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Editor's Kilimanjaro plane turned back in bad weather

A technical hitch forced the Africa-bound plane carrying a team of Kirsty Appeal fundraisers from the Manchester Evening News to turn back to Britain.

The eight-strong team – including Manchester Evening News editor Paul Horrocks and deputy managing director Mark Rix – are due to trek to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

But their British Airways flight to Nairobi on Friday was turned back when the captain reported a fault with the aircraft’s weather radar tracking system three hours into the flight.

At the time the plane was flying in darkness 45,000 feet over Tripoli.

Because there had been thunderstorms reported in the area, the BA pilot was forced to fly back to Heathrow.

British Airways – which is sponsoring the charity trek – found the team places on an alternative flight to Nairobi, which flew out of London on Saturday morning.

The team travelled straight to Mount Kilimanjaro in time for an orientation session on Sunday, and aim to spend about six days climbing the 20,000ft peak to help the appeal raise £5m to secure the future of Francis House Children’s Hospice in Didsbury.

Paul Horrocks’ diary.

Sunday:

Our mountain guide Elias Massawe made one thing perfectly clear as he briefed us on our Kilimanjaro climb: “This is not a race – we are not trying to catch anyone.”

We were instructed to walk at a slow pace and our guides will call out “poli poli” – slowly slowly in Swahili – to regulate our pace.

“If you get sick, don’t cheat by not telling us,” he warned. “We have the equipment to fix you up so you can make it to the top.”

Although we are a party of 10 – eight from the MEN. Kilimanjaro for Kirsty team and two film crew from Granada TV – we will have an incredible back-up team of 51. We have three mountain guides, a camp master in charge of erecting tents, a head cook and assistant, and an army of porters to carry clothing and back-up equipment.

We expect to walk between five and eight hours each day – but much longer on the final ascent which begins at midnight on Friday. Final kit inspections take place today and then we set out for Machame Gate to register our names with the park authorities who regulate all climbs. The adventure begins for real.

Monday:

At last we’ve started the climb on Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain. Everyone feels so much better to be under way – actually putting into practice the months of training in the Pennines.

Today we travelled by bus about 30 miles from the Keys Hotel in Moshi to Machame Gate at the entrance to the Kilimanjaro national park. We trundled up a single track to be greeted by a throng of porters waiting for their own teams of climbers.

The scene was chaotic as we waited to sign in. Each climber has to register their name and passport number so park authorities know how many people are on the mountain.

The 18km route up the mountain began quite gradually, but soon became steep and thick with clagging mud. Each step higher we felt the early effects of altitude as the oxygen thinned, but our bodies soon adjusted as we drank copious amounts of water and followed the orders of our mountain guide Elias.

But the urge to move forward was great and our enthusiasm meant we started to rush more than necessary. Elias soon put his foot down and ordered everyone to walk in a line behind him. No one was allowed to pass.

Suddenly, we were in a clearing after a five-and-a-half-hour walk and glad to see our tents in a clearing, set among shrubs.

The porters had already erected our dining tents and tables and chairs were out. We quickly changed into dry clothing ready for our medical tests.

Everyone felt good to have completed day one with no ill effects. Morale is high. Tomorrow we set out for Shira camp at 3,800 metres.

There’s more from Paul’s diary later this week.