Jambo! Welcome to Velindre Walks. This Blog has now finished as we completed our Brains SA Captains Climb of Kilimanjaro in September 2010. We are all incredibly proud of our achievement on the mountain but more importantly the massive fundraising effort for Velindre Cancer Centre. Once again I'd like to thank the generosity of our friends, family, colleagues, suppliers, customers and everyone who donated either their time or money.
If you are planning your own Kilimanjaro adventure, I hope that you find this blog helpful and if you have any questions then you can find me on twitter as @WelshITGirl
For information regarding Lung Cancer research or Velindre Cancer Centre, especially if you’d like to join one of their fundraising adventures, then please visit http://www.velindrefundraising.com
If it’s just beer you’re interested in then where better than http://www.sabrain.com ?? A personal thanks to Brains Brewery for giving me the opportunity to immerse myself into this once in a life time experience.
I don't suppose we'll ever manage a full reunion of the whole group so here's a pic of everyone (apart from Gareth unfortunately, who took this photo).
I'm posting this 12 months on from the night that we made our summit attempt, this time last year we would have been 1 hour into the summit climb, which started at midnight on 13th September 2010. I would eventually reach the summit at approx 8am returning to Kibo Huts in time for lunch at 12pm, exhausted! I feel that the timing of this final post is a fitting ending to the blog.
We awoke proudly with the knowledge that, yesterday, 53 members of our Captains Climb group had reached Gilman's Point (5681m) and 39 had managed to continue to the summit (5895m), Uhuru.
I had a fab night's sleep which started at about 6pm on day 5 and continued through to 7am (ish) on day 6. Today we would be walking off the mountain and the only things between us and a shower were a 21km/13mile walk and a 2 hour bus journey back to the Hotel :))
Before starting today's walk we had a thank you planned for the porters where we would sing some Welsh songs as well as show our appreciation, for all of their help and hard work, with a group tip.
Andrew Morris, Fundraising Manager at Velindre, kicks things off with a Thank You speech:
Garin, Russel & Scott follow up with Sosban Fach (short vid)
We finish with Calon Lân and Siân is loving it (another short poor quality vid)
Onyx, the boss, also has a few words to say
The guys sing to us for one last time, here's a snip of their Kilimanjaro song:
Joesph and Joveel enjoy the farewell celebrations, I will always be grateful for their help & support. They always checked up on me, even on summit night they sought me out to make sure that I was coping with the conditions.
Siân joins in with the dancing:
Peter gets James involved:
We all try and record as much as we can of this moment, there are smiles all round. We feel remarkably good having acclimatised and descended to a breath easy altitude. The camp is a happy camp on this final morning; Rob takes pics of the dancing:
Emyr & Mark watch the celebrations:
Steve and Evan enjoy the final moments before leaving camp:
Julian, Richard, Paul & Peter:
Bleddyn & Ieuan:
Me with Rob & Ieuan before we start our 21km final day's walk:
Walking down hill continues to be easy compared with the uphill struggle of the last 5 days. Our breathing is back to normal, we are able to walk at a normal pace (fast even) and we almost feel like we have super strength (caused by the huge contrast from the debilitating effects of reduced oxygen).
As we reach lower levels on the mountain we start to enter the rain forest:
It's lovely to see green vegetation, Steve admires this new environment
Scott Quinnell's knees continue to be painful but he soldiers on, slowly but surely:
At this stage I confess "I think I can smell something and unfortunately I think it's me!" to which Scott replies, "Don't worry, you'll soon move past that stage!". There was some comfort in knowing that we were all in the same whiffy state :)
Peter (who should have had a mention earlier as he managed to get to Gilman's Point whilst suffering with tonsillitis!), Ben & Steve enjoying the rainforest walk:
Half way down we stop for lunch and get to a campsite that has running water, proper toilets and best of all SOAP!!!
I share a beautiful hand washing moment with Mike Hall who gratefully accepts soap from the dispenser that I had liberated (temporarily) from the wall in the ladies toilets. It was so nice to have clean hands, even if the rest of our bodies were still filthy, for a short amount of time we had clean hands :D
The final half of the walk is pleasant but we are all relieved to see the main entrance to the National Park.
