I’m thankful when his attention turns to the others as I’m aware of the sting of threatening tears. It’s nice to have someone listen to me, to ask questions and actually hear what I have to say back, to challenge what I say and dig deeper. The words keep tumbling out of my mouth here like I have verbal diarrhoea. Maybe it’s the fresh air, but it feels good to be afforded the space to speak and be heard. It’s something I don’t want to let go of now I’ve rediscovered the joy of it.

24

Mike

I was ravenous before lunch thanks to our first proper experience of the challenge, the terrain and the altitude. As we came over and round the final bend of the morning it was awesome to see that the staff who’d run off ahead with the donkeys at the start of the day had created somewhere comfortable for us to eat within the scenic setting. In a huge clearing they’d erected a white tent on the dry grass, with a smaller bright blue tent placed 100 yards from it – the toilet. I braced myself for Zaza’s reaction, and sure enough her disgust came, although nowhere near as bad as I’d presumed. More grumbling than actually voicing her dislike, but by that point we were both wiped out from the morning and hungry. Zaza is never herself in such conditions, even though we both had a great time distracting ourselves with Kevin as we walked. What was strenuous to us didn’t even make him sweat, let alone run out of puff. He was bouncing around like a mountain goat completely unfazed as he continued with our conversation.

Arriving in the clearing we were all happy to dump our bags, which might be only day bags but the amount of water I’ve brought (I always carry a little extra, just in case), along with the snacks Vicky’s packed and toilet rolls and potions Zaza couldn’t manage without, were really adding to the strain of trekking.

I took a breath before walking into the food tent, feeling slightly dizzy from suddenly stopping after the continuous moving of the hours before, not to mention how much higher we’d climbed already this morning.

Finally feeling steadier I took myself inside and my hungry eyes were instantly satisfied with what they saw. The white tent had been partitioned into two, with the chef working away on one side and a table laid out on the other for us all to sit around, already laid and set for lunch.

The food did not disappoint. Maize soup with garlic bread to start and then quinoa, chicken and broccoli to follow, all rounded off with copious amounts of coca tea to wash it down.