25th Blantyre TPW, 27 June 2009
This year’s Three Peaks Walk as
usual set off a brisk pace. The
weather was lovely and brisk.
Walking in the dark through Blantyre is never the most pleasant of
things to do but it is always worth it for the sun coming up on Michiru. By the
shortcut through Chilimoni we had already left a
small group off the pace (37-41 and they eventually made it to the Johnston
House under their own directions).
A few walkers on Michiru were obviously going
to go no further and came back the same way (44, 45). We hit the breakfast spot with time to
spare and by the time of leaving almost everybody was in.
Through the Conservation area to Swiya turnoff no problems but then yours truly went off the
beaten track. Willie warned us (a
group of five) we were going the wrong way but Fanwell
was convinced it was a shorter way.
We thought as a ‘local’ he might be right. He was not! He took us about 2 km off the route and
we ended up way off Chirimba. Walking like Trojans we caught the main
group up before the Johnston's House but Fanwell was
in the bad books.
Ndirande went like a breeze – very hard
work as usual, working hard to get through the gully to the summit. At Kamuzu View
a lot of people dropped out and several took lifts to Soche. That left the hard core working their
way through, over to Nkolokoti and through Limbe.
Martin and Miriam joined us to Soche Summit – going the route I took last year. Rita was struggling at this point but
she made the Three Peaks- shall I give her a certificate?
As a large group we made BSC and a
welcoming drink at the bar. Was
Joyce the youngest to do the 3 peaks?
My records show Aaron Hanson at 11 years and 4 months in 2005 as being
the youngest. I do believe that
Joyce is younger than that but I will have to confirm. For the moment let us say that Joyce is
the youngest person to do the Three Peaks Walk. Well done Joyce!!
Many thanks to Phil
Pile and Martin Horrocks for the back-up without which we would not survive.
People were charged 500 mwk. This was
split between Martin and Phil for the goodies and petrol. For the records an additional 10,000 mwk was paid to Forestry workers to clear the route up Michiru (and what a good job that was too).
I do believe that is my 10th time at
leading the Three Peaks. See you
next year!
Gordon Benbow
© WDYFO, 2009