A rather understated sign . . . .'temperatures can fall below freezing' should actually read 'temperatures can cause your hands, feet & butt to freeze!'.
Also at the gate there's a shop and Bob opts for chocolate and coke (as do most of us):
Michael, Colin, Steve & Andy having just signed out of the park:
Mark with Chris, Joe, Dave & Dom
Mark, Michael, Steve & I sit and chat about the last 6 days as well as ordinary stuff like the best and worst coffee machines that we've owned:
Me & some of the boys - Bleddyn Bowen, Mike Hall, Bob Norster, Eddie Butler & Paul Thorburn.
It's soon time to get on the bus and head back to the hotel. Mads and I agree the order in which we are going to shower, Mads goes first while I sort out the bags (well actually while I arrange for a hotel porter to bring them up to our room). And then it was my time in the shower. I undertook a very strategic wash from head to toe with the water turning a shocking brown colour at the bottom of the bath. Having felt like I'd done a good job I got out and started drying only to notice that I was still dirty, back in for a second round and finally I felt and looked clean. Happy days!!
Time to get ready for the Party!
Serengeti or Kilimanjaro beers all round and the bar is soon all out of glasses, Rob is presented with a wine glass for his beer!
I sit and chat with Ed, Rob & Kylie for a while and then we start mingling as more and more people arrive at the bar. Rob Howley pulls me aside to give me one of his Under Armour training tops as a gift which he suggests I should get signed by the Captains; I was really surprised and totally chuffed!
During our evening meal Ben decided to go for it like he'd never seen food in his life before!
The evening involved speeches and songs with Andrew Morris announcing that we had raised an amazing £330k and then read out another letter from HRH Prince Charles (I will try and get a copy and post it on here soon)!!
Bob takes the stage on behalf of all the trekkers to thank Huw, Velindre and everyone who made this amazing fundraising trip possible.
Garin sings a customised Kilimanjaro / American Pie song and John Southcombe goes with self written, Max Boyce style, tune - both have the crowd in fits of laughter!
Scott rounds off the evening of speeches:
Steve, Pete, James, Geoff, Mads & I looking nice and clean:
Needless to say the evening involved lots of liquid refreshments, wandering between tables to catch up with everyone and I even managed to get time to phone home for a quick chat before returning to the party which ended with Steve, James, Colin Charvis and me at about 6am chatting over our final beers (scotch, although he wanted malt, whiskey for James).
After a short sleep most of us were up sharp for breakfast, some of us were not (James & Steve!!). Today's plan was to check out of the hotel, grab some lunch and eventually end up in Kilimanjaro International Airport for our evening flight.
We arrived at Shanga for a tour of the workshops where jewellery and ornaments are made out of natural and recycled material. Shanga is located on a coffee estate and employs 31 disabled Tanzanian people; it is a self sufficient business not a charity.
"Kindness is a language that blind people see and deaf people hear"
Here we see the glass being processed before it is turned into beads for necklaces, bracelets, etc
Metal is also recycled to make ornamental dishes, ash trays, etc
After the tour we move to another part of Shanga, River House; a haven of tranquillity. I am not exaggerating when I say that we all started to recover whilst lunching and relaxing at River House. It was so calm and peaceful that you couldn't help but feel the positive effects of the environment.
Lunch was predominately a BBQ and salads although curries were also on offer.
For once we are unprepared for the sun, these plate mats are no good for protection:
. . . but these napkins are far more effective!
The end of our journey could not have been any better, we all chill out and chat for our final few hours in Tanzania.
Having had an indulgent evening I stick to cokes but with a little effort Warren finally persuades me to have a beer and shares half of his with me :)
Our final experience in Tanzania was 'airport efficiency', or lack of. We arrived to a chaotic queuing, multi checking system only to hand over all our passports for what seemed to be an unlikely chance of us getting onto our transfer flight to Nairobi. We had heard that there were only 30 odd seats for 57 of us. Andrew & Kylie were due to join us as far as Nairobi where they would remain to greet the next Kili trip, arriving in 3 days time. Unfortunately they soon found out that they were not booked on the flight. Scott Gibbs was not part of the main booking as he would be returning to South Africa, he was told that he could not check in until our group had been 'sorted'. It looked like he would be returning to the Hotel with Andrew & Kylie too.
