Andrew Mould, of Baker Tilly, and Karen Bright, of Signature Associates - both members of the Love you 2 Appeal Business Committee - have now completed their challenge of a lifetime to climb Mount Kilimanjaro to the "Roof of Africa" in aid of the appeal. They are on target to raise £6,000 for the appeal.

Andrew and Karen took the Macheme route up the mountain.

This is the most beautiful of all the routes but it is also designed for the more adventurous climber, with all accomodation being in tents rather than mountain huts. Overall, the journey will take six days to complete, treking a distance of 100 kms and reaching an altitude of 5895 metres (19,000 feet).

This challenge is definitely not for the faint hearted, with altitude or mountain sickness being a very real threat - to understand more about altitude sickness go to http://www.traveldoctor.co.uk/altitude.htm

	Day1: Macheme gate (1490m) to Macheme Camp (2980m) On Tuesday 20th Sept at 09:00 they emailed: "We are now at the Macheme gate awaiting our support crew to weigh our rucksacks and get evrything together. It was a bit of a panic last night repacking everything into plastic bags and putting them in the right order in the rucksacks! The general feeling is of positive excitement. We saw the mountain from the hotel yesterday afternoon. We suddenly appreciated just how big it really is!! Wish us luck. Karen and Andrew"
	Day 2: Macheme Camp (2980m) to Shira Camp (3840m) Wednesday 21st: "We woke above the cloudline - bizarre experience. Very steep long climb starting at 8am. It was also quite technical in places and needed both hands and feet! I (Karen) got a very nasty altitude headache. After arriving at camp we did another 2 hour walk before dinner."
	Day 3: Shira Camp (3840m) to Barranco Camp (3950m) via Lava Tower (4630m) Thursday 22nd: "Awoke to a beautiful sunrise and gorgeous view of the mountain. Another very early start. A long hard day. Including snow! And the worst toilet experience I've ever had to endure - a tin hut with a hole in the ground and its very own aroma!
	Day 4: Barranco Camp (3950m) to Barafu Camp (4550m) Friday 23rd: "Woke up to frost on the tents! So a little bit chilly! Beautiful View back up the valley and just a sneaky peak of the summit. The clouds were below us so there was no view down to Moshi. It was a steady climb up the Barranco Wall with lots of hands and feet climbing with a sheer drop below. Let's just say I was well out of my comfort zone! Andrew's hamstring is holding up with the odd twinge. My altitude headaches come and go. At camp for late lunch and no time to wander about. Confined to rents as it is pouring down. Tomorrow we start early and walk to base camp then we are woken at 11:30pm to start 7.5 hours climb to the summit and then 5 hour descent. Wish us luck!" Saturday 24th: "Another early and cold start then another long treck to base camp. It got much windier as we went wlong and we climbed through patches of snow on the tracks which made the going somewhat treacherous at times. Itt was very windy at base camp - and very busy. We chatted to people who had summitted this morning and the general concensus was that it was very hard and we'd have to 'dig deep'. We had lunch and then time to sort out all the clothes we would be wearing for the summit. Our Chief Guide, Prosper, advised us to wear at least one more layer than we had already planned! Early dinner and so to bed wearing all our summit summit clothes aside from the outer layers. We were woken at 11pm with tea and biscuits and then began the steep ascent in the dark."
	Sunday 25th: "We climbed with headlamps under a wonderful starry sky. It was very cold and we couldn't see much more than the boots of the person in front of us. It was difficult to gauge how we had travelled and how far we still had to go. The dawn seemed to take forever to come and we saw the sun reflected on the sliver of the moon turning it bright orange. Then dawn broke and we saw the most beautiful sunrise - the kind you see from an aircraft window - and still we climbed, now on frozen ice. Then out of nowhere our guide indicated that Stella Point was less than an hour away. That certainly motivated us to keep going. At Stella Point we had a quick break and then started the final hour and a quarter to Uhuru, the official summit of Kilimanjaro.We walked past nearby huge glaciers that we could hear creaking and grinding in the silence of the morning. We both summitted at 04:45am BST on Sunday 25th; it was amazing and we were both full of thoughts of why we were doing it. Dove House and the patients and families who use the services were at the forefront of our minds. We then had to quickly begin our 4 hour descent and spent much of the time sliding (or in my case, falling) down the now defrosted scree, back to base camp. Here we had 2 hours to remove all our wet summit clothes, pack our big rucksacks, have a quick snooze, change in to dry clothes and have lunch! We then began a 4.5 hour trek down to the next camp. It was quite a day and we both were  exhausted so, after an early dinner, we went early to bed.
	Monday 26th: "Guess what? Another early start for the final leg of the descent. Only 2.5 hours, all down hill which just about finished off my already dodgy knees! And then all of a sudden it was all over and we were piled into a minibus heading back to Moshi. This whole trek is the most incredible experience of our lives and we are both proud that we undertook the challenge on behalf of raising funds for the Love you 2 Appeal. Karen and Andrew."

And at the end, as if all that is not enough, Andrew and Karen will drive to Moshi where they will spend 3 days working at the local orphanage.

We would like to thank them both very much for this wonderful commitment to the appeal and tell them just how proud we are of them. We do hope that you will lend them your generious support and help them reach their goal of £10,000!