Greg's Himalayan Trek

Hello all

Well, it's been an eventful 24 hours - a mixture of all emotions, really. Day started badly when I found out that a friend of mine had died unexpectedly last week. It was all very sudden and the news completely blew me away. Rest easy and in peace, Ernie.

Preparations are almost there - sleeping bag arrived this morning and, after being tested by both my son Tom and me, got the thumbs-up for deployment to India. It, along with all my other stuff, remains in a large heap on the floor, with me procrastinating as much as possible and boggling at the thought of trying to cram it all in to one bag. The internal airline in India is having a laugh at an allowance of 15kg - guess I'll be stung for a bit of excess....

Better crack on with the packing - more tomorrow once I've repeatedly sat on the bag to make it close. Night, all...

It's been a hectic month since the last update - and now, with just 2 days to go until my departure for India, the panic is setting in. I have almost all of the items I require for the trip, with just a few camera batteries, an extra memory card and, most importantly, my super-duper new sleeping bag to come. The latter is due to arrive on Wednesday, not that I like cutting things fine at all.... I had thought that my existing kit would do the job but, having spoken to the trek leader, I am assured (sic) that many of the camp sites at which we will be sleeping will drop to about -20 degrees celcius, so a 4 season bag is definitely in order! I have my neighbour Simon to thank for the loan of a thermarest that rolls up into a ludicrously small cylinder shape, and also for lots of advice regarding high altitude and endurance trekking. Simon says he is simply returning a favour after I spent two weeks, recently, diligently wetting his wife Debs's big bush every evening whilst he was on holiday. And what a fine bush it was. Really, Simon, the pleasure was all mine.

The Media people at Leeming have been busy on my behalf and managed to get my ugly mug into a couple of the local papers in the last week - notably the Yorkshire Post and the Stockton and Darlington Times. If I can find a link to the published stories, I'll post them here.

That's it for tonight - got to go and do some more sorting of kit, now that we have power back on after the highly convenient outage from 2100 to 2345 this evening!! Thank you, YEDL!

Until the next time, happy viewers....

It's kids like these that I'm trying, with lots of assistance from lots of good people, to raise money for. I will be meeting some of the children - that travel over huge mountain passes to study at our sponsor school in Manali - while on trek. The school has about 100 attendees and is in real need of some help to buy books and improve the fabric of the building. Anybody reading this who is able to assist - please visit my justgiving page at www.justgiving.com/greghouse - all funds raised will go to this school in India and a local school back home in North Yorkshire that is also trying to fund new buildings to replace portakabins. Photo above courtesy of Project Himalaya.

Greg

Greetings, all. Been away for a few days with the family to chill out in the hills of the Grampians, where we all made a successful ascent of the mighty mountain Morvern. At just under 3000ft she's not quite a Munro but, nonetheless, a good leg-stretch, especially for the kids' young legs and also given that we did over half the climb 'off-track' through the heather. Saw loads of large frogs, toads, and some very close encounters with deer. I got a little sunburned, too - a warning for the trek, where the sun's rays are far stronger than in the UK.

Also (hopefully) pasted here is a link to the edit from my radio interview last week - purely for interest. More postings soon as preparations (and purchases) continue for the departure date....

Cheers,
Greg

I really dislike needles intensely! Yesterday, I was stabbed with diptheria, tetanus and polio. The nurse sensed my discomfort (I'm sure they can tell, as soon as a person walks into the treatment room, if they're trying to cover up a fundamental terror) and distracted me with conversation until, mid-sentence, she stuck what can only be described as a javelin into my upper left arm. Clever lady. She gave me an "I've been brave" sticker after I stopped crying and told me to go and have a cup of tea.

My radio interview went out yesterday on BFBS, to listeners all over the place, from Europe to the Falklands, the MIddle East and Afghanistan! Total sponsorship to date is just over £600 - long way to go to get near the target of £5000 but we've made a start.

OK, this is beginning to get serious, now! I have just been interviewed by British Forces Radio, about the trek. The interview will go out tomorrow afternoon (Tuesday) between 12 noon and 2pm on Sim Courtie's programme. If you get the uncontrollable urge to tune in and listen to the old dulcits rambling on, and you don't receive BFBS through your dear old wireless (which you won't unless you live on/next to a big base), you can hear it by going to the website and listen live, or use their clever 'listen again' function.

Stay tuned (see what I did there?) for tomorrow's post, when I shall describe my inevitable pain as I endure multiple vaccine-stabbing to make sure I avoid the worst horrors of typhoid, Hep A etc. Frightened? Me?

The site:

http://www.ssvc.com/bfbs/radio/index.htm

Hello all.
One of my very kind and considerate friends, upon hearing my plans to travel to India and that I am to stop in Delhi at the beginning and end of the trip, presented me with these 'vital' items. I can't think what he imagined I would use them for....

This is a fantastic shot, taken by a guide, of one of the paths I will be trekking in northern India. Not quite sure where the rope bridge is.... How BIG is that scenery?! BTW, some of the sheer drops from the paths are 2000 metres - that's over 6500ft! Picture courtesy of Project Himalaya.

This is it! My first ever blog post. Thank you for looking in - things are developing towards the trek. I am confirmed on the exped now and have flights, insurance and Indian transfers pretty sorted. A trip to London, to pick up a tourist visa, is the next agenda item as well as trying to get hold of some decent pictures of some of the areas I'm going to visit, so I can upload them on here!

As we progress towards the departure date, I will regularly update the blog with details of how the fundraising is going and with anything else I can think of! You could, of course, go to the fundraising web page at www.justgiving.com/greghouse and check out the running total. Your comments are welcome - I await with interest....

Cheers for now,
Greg