Chris & Dom liaised with the airport staff trying to understand what was happening but managed to get very little information. Our scheduled departure time came and went but eventually 10 or so passports were returned and a little while later all but 2 or 3 passports where handed over. Scott was able to check-in and most of us were asked to go through to the departure gate. Geoff Hughes had already wandered in and out of the departure lounge several times without the need for a passport and hadn't been stopped by security; now that we had our passports we were being closely inspected.
With Kylie and Andrew on their way back to the hotel, we all hoped that the remaining trekkers would get on the plane. It was only when we were all seated and buckled in that the final 3 made it, Emyr Lewis had a seat, Joe had been assigned a seat in the cockpit and Steve was given one of the Steward's seats. We were all on and that was all that mattered.
I sat with Rob Howley for most of the trip home with Ieuan joining us from Nairobi onwards. It was a quiet flight home with Rob & Warren playing cards, Ieuan catching some zzzz's as he had to go straight to work the following day and me in the middle taking stock of what had been a fantastic, once in a lifetime, trip.
I can honestly say that I loved every minute of the experience. This was my first proper fundraising challenge and I had loved it! From washing cars with the firemen, attending fundraising events at Brains pubs, running sweep stakes in work, printing posters to promote events, writing 200+ letters to suppliers, trying to learn the Didgeridoo, blogging, tweeting and much more. Brains customers, suppliers and employees have helped to make Brains' contribution exceed £55k!
Then there's the training & walking. Over the last 12 months I have had the pleasure of walking in the most beautiful parts of Wales, climbed Ben Nevis with my Dad, joined the Vale of Glamorgan Ramblers, made lifelong friends with fellow Kili trekkers, found a new found love for free weight sessions at the gym (big thank you to my gym instructor Laura Jones) as well as some killer session on the rowing machines.
Huw Evans dreamt big and delivered on all levels, with a massive fundraising success for Velindre's Stepping Stones Appeal and an amazing achievement to get 18 players onto Kili along with 39 other participants. I think the group realised, very early on, that the whole experience was special and we all bonded because of it. There were no cliques we all walked and ate with whoever happened to be next to us at any point in time; on the mountain we were all the same. All experiencing the same lack of home comforts, same cold evenings, same food, same breathlessness, same generosity from porters, same extreme exertion on summit night and the very same exhaustion on completing the summit attempt.
We are now back and I will finish this blog with what I found to be a very humbling conversation. At the book launch of Wales Rugby Captains (by Alun Wyn Bevan & Huw Evans) I spoke with Sue Evans, Huw's wife. Sue was the inspiration for the trip, when Huw found out that Sue had non-smoking related Lung Cancer he soon decided that Velindre needed help and pledged to raise £1,000,000 for lung cancer research. Having listened to Huw's recount of the conditions on Kili and the affects of altitude on our bodies Sue had pointed out that it was as if he was describing the affects of lung cancer and chemotherapy! It made me realise that however hard each of us had found the Kili adventure, we were always able to choose to walk off the mountain to get better. Lung Cancer sufferers depend on modern medicine to cure their illness and the money raised by the Brains SA Captains Climb will help advance the research into improved lung cancer treatments. If you haven't already done so and wish to help us conquer this disease then please donate through my JustGiving site http://www.justgiving.com/BrainsWalks
Thanks for all the help and support that I have received over the last 12 months. There are a few more Captains Climb activities coming up which I will continue to post on VelindreWalks.com.
The Brains SA Captains Climb of Kilimanjaro is over and I feel extremely privileged to have been part of it.
Yesterday was an exciting day at Brains as we were able to announce that we had reached our £50k Sponsorship and fundraising goal for the Brains SA Captains Climb and Stepping Stones Appeal. Warren Gatland and Captains Rob Jones, Bob Norster, Andy Moore, Eddie Butler and Paul Thorburn joined us to help promote further fundraising. This blog is a mix of the Brains Press Release and a few words of my own. Huw Evans came along to photograph the milestone and half of the photos in this blog are his :)
The former captains, along with Wales coach Warren Gatland, will set off on their attempt to summit Mount Kilimanjaro on Monday 6 September, and with an overall target of £1million for the Stepping Stones Appeal Brains’ contribution will go some way to helping them achieve it.
