Coles; Moyles; Barlow....what took you so long?

[Alun]

If you've read my profile then you'll know that I've owned a magazine called Adventure Travel for 15 years. During that time I've led two Reader Trips up Kilimanjaro and climbed it for a 3rd time independently. It's no technical climb - you can walk all the way to the summit - but it's not easy either as demonstrated by the recent Comic Relief exploits.

Most climbers take 4 to 5 days to summit (the celebs took 8) and with that in mind check out this amazing fact.

In 2004 Simon Mtuy clocked an astounding time of eight hours and 27 minutes running from the base of Kilimanjaro to the summit at a height of 5 891.8 meters (or 19 330 feet) above sea level.

In biking terms that would be like Charlie and Ewan doing the Long Way Round in a week - the support vehicles would nevefr keep up, eh.