Thelma and Louise

Thought I would write a different kind of trip review, more of a blog on a Charity Challenge which I completed in September 2012. This is something you could do on your own or with other T&L members.

I came to the idea of undertaking a challenge whilst doing the household chores (such a thankless task when you a Mum of 2 teenage boys) and thinking at the age of 44 there must be more to life for me than housework and work!  So given the nod approval from the hubby (with lots of reassurance that he would feed the boys whilst I was away)  I trawled the internet to look into what challenges were available which I felt that would be suitable for me and 2 friends that wanted to join me on my midlife adventure!

So we came upon a challenge to trek to the summit of Mount Etna in Sicily which is the most active volcano in Europe and had just erupted that April! Of course a very suitable challenge for three Mums with 5 kids between us!  We booked up through a company called Charity Challenge (www.charitychallenge.com) and set ourselves a target of £5000 to raise for a local Hospice which had looked after some of our family members in their last days.

After a year of Quiz Nights, Family Discos, Bag Packs and general groveling we eventually managed to raise £5355 for the Hospice.  We also had to get fit for the challenge and would meet up for a few walks after work and arranged a weekend away in Dorset to walk the coastal path where we ended getting lost on the Dorset Military Range. This resulted in us spending most of the day in a pub on the military camp….not really the healthy weekend we had planned but of course lots of fun!

So a year in the planning September 19th came and we headed off to the airport with all our kit.  Nerves were now setting in and I wondered what I had got myself into.  Goodbyes to the husband were far longer than necessary and he told me I had better go and meet the other Charity Challengers.  There were 9 of us going on the trip and we had all contacted each other via Facebook before going so we had an idea who to look out for when we arrived.  We ranged in age from 22-57 with a mixture of men and women and from all different parts of the UK. (They do also run women only challenges called Miss Adventures)

We arrived in Catania Sicily and had a 2 hour transfer in the dark to our first lodge Rifugio Ragabo.  Here we had our evening meal where we got to know each other a bit better and meet our Sicilian guides who gave us an idea on what and where we would be going over the next few days.  After our first night sleep we woke up to look out of the window and take our first glimpse of Mount Etna in the sun, beautiful,  but it looked so high and still had some snow on the top.  We met for breakfast and loaded our rucksacks with 3 days worth of kit for the trek, the rucksack already felt heavy enough but when we got downstairs they told us we also had to also carry 3 days worth of food and 3 litres of water each! 

Off we went all loaded up for our trek, the morning was fairly easy with stops every 30 mins for drinks and snacks (the weather was fantastic but still hot at about 24c).  The scenery was amazing as we were walking a circular walk to the summit.  We would walk through shaded pine woods and then come out onto lava flows dating back hundreds of years.  Our tour guides explained the history of Etna and kept us going with their interesting facts.  The afternoon was a bit of a killer, the heat and the weight of the rucksacks were getting to some of the team, unfortunately one of the young girls had a panic attack and one of the guides ended up having to carry her rucksack as well as his own.  By the time we got to our hut (Rifugio Maletto) for the night which had no beds, electricity or toilets we were just happy to be there after such an exhausting day.  The guides made a fire outside and made us soup, fresh meats, salad and bread and after dinner we headed to bed.  We were all so tired we just put layers on over our trekking gear, rolled out our sleeping matts and sleeping bags and crawled into them for the night and tried not to think about the creepy crawlies on the floor of the hut.  Not sure any of us got much sleep but the sun came up and we arose for another day of trekking. 

The scenery today again would change each couple of miles with some areas being very fertile with lots of trees and flowers.  We would trek about 15 kilometres a day which would take about 7/8 hours.   Again today was going to be another long day trekking but conversation was flowing well, people were getting to know each other and stories were being told about different places people had travelled to.  Our guides spoke fluent English as both had lived in the UK as students and luckily understood our English humour (one thing which kept us going when times got hard).  By the end of Day 2 we got to Rifugio Sapienza which is where most tourists will take the cable car and then 4x4 to the top of Etna.  Some of us now were nursing rather large blisters and a one of the girls had taking a nasty tumble and had fallen down some rocks so we were ready to have our first shower, and get into a comfy bed for the night before our final push to the top!

After a better night’s sleep and sorting out a day ruck sack now full of plasters and handfuls of Nurofen we started our journey up to the top of Mount Etna.  We met our Volcanologist (you are not able to go to the top of Etna unless you have one with your group as the Volcano is still active) and started the first part of the journey with the tourist on the cable car.  Once we got to our starting point we steadily climbed up the Volcano, you feel like you are on another planet, Mars or the Moon, there are no paths you just walk on top of the volcanic rock and snow and follow the guide.  There doesn’t seem to be a definite summit as there are lots of craters where the eruptions have been over the years.  We weren’t unable to get to the highest crater as it was still too dangerous but stopped at the safest point nearest the top and dug out our Charity T Shirts to take photos to prove we had made it!   We were lucky enough to be able to have a picnic on the top, even though it was cold the sun was out and we all had plenty of layers and our bodies were working off adrenaline.

Our guides then told us there were 2 ways down the Volcano either by 4x4 and cable car, or you could run down it.  We thought he was mad but he explained that he would be taking us down a side where most of the volcano had turned to ash and it would be like sliding down the biggest ever sand dune.  Three of the group had decided they had already pushed themselves to the limit but the rest of us with some trepidation decided to go for it.  Well it was one of the funniest/scariest/exciting experiences I have ever had.  The Guide was right you do have to run down (it took about 3 hours) and you couldn’t stop even if you wanted to. We laughed slightly hysterically most of the way down and must have fallen over at least half a dozen times.  By the time we got to the bottom we looked like chimney sweeps and seemed to have most of the volcano in our walking boots and clothing.  The whole group met back together to have a celebration drink at the bar of the Lodge and calls were made home to family members, tears were shed at what we had all achieved and quite moments were taken to remember some of the causes we had all raised money for.

The next day we spent sightseeing in Catania which is a beautiful city with lots to see (might have to do another Travel Guide with things to see and do in Catania) and we had a fantastic celebration meal on our last evening and of course a couple of Sicilian glasses of wine, the food in Sicily is some of the nicest I have ever had.

Would I recommend a Charity Challenge to anyone, definitely, if you up for a bit of an adventure, would like to raise money for a charity in the process and fancy meeting new people then it could be for you, if you like 5 star accommodation and your creature comforts most probably not. There’s only one problem, you catch the bug, I’m now saving up to do another one in 2014.

Forgot to say the husband did remember to feed the kids whilst I was away.......they had a take away nearly every night!