The climb is the brainchild of WRU photographer Huw Evans, whose wife Sue was diagnosed with non-smoking related lung cancer in 2008. All money raised will go to the Stepping Stones Appeal at Velindre Cancer Centre in Cardiff.
Richard Davies, Sales and Marketing Director at Brains said: “The money has been raised through a combination of sales of our specially brewed ‘Up and Over’ charity beer, various pub events and head office fundraising. Our staff and customers have really got behind the charity so thanks must go to them for their support.”
Andrew Morris, Head of Fundraising at Velindre said: “The contribution Brains have made to Velindre Cancer Centre’s Stepping Stones Appeal is staggering – they have been heavily involved throughout the whole project, producing a special beer, helping with venues to host Information events, and each of the Captains has been adopted by a Brains pub. As well as contributing a magnificent £50,000, Brains have made a massive contribution to help raise the profile of lung cancer research”
You can still support you favourite Captain by visiting www.justgiving.com/brainssacaptainsclimb, or you can make a £2 donation by texting CLIMB to 70099, you will be charged £2 plus 1 message at your standard network rate. Velindre will receive a minimum of £1.72 from each message.
The Captains will be taking on this gruelling challenge to raise funds for the Stepping Stones Appeal, which is raising money for lung cancer research at Velindre Cancer Centre. Lung cancer is the most common form of cancer death in Wales and it is estimated by 2015 there will be a 30% increase in the most common forms of cancer in Wales. Although lung cancer is the most common form of cancer death in Wales, lung cancer research has been relatively poorly supported compared to other higher profile forms of cancer.
It was great to spend some time with the Captains and even though Huw decided to embarrass me with the Chez Lounge pose on top of the barrels I actually quite like the end result and it makes for a great memento of this very special fundraising event.
ITV were also present and even though they failed to mention Velindre or the Stepping Stones Appeal and moved Kilimanjaro from Tanzania to Kenya at least they gave the Climb a bit more publicity which is always helpful, here's the link to ITVplayer http://www.itv.com/wales/captains-climb79197/ . . . Ooh and by the way, as a group, we have raised hundreds of thousands for Velindre's Stepping Stones Appeal ;0)
Vista Retail have been great supporters and not only sponsored some of my equipment but they have been keen to help publicise the Brains SA Captains Climb, check out this article in the trade press (click on the image to open the article):
I took part in my first photomarathon last year and I had no hesitation in signing up again this year. The remit: to take 12 photos of 12 themes in 12 hours with 4 themes released every 3 hours at 10am, 2pm & 6pm. We were all registered by 9:50am then a quick recap of the rules and agenda for the day and we were off.
The first theme always involves our own registration number plus a second theme to keep us on our toes, this year is was "Your Number + Giant".
I had been trying to pick a sub theme for quite some time and it was over coffee with some Twitter buddies that I suggested I should probably dedicate my submission to promoting the Brains SA Captains Climb, Velindre Cancer Centre and our fundraising.
Giant really did challenge me but I decided on a Giant charity bracelet over a statue of Buddha with Giant watch and clocks representing my number, not a great start but it would have to do!
Next theme, "Aroma" and my bulk buy of incense from Thailand came into good use:
For theme number 3 I had originally thought of hanging something from my hiking boot's shoe string but then I remembered that I had these little ladies and opted for a more colourful "On a shoe string".
It was really easy to pick my subject for "Inspiration" and this Captains Climb leaflet laid on my red North Face jacket was perfect, by focusing on the top of the leaflet I wanted to highlight Velindre Cancer Centre as Inspirational.
I was running late by the time I'd completed the first 4 themes so I needed to blitz the next for in super fast time. I had decided on something a little adventurous for "Up in the air" so it was off to Brains Head Office to cut out some VelindreWalks tickertape. This shot took a while to get and you can only just read the subject of the leaflet, not the best but I was now seriously behind schedule.
The good news was that I had thought through the next 3 themes and hoped to get them all done in less than an hour. It wasn't until a few days after the Photomarathon that I noticed my mistake with the sixth theme "Arc" my speed reading had led me to believe that it was "Ark" hence my Captains Climb branded paper boat (origami style instructions followed on YouTube). I'm happy with the shot and found out that some other participants went with Ark as a funky twist so hey, why not?
