Wednesday night. Boy it looked steep!

Day 3 warned quickly. Everything is harder work now. We are at 13000 feet and are all coping well. Tonight will be cold and tomorrow will be hard as we are climbing to 15000 feet and back to 14000 in the same day !

TRFN

Sent from my iPhone

Saturday, 5 February 2011

Hi Bruv - tony woodhams

Hi bruv.
Not sure if this appear on the blog Iam no good at this blogging stuff.
Knowing my luck your mate Nigel will have loads of e.mails from some girl he doesn't know haha.
Anyway in the hope this does reach you, just wanted to tell you that we are really proud of you and that we are thinking of you every step of the way.
All is good here, me and Dave are chillin out watching match of the day :).
Your 2nd day climb must have finished for the day so you are probably camped up for the night.  hope the experience is all that you thought it would be.
So so proud of you.
Lots of love
Sis and Dave xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx



Day 2

Day 2 was great. Great climbing, great company, great weather!

Materially harder than day 1 but everyone dealt with it fine and thrived on it. You can visibly see all the training paying off! Other than a few minor headaches here and there everyone is in good health. Nigel Howlett and I are managing our coughs and whilst they are still there, they continue to improve each day.

Few people slept very much at all on day 1 night. The combination of a strange environment, a busy camp, the night time trumpet snoring chorus from many men both in and around the group and the music from the porters served to beat the very best ear plugs we all had! Consequently we were all up at just after 6am and ready to leave by 8am.

The climb today was instantly steeper and more unrelenting than day 1 but that was to be expected after the briefing the night before. In places it was very steep but it was nevertheless manageable and no-one struggled unduly.

All in all we climbed just over 3,000 feet today and descended about 800 feet as we undulated up the mountain. Camp 2, where I am writing this, is at just over 10,000 feet. To reach this height in just two days is good climbing though it represents a sharp change in oxygen hence the minor headaches that are around.

All in all this adventure continues to go very well and I can assure you that each and every one of the team is in good spirits and looking forward to day 3.

Sadly the mobile phone signal is poor and remains extremely sporadic. So this update, like the one before it may well arrive way after the event. With a broken phone mast there's not a lot we can do about it I'm afraid. Equally it is next to impossible at present to phone home - so please bear with us. Should improve in the next 48 hours.

TTFN

Sent from Nigel Payne's iPhone

Day 1

Well I have no clue when this will send or be received so please excuse if the timings are all out. The signal is indeed broken and refuses to appear full stop!

Day 1 was great. It was dry throughout, not overly difficult and fantastic scenery. Everyone is in great spirits.

We are at camp now as i write this and boy is it busy. Literally hundreds of people: so much for this being a quiet route!!!

We began the day with a long 3 hour bus ride to the lemosho village and, once registered and our kit weighed, we then set off in 4 by 4 trucks to the start point. This latter journey was shall we say "different" as the drivers careered over 3 foot potholes with gay abandon crashing everyone all too frequently into the windows and roof. But it was fun.

At 1pm we set off and walked for 5 hours through the beautiful rainforest. We saw colobus monkeys, an eagle, many beautiful flowers and generally great scenery. Everyone coped with the climbing very well and no one had any altitude sickness - but then that is to be expected at this height to be honest.

We are now at 7,800 feet which is not bad for day 1. Everyone of the group has asked that I pass on their love to friends and family at home and to say they are all fine. I shall not do that individually but the message is very much being sent.

The really good news is that whilst still present, both Nigel Howlett's cough and my chest infection have improved during the day being out in the open and we are certainly well enough to carry on tomorrow. If we improve tomorrow at the same rate then we are both in good shape.

TTFN

Sent from Nigel Payne's iPhone

Friday, 4 February 2011

Post

 
Good luck to you all! Sending our Aussie Shannon a HUGE cuddle, miss you already.
 
- LR xo.

We are off

Morning all,

We are in a 4 by 4 on our way to the start. It's flipping bumpy so please excuse any typos.

Everyone is fine though you can feel the nervous excitement in the air! The weather is fine though the dark clouds are building so we may get wet this afternoon.

Literally on cue ad we rounded the corner to the entrance gate the mountain appeared above the clouds which caused a few gasps in the jeep !

The good news is that Nigel Howlet's cough is very much improved. I am also improving too. Hopefully by Sunday we will both be well enough to carry on.

Thanks for all your support back home. 226 people read the blog yesterday which is just great and definitely motivates the team.

TTFN

p


Sent from Nigel Payne's iPhone

Thursday, 3 February 2011

Briefing, kit bag and ready for the off

So, late this afternoon and early evening we have had a final briefing on our little adventure.

This team are dead excited, up for the challenge and literally chomping at the bit! This is particularly evidenced every time the clouds part and the mountain summit pokes it magisterial white head out high into the sky. Everyone's initial "oh my god" has been replaced by energy and enthusiasm and a determination to conquer something so incredibly massive.

