Hey guys thanks for visitng my justgiving page, it means a lot.

In June this year I successfully completed climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa. Whilst this was an immense personal challenge for me, not many people realise that I have also been using it to try and raise money for the Mountain Rescue England and Wales. This is where you guys come in! Any amount would be greatly appreciated and would help me on my way to reaching my target of £150.

In total, our trek up Kilimanjaro took us 4.5 days. We passed through such varied landscapes ranging from farmland, to rainforest-esc terrain and also desert. The desert was the worst, it was so hot and there was no shade. We were told to drink 4-5l of water a day, which is all very well but it doesn’t half make you need to pee! Holes in ground or behind bushes. Awesome. The first 3 days were not that difficult, but the final 1.5 were horrendous. At that point we were up over 4000m and the altitude was beginning to hit, on the final ascent day we were woken at midnight in an attempt to get to the summit in time to see the sun rise. Thankfully, we made it in time and watched the sunrise over Africa. Stunning. Such hard work though we climbed 1585m in about 7 hours and the altitude really kicked in, I had such a bad headache and it was only dulled with paracetamol. I really couldn’t have done it without our guides and the support from the rest of the team, they were all fantastic and helped me to dig in and keep going at the toughest moments.

We’ve spent ages planning for this trip and it seems so strange that it’s finally completed. All the weekend trips we did, including the Yorkshire 3-peaks helped prepare us physically for this trip. But nothing can prepare you for the psychological problems that will face you up there. That has to come from within.

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, what ever you can afford will help immensely.

Dawn 

http://www.mountain.rescue.org.uk/

http://www.mountain.rescue.org.uk/funding/where-the-money-goes