Eight Brains Bottles standing on a wall and if one Brains Bottle should accidently fall there'd be "Seven" Brains Bottles standing on the wall:
"Fail" was another challenging theme given that the Captain's Climb doesn't really have a failure angle but surely an empty bottle of beer is never a good thing :0)
Number 8 in the bag and I was back on track with time. As I had a baby sitting date with my 3 Nieces the aim was to complete the final 4 themes in 45 minutes, a tall order given my timings for the previous sets. Photomarathon was based in the Millennium Centre therefore I needed to complete the final shots in Cardiff Bay. "Old School" took me to The Packet pub with it's traditional Brains stainless steel windows.
The bay has a multitude of options for "Contemporary" with it's award winning architecture and cutting edge statues/displays. I decided that the decor of Woods Brasserie would give me a great venue to picture the charity band one more time.
The Brains charity beer, Up and Over, was the obvious choice for "Backwards" and I hoped that the wording would be legible although it may be a little small when the pics are displayed at the Photomarathon Exhibition.
Here's a close-up for you:
I was running late so the quality of my final pic was compromised but the choice for "Identity" was pretty straight forward. I couldn't have been given a better twelth theme to help explain why I had chosen the Captains Climb as my sub-theme.
And so Photomarathon 2010 was over for me, there will be an exhibition of all participants' photos at Cardiff's Old Library on The Hayes from Saturday 24th July.
Have you started your World Cup office competition yet? Click on the pic below for a template
At Brains we are using the following rules & points system:
It only cost £2 to enter and all you have to do is fill in your bracket to predict the progress of each team during the World Cup. For each group stage box you get right we’ll award you 2 points and for each knockout stage box we’ll award you 5 points. The two people who predict the outcome most accurately and score the most points will share half of the entry money collected (1st place will receive ¾, 2nd to receive ¼), the other half will go towards the Captains Climb appeal.
Alternatively just run a simple sweepstake e.g.
32 countries have qualified and for just £2 participants pick a country out of ‘the hat’ as their sweepstake team.
At Brains we have split the prize money as follows:
1st Prize = £20 2nd Prize = £10
Brains SA Captains Climb Fundraising to receive the remaining £34
If you are up for helping us raise £1,000,000 for Velindre Cancer Centre then please upload any fundraising collection to http://www.justgiving.com/BrainsWalks
All your help is much appreciated
Here's a sweepstake template, print it out twice and use one to record the employee names against the country and use the other to cut up the names and place in a hat for each employee to draw out of.
I had been planning this weekend for quite sometime and had labelled it my 3-2-35 challenge:
3 Days Walking 2 Nights Camping 35 Miles to cover over the weekend
In order to complete my challenge I booked myself onto 5 walks as part of the Vale of Glamorgan Walking Festival, the walks would make up 33 miles and I would need ot complete the final 2 miles on my own. My next 3 blogs will cover the 3-2-35 challenge as well as debuting some video blogs, one at the end of each day.
Day 1 involved 2 walks and the first started at 10am from a Brains tenanted pub, The Sycamore Tree in Colwinston. Unfortunately we had to skip starting with a drink so that we could get the 9 mile walk underway. Our leaders were fellow Vale Ramblers Graham Woosnam & Roger Chapple so I knew that it would be fun as well as full of interesting facts as Graham would share his local and geological knowledge with the group:
Along the walk we passed the old lead mine near Llangan, the Romans came here because of the lead ore and the mine continued for a number of centuries.
The walk followed a shortened 6 Village walk to include 4 villages starting in Colwinston, then Llandow, Llysworney and Llangan. These villages are some of the most affluent in the Vale. Graham tipped us off that The Carne Arms in Llysworney was worth a visit due to it's reputation for great home cooked food. I decided that this would be my destination of choice after the 2nd day of walking.
Towards the end of the 9 mile walk we visited the Llangan Parish Church, St Canna, which dates back to the 12th Century. In the churchyard there are two crosses and the oldest, dating back to the 9th century, depicts the crucifixion:
The 2nd cross, from the 15th century, can be seen in the background but I couldn't resist taking a shot of the blue bells which were at their best over the weekend.
