Posted 22 October

That's another expedition over. It was certainly hot over 45 degrees on one day and the pack felt every bit as heavy as I feared it would (40kg). On arriving at Windhoek, I was informed at Customs that someone had died the week before attempting an easier route to that which we climbed. We had a sick medic who had to give himself an intravenous drip and one of the party dislocated his ankle on day 1. I too had to have a saline drip - the picture is too gruesome to add here!

There was good points, the spectacular night skies - shooting stars, the comradeship that develops out of hardship and we all returned safely. We saw some 5000 year old cave paintings at the one water hole we did manage to find. You wouldn't believe that a tiny pool full of weed and tadpoles could be so blissfull - it was no more than a square metre but enabled us to refill our water supplies and get us off the mountain safely.

Posted 12 October

Dear all,

This week I have joined an expedition to climb the Brandberg Mountain in Namibia.  At 2573 metres it's not particularly tall, however it is 6 day trek with no water supply other than what we can carry.  Our backpacks will weigh about 40kg.  

The temperature will be at the other end of scale to that which I encountered while skiing to the magnetic north pole in 2010.  We will probably travel during the night using head-torches to avoid the worst of the midday sun.

Whilst this challenge is a personal one, I would like to raise money for the MS Society.  My uncle David and a good friend, Mike Hennessey, both have this disease and I have seen the effect it causes in fit people in the prime of their life.  

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.

I look forward to regaling you all with tales of my travels in Namibia!

Best wishes,

Charles