At our briefing we were taken through the requirements of our kit bag. This was important as several of the party have bags which are too heavy for the porters to carry - the limit is 15kg and several are nearly 20kg. A bit of selective repacking will be needed later on!

We also went through our route. The Lemosho route that we are doing was described as one of the most attractive routes up the mountain (very good!) but also one of the hardest (not so good!). It is good for altitude acclimatisation as it undulates up and down a great deal but it is physically the second toughest in terms of how strenuous it is. Hmmm.

Regardless, after a year's preparation and a challenge that somehow was always "a long way off"....tomorrow is the big day: we are all but ready now and we head off bright and early tomorrow morning. Our first day is quite hard (oh goody) and it seems that it has been raining on the mountain today (double goody!). We had a few loud thunderous claps over the hotel too. But we all know that this isn't a holiday camp it is an extreme altitude climb and we are going to get wet.

It may be sadly that we are not able to get an Internet signal tomorrow so there may not be any update now for a couple of days. We will of course try our best. If the signal is there we will send something but a broken phone mast at the lower levels and the bad weather in the rain forest have prevented many from doing so recently.

As for the group, everyone remains in excellent spirit and the team has bonded exceptionally well. The messages from home have been really appreciated! Shannon Millar and Mike Wilesmith who met the group only yesterday have bonded perfectly and it is as if they've been old friends for years. Genuine camaraderie and laughter pervades this team which is great to see and this bodes very well for the trials over the next few days where at some point or other every one of us will need support as we acclimatise through the change in oxygen level.

As for our health, most are in perfect health. There are i am sure you will be pleased to know no new injuries or illnesses. Nigel Howlett continues with a stubborn chest infection as do I. Both of us are improving however - but at a slow pace. Basically these need to be gone by Sunday otherwise we risk our own part of the adventure being compromised. That said we are both feeling optimistic that these things can pass through their latter stages very quickly - especially in the open air. Fingers crossed!

Thanks for reading. Wish us luck!

Sent from Nigel's iPad

Another school photo

Primary school visit


This morning after a very hearty breakfast we visited a local primary school. Whilst it is so easy of course to be caught up in the emotion of these things, we can all say that we were bowled over by the school and everything about it.

The happiness on the faces of the children was very real. They genuinely understood that their parents were working in many cases three jobs to earn the $20 a term (yes twenty) to pay the school fees. They also understood that if they did not reach a certain standard then they were not allowed to progress.

And this was reflected in everything about the place. The standard these kids reached was extraordinary. 6 year olds doing maths sums like 4131 less 2356, and 8 year olds doing equations such as 3x+19=31.

And their English standard was even more impressive. 9 year olds doing English essays that I am quite sure most English school children would struggle with.

All in all a very humbling experience.

Wednesday, 2 February 2011

Safe and sound

Following the dramas of this morning's flights, the long flight from Amsterdam to kilimanjaro was pretty painless. KLM were really good: great food, excellent service, loads of legroom ( especially for grant who got a free upgrade) and helpful staff too.

We have all arrived at the hotel now safe and sound with all our luggage too. Including the fleece that Mr Howlett left at the airport that we had to go back for.....

The highlight of this afternoon's journey was seeing poor Andrew getting chewing gum over his woollen sock when he went bear foot through security ( we of course had to take our boots off). Trying to get chewing gum out of socks is no easy task!

The spirit of the group is good and the health is good too. Nigel Howlet's chest infection remains a concern though it is improving as is my own. It remains to be seen whether this will impact either of us. Antibiotics are being taken liberally at the moment as is copious amount of vitamin c. Hopefully tomorrow will be a sunny day and lots of vitamin k will help no end.

Tomorrow we are off to a local primary school and prepare for the climb which starts in earnest Friday morning at 5am uk time.


Sent from Nigel's iPad

So far so very average!

Well so far everything has been typically British really....i.e. somehow we make it work despite nothing working as it should!

We arrived at the hotel last night to find that all of our rooms had been cancelled by booking.com the agent that we used....but after an hour of "gentle persuasion" by yours truly despite the hotel being "full" we managed to get the manager and deputy managers to give us their rooms and a couple of twin rooms. All we need to do now is sort out the fact that we have paid for all the rooms twice! Once to the hotel and once to booking.com. Without doubt booking.com's fault but hey we will leave that joy until we get back.

Dinner followed the same pattern. Ordered at 8.40 it arrived at 9.50....pretty cold and somewhat uninspiring. Apparently the hotel was full and they couldn't cope....Hilton aren't much cop frankly.

But no matter today was the first real day and things would be different. Wouldnt they?

Hmmmmmm. Well until we arrived at fog bound heathrow of course. With a 150 minute window between connecting flights at Amsterdam we used up 60 minutes at heathrow due to the fog, followed by a further 20 minutes holding in the air as no one could land at Schipol, followed by a quite incredulous 15 minute taxi once we landed. So we had 55 minutes to cross from arrival terminal D to F which we have just done. We are last in the queue but we did it.

It remains to be seen if out luggage has the same British bulldog spirit!

See you in Tanzania.

Sent from Nigel Payne's iPhone