Annoyingly it was one of the best sleeps I have had! Up and out and of course we have to pack everything away but as I am taking most of my clothes, that was easy. By 1am we were off. It was quite cold to start and I was a little concerned about my fingers not being warm enough so stowed my poles and set about putting one at a time under my armpit. It soon had the desired effect. With all of the gear on except the Rab Jacket I was warm enough until we started climbing up the breach which was so painfully slow - they had put the slowest at the front. At the first halt I put on my Rab jacket which helped but overall I was still quite chilly. I did ask Andy of those of us fitter and faster could carry on (with a guide) but he seemed reluctant so I didn't push it. Maybe I should have predicted this and discussed it with one or two others beforehand them presented it to him as an option. We had four Tanzanian Guides plus Andy so it was 2:1 client to guide ratio so plenty of spare in case of Emergency and there were at least four of us who could have moved quicker.

At one point Angela had a moment but it was dealt with (I'm guessing with Diamox) and she perked up. As we climbed, gradually we could see the sun hitting the top of the crater, tantalisingly close. Eventually we crested the rise at 7:30am and were hit with some real warmth. We could see the ice fields and also right in front was the Furtwangler Glacier which, according to Andy, had shrunk dramatically, now less that the size of a football pitch I would guess.

Some of us wandered over for a closer look before heading toward the final steep climb. Towards the top Andy gave me the go-ahead to push on so I crested and followed the path up a slight incline to a false summit, beyond which I could see the real summit so headed for that. arriving just before 9:30am to wait my turn for photos - there was a South African group taking every conceivable photo. Soon enough the others arrived and we too took every conceivable photo!

Heading down was quite steep to start with which made the knees and thighs complain bitterly. I had my poles out to ease the pain but with 3-4 hours down I was beginning to have a sense of humour failure. We stopped for a break at the higher camp (Barafu) which was nice. Unfortunately Vanessa was suffering from a serious headache which was getting no better with descent which was a worry. I offered to stay with her until Andy arrived which I did, then set off down with Thomas for company. The terrain was smooth with the odd rocky outcrop and whilst easy underfoot was tiring on the legs being continually down. Thomas and I enjoyed each others company - well, I enjoyed his! Chatting about life in the UK and life in Tanzania - very different. During the descent I couldn't help noticing that I felt a little light headed which I put down to the extremely long day and probable dehydration as I had not quite finished my two litres of water which is not nearly enough for such a long day. I seem to recall a similar but more severe case of it on Aconcagua - this time only very mild. I did notice as well that my short term memory was lacking and I couldn't remember what we had been chatting about, so probably asked the same question several times. Finally we reached the camp site just after 3:00pm as I finished the last of my water, some 14 hours after leaving Arrow Camp. After locating a free tent, I decided to lie down for a while. Mark and Angela and Pete had arrived shortly before us, not surprising as I had waited with Vanessa.

Of course there was admin to do so I forced myself up to get washed and changed and sort my gear, plus 'make the bed'. I asked one of the kitchen guys for a water refill which arrived quickly to my great relief and I guzzled it down in a few minutes, then, to his surprise, requested more. The remainder of the team trickled in over the next hour or so, all looking similarly tired. Dinner was an early one at 5pm and a very quiet affair as everyone seemed to be suffering from a combination of exhaustion and shock!

Soon after, we all retired exhausted needing rest for the final walk down to the gate tomorrow.