Thankfully Graham admitted to a slight mistake along the way which put an extra half mile onto our walk, ideal for me as I now only needed to make up an extra mile and a half during the weekend.
After a whirlwind stop at the campsite to pitch my tent, my next walk started in Cowbridge for the Vale Ale Trail, 3 pubs and 3 miles to finish day 1.
Unfortunately, as I arrived dead on 3:45pm I didn't have time to join my fellow walkers for a pint at the Edmondes Arms before commencing. Our leaders were Gareth Simpson, the chief honcho of the VAG Walking Festival, and Paul Cottrell.
Along the walk we came across this fabulous display of wild garlic, I just wish I'd been able to pick some over the weekend to use when I arrived home. I still haven't tried wild garlic in salads, soups, etc. next year maybe??
After a leisurely stroll I was finally rewarded with a pint of Ale at The Cross Inn at Llanblethian, and lovely it was too :)
The pub landlord was also the key holder to Llanfrynach / St Brynach Church which dates back to the 12th Century.
The Church is largely unused except for special services at Christmas, Easter, etc. It was the main Parish Church of Penllyn which is over a mile away, the route from the village to the church has unusual stiles that allow coffins to be rested on them whilst the bearers climbed over the stiles to continue their journey to the church.
Gareth signs the visitor book before we head of to pub number 3 :)
The Vale of Glamorgan in Cowbridge:
Thankfully this was opposite the Brains Managed House, The Duke of Wellington, where I indulged in one of our classic meals, Ham, Egg & Chips. I was also lucky in that the walk finished over half a mile away from my car and I was able to complete my extra mile before heading back to the camp site. On my way I captured this fabulous sunset.
Finally, I decided to record a video blog before pushing out some zzzz's and I'm feeling a degree or 2 uncomfortable with this debut but thought I'd go with it anyway. It gives the blog another angle and I guess the more I practice the better and more natural I will get . . . . . bear with me :)
Just in case there is any question over my commitment then I guess this video also serves as evidence to the contrary, I even brought a case of Up & Over as my thirst quencher for the weekend - unfortunately the video is a bit dark but if you look closely enough you can tell, happy viewing . . . .
Here's the HTV trailer for the 1st episode of the Captains Climb series of 3 programmes. I haven't had a sneak peek but Huw Evans has seen it and he's over the moon with it. The show will cover what the climb is all about, why we are doing with it and some of the preparation that we have undertaken in time for the climb in September 2010.
The weather was perfect for the first of 2 firewalks hosted at Brains pub The Pendragon. I will be taking part in the 2nd walk at The Hanbury and I went to support the walkers at the Pendragon last night.
The walkers were made up of the Mangers, Helen & Vince, as well as staff members Natalie & Lee. The walkers had raised £400 towards the Brains SA Captains Climb. All fundraising will go to Velindre's Stepping Stones Appeal to advance lung cancer research and treatment.
The Firewalking master, David Briscombe, took the walkers away for a 1 Hour focus session prior to the walk. I presume the session aims to help you 'get into the zone' in order to overcome your fear of walking on hot coals as well as enable you to doing it without burning your feet!
First, a trial run by the organisers, presumable to make sure the coals were hot enough!
And then Vince, Manager of the The Pendragon, made his debut on the hot coals which burn at approx 500-600°C.
Next up is Lee, incredibly focused through the whole walk . . .
. . . . totally 'In the Zone'
With the PA System belting out Run DMC's "Walk this Way", next up is Natalie. A quick motivation chat with David . . .
. . . . and then she's off and also succeeds in overcoming any fear of walking on a bed of hot coals.
Helen, also Manager of The Pendragon, complete the staff line up at with a confident walk to the cheers of pub regulars, friends and family.
Up for a 2nd round of adrenaline the boys decide to walk on burning coals for a 2nd time
I had thought that watching the Pendragon event may scare me but actually their courage and confidence has inspired me and I can't wait to give it a go next week.
The walkers all show off their blister free feet and are thrilled with what they have achieved.
The night was topped off perfectly with a pint of Up & Over and early indications are that over £600 was raised in total through the event.
