The roof of Africa

I had originally intended to further indulge my passion for watching the England cricket team overseas in Feb/March 2008, on their tour of New Zealand. However, I have recently decided to scrap those plans, and do something somewhat different with my time instead (bit of an understatement? I'll leave you to judge!)

In exactly a year's time from today, I will just have finished a climb to the highest point on the African continent, the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. It's going to be exhausting, hard yards, but I've got this feeling that it may turn out to be the best experience of my life to date, God willing :-)

Why am I doing this? Well, principally to raise money for Scope, the cerebral palsy charity, who are committed to achieving equality for disabled people - a worthwhile cause if ever there was one.

If I am allowed a bit of self-indulgence too, I will then take time after the climb (and descent!) to do some exploring in Uganda and Rwanda, something I've been wanting to do for some time now, but haven't quite got round to yet.

All that remains now is the small matter of raising £3000 between now and November in order to qualify myself for the climb (gulp). However, I'm sure I have enough friends and contacts to make this happen, although not without a lot of determination and commitment on my part.

Should you like to contribute to the cause, please leave a note in the comments section of this post with an email address, and I'll be in touch...your kind donation, no matter how big or small, will be hugely appreciated by many people, of that you can be sure.

I'll keep you all updated with progress towards my target right here on the blog.

To close, a declaration from a lady called Maureen Gaunt, who has made the epic climb for Scope already:

"To climb to the roof of Africa is the most overwhelming, emotional and physical achievement of my life.

"It will never be forgotten."