For over forty years I've competed with Mount Kilimanjaro to be the object of Andrew's desire. Kilimanjaro.....the tallest mountain in Africa, a travel icon, its ascent immortalised in the classic Monty Python Kilimanjaro Expedition sketch - frankly I was fighting a losing battle from the word go.
So what ignited Andrew's relationship with Kilimanjaro? It dates back to a time forty two years ago when Andrew was sent to work in Arusha, Tanzania. Kilimanjaro provided a majestic backdrop to Arusha's dusty streets, and it was considered a rite of passage for all young male ex-pats to ascend its slopes. Twice Andrew had the opportunity to join a Kili trek - and twice he had to pull out due to work commitments or illness. His failure to conquer Kili has been a niggling bugbear ever since. When we visited Tanzania 2 years ago for a safari trip, I would often see him gazing longingly at Kili. 'Have I left it too late?' he pondered out loud one day. My answer? To give him a book written by Richard Wolfe, who had reached the summit at the age of 70....
The following Christmas, over a few festive bevvies at our local, the Hunot family came up with a masterplan to take on Kili. Later on, minus the disinhibiting influence of alcohol, some of us, ahem, reconsidered our options. But Andrew and Michael remained admirably committed to the cause and duly booked places to join an organised group trek that was taking place in August 2016. And so Andrew's quest to conquer Kili finally began.
Two weeks ago I dropped Andrew off at Heathrow after an arduous 4 hour journey on the M25. I watched him limp across the concourse, still suffering from an acute bout of Achilles tendonitis. Could he get to the summit? Would his 42 year romance with Kili become all-consuming? Would Michael manage to coax him home to me? If you click on the link below, you'll be taken to Andrew's newly created website, where you can read the full story written with love by Kili's very (if I may say so) courageous 67 year old suitor.....
http://hunot.co.uk/
In the meantime, here are just a trio of photos from Andrew's ginormous collection to whet your appetite (NB Andrew celebrated his 67th birthday during the trek, and the first pic shows the birthday cake that was baked in his honour).
I'm delighted to report that Andrew did indeed return home to me (I think it was the promise of a home baked treacle tart that did it). And my final thoughts on Andrew and Michael's enterprise?
Well, they've certainly done that - well done boys, I'm immensely proud of you both.
The following Christmas, over a few festive bevvies at our local, the Hunot family came up with a masterplan to take on Kili. Later on, minus the disinhibiting influence of alcohol, some of us, ahem, reconsidered our options. But Andrew and Michael remained admirably committed to the cause and duly booked places to join an organised group trek that was taking place in August 2016. And so Andrew's quest to conquer Kili finally began.
Two weeks ago I dropped Andrew off at Heathrow after an arduous 4 hour journey on the M25. I watched him limp across the concourse, still suffering from an acute bout of Achilles tendonitis. Could he get to the summit? Would his 42 year romance with Kili become all-consuming? Would Michael manage to coax him home to me? If you click on the link below, you'll be taken to Andrew's newly created website, where you can read the full story written with love by Kili's very (if I may say so) courageous 67 year old suitor.....
http://hunot.co.uk/
In the meantime, here are just a trio of photos from Andrew's ginormous collection to whet your appetite (NB Andrew celebrated his 67th birthday during the trek, and the first pic shows the birthday cake that was baked in his honour).
Well, they've certainly done that - well done boys, I'm immensely proud of you both.
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