Last and first steps

184,999, 185,000….. and last step on the machine! Just 2 days to go until I fly to Kathmandu. It’s come around so quickly and I can’t wait to get going now. Last minute preparations are nearly complete and most things have been double or even triple checked!

The news this week from Kathmandu was tremendously sad of course. The plane crash reminded me just how worried friends and relatives can be when a loved one is travelling far from home. It was a great tragedy and your thoughts are with those who have suffered a loss but you have to tell yourself that it’s still very, very rarely that things like this happen. I have ensured that close family know what my itinerary is while I’m away and how to contact me should they need to. Mountain Kingdoms also hold all my details and have an emergency phone contact number. I have also registered my travel plans on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website so that they also know where I am.

So here we go! I have been looking forward to this so much and have thoroughly enjoyed all the preparation and planning – well perhaps not all the stepper sessions! It may be possible to update the blog while I’m away but if not expect a long update when I return!

My thanks to Kirsty and the folks at Mountain Kingdoms for allowing me to do this blog and providing me with all the help and advice I needed. Blogging my progress has certainly helped keep me motivated on the training front and I hope it may have been of some use to those making their own preparations or thinking of booking their own trips. I’ll finish with one of my favourite quotes that I often refer to for inspiration:

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves, too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. The whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material his way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe's couplets: 'Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it." From W.H. Murray, "The Scottish Himalayan Expedition"