At 3am I just had to go to the Loo, so donned my Rab and trainers and headed out bleary eyed. By 6am I had to go again and 6:30am yet again so gave up trying to sleep! Usual breakfast and after listening to the Porter team giving us an excellent rendition of the 'Kilimanjaro' song, by 8:30am we headed off down the hill. I walked down with Patrick, one of our guides and Pete and we set an alarming pace, covering the 3-4 hour walk in 2 3/4 hours. It is all downhill with very (very) little flat so the knees took something of a hammering but I sensibly used my poles to minimise the fatigue and damage.

On arrival at the Mweka gate we met Andy who had left earlier with Clemence, signed ourselves out and then haggled with the local sellers; they wanted $2 for a drink, we paid $1. About 45 minutes later the others arrived and after some faff, presented the porters and kitchen staff with their tips. That done we piled into the mini bus for the ride down to the hotel. The Mweka gate is in strong contrast to the Umbwe gate we used at the start of the trip which was quite primitive, this gate is concrete with paved parking and clearly a lot of new buildings in the process of being built.

The drive down passed through primitive poor villages, then better buildings as we descended. Moshi was noticeably nicer. At the hotel, we had the usual forms to fill in, then we were given 'huts' for showering and repacking. I decided to pack my boots and rucsac in one of the bags as I can check in two hold bags so I will! That will give me much less hand luggage to worry about.

For lunch we hosted the main guides; Clemence, Bossco, Thomas and Patrick and had the usual fare of burgers and chips plus a couple of well earned beers. Then it was serious relaxing until 6pm when we left for the one hour drive to the airport. It seems there is way more traffic in the evenings which was a bit scary at times but we arrived safe. Some of the exploits included motorbikes overtaking on the inside, huge trucks overtaking with no chance of making the gap forcing oncoming traffic off the road which appeared to phase no-one!

Finally at the airport we went through the painful check-in and security process of firstly having all of our bags scanned, then check-in, then join another queue for immigration which required a form to be filled in but no notice to say we should - we just followed everyone else. Next was another queue for ticket checking and more security of our hand luggage (again) and finally into the departure lounge where we were told there would be an hour delay which was a bit of a worry as my connection time at Schipol was also one hour and that is a big airport! We'll see what happens, maybe they can make up the time.

Eventually we boarded the plane and I discovered to my great disappointment that I had an aisle seat next to two aging American Women who, without a doubt were the worst co-passengers I have ever sat by. One of them had purchased a giraffe carving which was in the overhead locker and she was paranoid about it being damaged so kept getting up and down every time someone came near. Her friend also decided she couldn't sit still so got up for a walk, then came back to sit down, then up again despite the announcement coming through that people should take their seats.

Eventually we took off and I thought that would be the end of it, but no, as soon as the seat belt sign was switched off, they were both up and off, but the flight had a stop at Dar-Es Salaam an hour later so back they came, but as soon as we landed they were up again, despite being told to stay in their seats! Finally we took off for Schipol and a kind Stewardess, who had seen my growing frustration, suggested they move to the rear of the plane where there were free seats - thankfully they went, otherwise I would have! I relaxed, had dinner and watched a film before settling down as best I could for some sleep - it was gone midnight.

I managed some sleep, lying across all three seats - not too bad, but cramped. I was woken up by the American ladies who decided to return to their seats for breakfast - why, I have no idea. One of them did remark that they were probably the worst fellow passengers ever - who was I to argue! Breakfast was very nice, although I'm not sure I was really all that hungry but decided to eat it as I might regret it later if not.

By some amazing voodoo we arrived at Schipol 30 minutes early which was impressive given that we had departed over an hour late. Good work Captain! Leaving the plane, I met up with Pete and we headed straight off to our destination gates, wanting to say goodbye to the others but of course not sure whether they had already gone, so decided to go anyway. Lucky we did! Even for transfers it was necessary to go through security again! That done, we checked with some nice Airport Staff that our gates were what we thought they were - we were right and in fact had nearby gates so were able to walk together for most of the way. It was a good long walk, I think we were as far as we could be away from our landing gate. Finally time to go our separate ways we said goodbye and headed off. On arrival at my gate I discovered that my flight was delayed by 45 minutes! How annoying, I would have had plenty of time to locate the others, oh well.

Soon enough it was time to go and boarding was smooth. Seems the delay was due to the bad weather. Again the Captain worked wonders and even though the flight was just over an hour and a quarter advertised we arrived about 20 minutes after the scheduled arrival time in Birmingham. My gear came out quite quickly and I was soon out meeting up with Robyn and heading for the car. She was impressed with my beard as I started my long tale of mountains and daring do.