Days 8,9 & 10

Day 8 ,9 and 10

I hardly remember sleeping that night, which was a first.

The mixture of utter exhaustion and oxygen rich(er) air allowed me to sleep normally.

I remember feeling sad that morning, with the deep blue sky and bright sunshine, that this was the end of my journey.

My legs were very stiff this morning, and after getting up and packing, I headed to the Mess Tent for our final breakfast on the mountain.

Spirits were high, everybody was chatty and excited to be going home, and happy that we were all together again as a team.

After breakfast, all of our guides got together to sing us songs, which was an incredible experience.

Lots of hugging followed, and we collected our things and set off for the last time to trek as a team.

The going was slightly tough, rocky at first, but quickly turning to a greener landscape.

I remember thinking that the air didn't really feel like it had more oxygen in it, but I put that down to my nose still being blocked with tons of dust and dirt.

I tried to take in as much of the surroundings as I could, knowing that I'd probably never see it again in my life. It's too easy to forget to look around when you're in survival mode.

The walk was fairly easy, but my leg muscles were so shot that any descent was hard.

We stopped for a break by some benches, and I tried to drink as much as I could because I still felt dehydrated from summit night, but the water still tasted muddy, and it made me feel queasy.

Once we set off, another Serious Fox team member Nick, had a gusher of a nose bleed.

He made a sterling effort to avoid the dreaded 'tampon nose', pretending that it had stopped, whilst blood streamed down his face.

Pretty soon, the landscape became a rainforest, not very thick at first, but quickly we were upon the Mandara huts, where we stopped for lunch. Spaghetti, and a man selling cans of coke, which was heavenly.

Amazingly, Peter, another of our Serious Fox team also then had a nose bleed. He was only to pleased to have a tampon stuck up his nose.

After a quick look at some monkeys in the trees overhead, and a few quick photos, we were ready to leave.

And so, the newly formed Team Tampon along with the rest of the team set off for home.

The final stage of the trek, from Mandara Huts to the Park Gate was absolutely breathtaking.

Even through my fully blocked nostrils, I could smell the plant life and oxygen rich air.

The views were remarkable, and everything you expect a rainforest to be like. Hoots from monkeys, bird song, and then, as if by magic, the rain.

I couldn't even be bothered to put on my waterproofs. It was just such a delight to get wet in the warm humid forest, and it was such a beautiful glorious way to end the toughest thing I'd done in my life.

Perhaps it was the euphoria of having survived, perhaps it was my body's response to breathing normal amounts of oxygen again, but either way, the rainforest was truly magical. 

At the exit gate, I stopped to take a quick photo, but it was really pouring. We all hung around waiting for the whole team to arrive before leaving on a minibus back to the hotel.

Annoyingly, but not surprisingly, there's a Gift Shop at the exit to the park.

It was tiny and full of people, so I didn't go inside.

I just remember being angry at the crowds of people, having spent more than a week in a degree of isolation.

The ride home was uneventful, apart from the hoards of gift sellers swarming around our minibus. Obviously I bought a T-Shirt.

After a few hours, we arrived back at our new hotel, and after being all given a wet towel, there was a competition to see who's was the filthiest.

You cannot imagine the dirt that gets into your skin. it's incredible.

So having checked in we made our way to our luxury rooms, which were really beautiful. There had been some problem with our first hotel, so we had been upgraded to another hotel on return.

My legs at this point had pretty much seized up. Any sitting down for more than a few minutes would result in dreadful pain on standing.

But I headed for the shower, and stood motionless for at least 10 minutes.

I had to wash my hair 3 times, and even on the third, the water was still slightly brown.

And so, washed and cleaned and in un-worn clothes, we went back to the hotel for our Gala Dinner.

It was an incredible emotional evening. People being almost unrecognisable after their showers.

There were speeches, prize givings and certificate awarding for those that had made Gilmans and Uhuru summits.

And after everybody ate like they'd never eaten before (it's amazing how only a week of limited tasting food, how the body craves variety) and drunk a few beers, we headed off to bed, glowing, but exhausted.

The following day started with a beautiful breakfast, and then a round of golf between a few of us. Only two of which had ever picked up a golf club before (I was not one of them)

It was a lot of fun, and felt very strange to be doing something 'normal' the day after such a life changing experience.

After golf, a number of us headed out to a nearby Indian Craft Centre, unfortunately Peter being left behind on account of his nose bleed that wouldn't stop.

The drive, which was supposed to take 20 minutes, took over an hour, and with very short time to spare, we all quickly bought gifts and souvenirs, and then headed back to the hotel.

We packed quickly, loaded on to the minibus, and then said goodbye to the few that were staying on for a Safari.

I don't remember a great deal about the flight home, except for the last bit, around 06:30 am, looking out of my window over London, seeing the sun rise, and reminiscing on the most amazing trip of my life. Sadness, as I looked around at the team, knowing that we would all be going our separate ways from the airport.

People who I'd only just met 9 days before, people that I now regarded as dear friends.

It was amazing, the bond that was formed between 31 people from all walks of life, was stronger than I ever could have imagined.

It sounds ridiculous even to write it now, that you could feel so strongly, but I think we all felt the same way.

On arrival, we collected our bags, said a few tearful goodbyes, and then, almost as quickly as we'd met in the same place 9 short days ago, the Marie Curie Kilimanjaro Trek team of September 2011, was gone.