Outperform - Island Peak Himalayan expedition - Lukla to Namche Bazaar

... a wonderful roller coaster helicopter ride in the early morning mists and low clouds got us from KMD to Lukla at 2804m.

It was an amazing start to our adventure but we were now significantly behind schedule. We all knew that we would now be working against the clock, not only the time but also our biological clocks and their ability to assimilate enough time to be able to ensure that Mark Kelly and I - who had not already been to Everest base camp - had time to acclimatise without the dangers of suffering altitude sickness on the way up.

After a quick cup of tea - we started walking up to Namche Bazarr at 3440m.

There is not much to say about the walk to Namche... it just kept going up, and up, and up and when we got bored of going up it gave us a little flat bit .... then went up again!

We were walking pretty fast for a team in this altitude and few stops but plenty of water allowed us to cover the 10.4 miles to arrive in Namche as it was getting dark at around 18.30 after a really hard day which left me fighting for breath as the altitude and reduced oxygen kicked in.

The route was pretty spectacular not least from the deep ravines and high wire bridges but also because over the last few weeks there had been torrential rain with the monsoon season lingering in the mountains far later than normal. The result was a significant number of landslides which required us to pick our way around on a regular basis.

WE managed to call in at Monjo village - whrre Mark Wood has adopted a local school and provided laptops and links to the outside world via Skype for the school and the teachers. We arrived to find the school recently painted by the last expedition Mark had taken up a week before but the lap tops were all stored neatly away and not in use due to a big meeting in the technology room earlier that week by the village. We could only hope that the laptops would be out and used again soon by the children.

Namchee was the last place we would be able to have a hot shower and - still gasping for breath and with a rising headache from the altitude - I gratefully indulged in the last hot water for 6 days!