My exceptionally patient wife has just dropped me off at Terminal 5, Heathrow to wait for my flight to Kathmandu and then on to Paro, in Bhutan. I’m here because a good friend asked me to accompany him on The Snowman Trek. A trek he’s dedicating to Brita, his sister who died tragically last year in a Kayaking accident in Kerry.

He’s in the air already and we’ll meet up in Kathmandu late tomorrow afternoon. It’s a long distance Trek, not a good omen for me and it’s said to be one of the hardest Treks in the world with less than a 50% success rate. In fact more people have summited Everest than completed this Trek. 360km over 23 days with 11 passes over 4,000m and 3 passes over 5,000m. It should prove a little challenging, for both Stephen and me, in more ways than one!

Brita, I know, will be there with us, cheering us on, laughing at how inadequate we both are, smiling at our highs and willing us on during our lows. Stephen has set up an iDonate page for Make A Wish Foundation, which Brita was, I believe part of. https://www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/11382222_stephen-mcloughlin-s-page.html

The fun starts in two days time. I will, of course, try to post updates and photographs as we progress. Now for my favourite bit, the battle that is always the world’s airports!