Hi all, I thought I would put a little more detail and more facts about our Mt.Kilimanjaro climb next year. At the top ( Roof of Africa ) the breathable oxygen is less than half the amount that is common at sea level, and climbers cover approx 60 kilometres on nothing but their own feet during the climb to the top and back down to the bottom.

Phases of the climb....stage one....tropical forest.

With most of the lowland forest now cultivated, the first experience of the mountain environment starts between 1850m and 2800m, this is where the dense vegetation of the Tropical Montane Forest begins.

Cloud condensation mainly gathers around the forest, so this area is usually damp or drenched in rainfall,creating a mass of plantlife and running rivers.

Open Moorland

At around 3200m an expanse of moorland extends beyond the heath and cloud line, this results in intense sunny days and cool clear nights. The climbing incline is gentle still at this stage, but the oxygen is thinning, so dramatically slows the walking pace down as muscles are less energized due to less fuel from the oxygen.

Alpine Desert

Beyond 4000m vegetation becomes very sparse, the earth is sandy and loose and intense weather conditions and temperatures fluctuate dramatically that barely any plant species can survive here. Above 5000m only the odd lichen survive and after the Kibo huts and beyond the saddle, where the landscape is predominantly rock and ice fields, this is where we will experience the final steep push to the summit.

Saddle to the summit

All the eastern routes converge to the west of saddle near Gillmans point, between the peaks of Mawenzi and Kibo. Kibo's crater is roughly circular and is 100m lower than Uhuru Peak.

At the centre of an inner crater,with walls 12 to 20 m high it contains a minor concentric cone. The centre of which falls off into the 360m span of the ash pit. This is the 120m deep central core of the volcano,and casts sulphurous boiling smoke from it's depth's despite the frozen, snowy outskirts.

This challenge is going to be a major test on our endurance, but one we will achieve.

Tracy

Happy Friday one and all!

A really big thank you to the Ferrands Arms who are really getting behind my War on Cancer cause.They have agreed to sell the glow in the dark charity silicone bands...I cannot thank you enough for helping to highlight my blog and the message I am trying to get out there.It is not all about the money that's raised....it's about raising awareness and showing life can be fantastic even when surviving cancer....life is for living.....so live it!!

Ok onto the next pub on route. The Suburban Bar is situated in what was the old fire station, it has been open since 2002 and brings the environment and service of a city centre pub into the suburbs. It has large covered outdoor area's.

Posters and sponsor forms have been handed out to participating pubs...all we need now is all of you who want some fun to meet us in the Old White Horse at 7pm two weeks today to have a night of fun!

I didn't go to the gym today ( not because of a hangover ) but will be there when it opens at 8am in the morning! I am having a six week review this coming Tuesday...can't wait to see what my new programme will be! I am still really enjoying working out and am looking forward to pushing myself further!

The doctor is referring me to get the lump removed from my eyelid...I honestly cannot wait..it has grown in only 4 month's. Hoping my appointment comes through soon...I can actually see it!....doc says they will probably deal with it from under my eyelid.

Off for now, will post up in a couple of days and the next pub on route I will publish a picture of id the Foundry Hill, until next time.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Tracy

Shortage of photos of the exteriors of Bingley town centre pubs

I have decided due to the lack of available photo's of the exterior of Bingley's town centre pubs that I will take some myself today when we are delivering the posters and sponsor forms. So with that in mind, I will edit yesterdays blog and add photo's of the pubs that are on route.

So in the mean-time, totally off the subject of War on Cancer and my cause...I want to give a massive shout-out to my big brother Graham ( Andy to his Navy buddies ) who is going to be cycling 500 miles in 5 days around Scotland. The charity he is cycling for is The Royal Navy & Royal Marines...my brother served 22 years in The Royal Navy and this is a way for him to show his support. If you want to support this marvelous charity and help our boys who do so much for us and our country,here is the link where you can sponsor him. ( Graham / Andy Anderson ).

In his words this is going to be a painful experience ( not sure if the bike will have to be surgically removed after 5 days and 500 miles--I will keep you posted lol ). And it is not the value of the contribution, but the contribution itself that has the value.

Here's the link for anyone who's interested.http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/beattheblock .

Thank you for reading :)

Tracy

Happy Wednesday!

Hello everyone!

I wanted to give a little bit of history about all the pubs in the pub crawl, I however have been struggling to find anything on the next three pubs/clubs on route. I couldn't find any photo's of the exteriors either.If anyone knows where I can get them, pls let me know and I'll edit this piece and put more detail in with pleasure!

