Day 19  - 3/8/03  - Sunday

5 am we were meant to be up today.... Which is insane... We were woken by an irate Skinner at about 5:40. We leave camp a little late at 5:50 am, its dam cold and frosty, I'm not best pleased at being moaned at for being up 'late' anyway that's that... Once the sun comes up my spirits (and temperature) lift and Cliff is my only annoyance. We're meant to be stopping for breakfast at Simba camp (where the itinerary says we were meant to be walking to tonight, the walk was meant to be taking about 2-3 hours... Thus I'm not surprised when we finally get to Simba 6 hours or so after leaving our previous camp, for midday. Jenny's feeling rather crap (with a chest complaint), and Colin's given the job of looking after her, which is amusing to listen to. Simon has a stroppy moment over something or other. Cliff has to explain to Alex (a different Alex - the head guide) that he's not ill just silly. We have breakfast, a rest then continue to Fisherman's camp (4200m) we stop for lunch around 2 pm, and finally arrive at fisherman's around 4 pm (a small uphill section at either end of the day with a large chunk of flat plain in the middle) thin vegetation up here. Amazing views back over the plain which we spent so long walking across today, the sun setting and its reflection in the clouds below us are amazing to look at. Also good view of the peak of Kilimanjaro in the distance. The view of the stars is equally amazing with no light pollution and no cloud. If it wasn't for the 11 hour day and the cold I could have sat there all night looking at them! Sleep! Getting up to go the loo in the night is a matter of will power, wrapping up warm and finding a disreet  rock, but once you're there with the stars, the moon on the clouds, wow!