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About 11.40pm, Meckson sets the pace and we file out behind him. Head torches gleaming in the still night. I can't remember how long we go for but I feel myself getting slower and slower. I stop for a few minutes and Helen comes over to check on me. I let her know I'm doing ok, just slowly. She lets me know that Vicky is below me accompanied by a guide, and if I want to wait for her, we can carry on at a slower pace, so the plod squad is reformed again. The four of us, Vicky, Erghad, James and myself head up slowly. Vicky is suffering some nausea and gets sleepy frmo time to time when we stop. For myself, my legs are getting so tired that I start to weave from side to side as we go on, and need to stop frequently to get my strength back. James takes the walking poles out of my rucksack and I use these to help my balance. I notice the difference pretty much straight away. It is very disconcerting to look up into the darkness and see tiny glints of head torches way above you..sometimes looking like stars they're so high. After a while, James and Erghad break out the flasks of Tea to warm us up and after what seems an eternity you can see the dawn on the horizon and getting closer.
Once the dawn broke and we could see what we had left to climb it wasn't too bad. there still was a long way to go, but you could at least see what was left to do and it was easier to motivate yourself. Eventually we made it up to Stella Point, which is crater of the volcano, but not the summit, which was Uhuru. I checked with Vicky who was feeling better after the bouts of nausea earlier and we made a decision to head on for the top. James told us it was only anohther 40 minutes away and the worst was over us at any rate. It was at this time, when we ran into Jackie who had decided that the pace the pthers had set was a little too fast for her, and wasn't going up to the top. We persuaded her that an honourary position in the plod squad was hers is she wanted to join our motley group for the summit and she duely accepted.
Starting off from Stella Point, we ran into the main group of our walkers, and it was a great feeling. They were ecstatic from getting to the top and were looking forward to the trip back down. I think some people didn't think we were going to make it, as we must have been an hour behind them or so. So after a few minutes of chatting and congratulations, we headed off up to the top. 40 minutes later we arrived at Uhuru ( 5895m)and it was well worth it. Fantastic views of the glaciers and gazing down on the blankets of cloud below you was a great feeling. Time for a few quick photos followed by a stagger back down the screen slopes to Barrafu Camp again. This was only for a brief rest stop as camp was being broken up for the walk down to Mweka Camp another 3 hours walking. We pretty much collapsed on the chairs with the others, guzzled down any spare water / drinks and tried to eat something. After a short rest we headed down from Barrafu. The weather changed also becoming rainy and misty so that made it tougher all round. Tired as we were, the muddy conditions led to me slipping and sliding quite frequently all the way down!
Arriving into Mweka Camp, headed straight for the MessTent and grabbed any leftover popcorn / peanuts as we arrived later than the main group. There was still a good bit left so ate a fair bit and drank a lot of the hot water..didn't bother with Tea or Milo (Hot Chocolate), just wanted to rehydrate quickly as I was pretty parched. Food was lovely, I didn't want to head to the tent, as I knew once I put the head down I wasn't getting back out of the tent until the following morning. Dave, Jackie and myself play cards to while away some time until dinner. Can't remember much of dinner, but whatever it was I ate more of it than I had done in the previous days thankfully!