The next pub on route after the Brown Cow is The Fleece Hotel, which is followed by the Con Club and then onto the Midland. This takes us to five of our total of 9 pubs on route.

Tomorrow I will highlight the Suburban Bar, the 6th bar on our route. After the Suburban Bar, teams will have to cross over the road....Please make sure you use the crossing opposite the Old Library, everyone while having fun needs to make sure that they stay safe....so be careful!

Caroline,Maureen and myself will be going around the participating pubs tomorrow ( I've told you before.....it's dirty work raising money for charity!! ) to drop off promotional posters and sponsor sheets in case any of the locals would like to have an evening of fun while raising awareness and money for this years chosen cancer charities been championed by War on Cancer! For those of you wondering...War on Cancer is here to stay and a new challenge will be chosen for 2013.

If any of you know of any businesses that want to advertise here for 12 months for a sensible donation, don't hesitate to comment. I will get back to you and we can sort it out. All advertising will be done on the Home page in the form of a continuous slideshow!

Also if anyone knows of a band,comedian,drag act etc that you think would be willing to do a ticketed event at a reduced rate for our cause, pls let me know.

Ok that's it for my quick update, will see you tomorrow with a new one!

Have a great day/night

Tracy

Brown Cow is on the banks of the River Aire. To get to the pub, you have to cross the 17th century Ireland bridge which is a Grade ll listed structure. The Brown Cow is situated on the west bank of the River Aire. Although the pub doesn't seem that old, it was once used as the courtroom and even after a dedicated courtroom was built, cases were still occasionally heard at the Brown Cow.

This is the second pub on the 3 legged pub crawl. The teams will walk over Ireland Bridge, which has a narrow footpath and the teams will have to be careful with the traffic.

Posters have been made and will be put up in the pubs this week,hopefully we will get more teams wanting to take part in our fund raiser, this will be fantastic as not only will we raise more money...but what a great way to raise awareness! Everyone who is participating,sponsoring and just generally supporting. I thank you very much!

I hope to see you dressed up in the Old White Horse at 7.00pm on Friday Aug 26th.

Tracy

Pubs on the pub crawl route

Over the next week, I am wherever possible going to put a photo of the pubs taking part in the pub crawl and some history up.

Our meeting and kick-off pub on the pub crawl is the Old White Horse Inn ( pictured )

The Old White Horse Inn is one of the oldest buildings still in use in the town. It was originally constructed as a coaching inn in the mid-seventeenth century, strategically positioned with Ireland Bridge on the one side and the Parish church on the other. The building is an English Grade II listed building and has a significant amount of coaching inn infrastructure surviving including a stable, barn and two coach entrances which are located around an inner courtyard. On each side of the gable are stone lanterns that denote the former owners Order of Knights of St John of Jerusalem. There is evidence that a hostelry has been on the site since 1379.Bingley is a very old market town and appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Bingheleia".

Next time....The Brown Cow on the opposite side of Ireland bridge!

Happy Weekend everybody!

Hello everyone! hope you are all enjoying your weekend so far ( despite the weather ).

Before I go any further....I want to let you all know I have updated the BBQ money raised total to £436.10!!...we had a couple of late donations...details of these will follow shortly on the supporters page :)

We are hoping in the next week to have a total money accumulator working next to the donate button.

I have updated the upcoming events page with details of the fancy dress 3 legged pub crawl. Please make sure you have a read, especially if you are taking part :)

I want to shout-out a big thank you to all the pubs who are participating in the most worthy fund-raiser for my chosen charities in our 12 month fund-raising challenge :) I know it is going to be great fun and I hope you all enjoy yourselves! Please respect other customers in the pubs on route!

A massive thank you to all the pubs/bars that have kindly donated a raffle prize, it's very generous of you. Most have also given us permission to sell raffle tickets on the night to the other customers. Also to the pubs who are offering a free orange cordial,we thank you and recognize the promotion of sensible drinking.

The pubs/bars participating and route order are The Old White Horse,The Brown Cow,The Fleece,The Con Club,The Midland,The Suburban Bar,The Foundry Hill,The Myrtle Grove and Ferrands Arms

Again....check out the upcoming page for Pub Crawl details. Thank you again to everyone who is taking part, and I hope we all have a great night of fun.

Busily in the background,I am working on the E bay shop and again hope to have the link working this coming week...I hope you will all take time to have a look.

I hope you will take a few moments to share the blog with your friends and ask them to have a read and share with their friends too. It would mean a lot if you could do this, hopefully anybody starting or going through any treatments for cancer will be able to take something positive from the blog. Life is for living not existing :)

Thank you

Tracy