The Smiddy Kirkwall

25/12/2024

🌊 if ya know, ya know! 🌊

If you're keen to keep track of the men's Kirkwall Ba' game this afternoon, head over to BBC Radio Orkney's page for live coverage. The throw up is at 1pm, and you can follow events as they happen throughout the afternoon 🤳

Earlier today the Doonies claimed the first Ba' of the season in the boy's game 💪

11/12/2024

🌲🎅🏼 ⛄️ ❄️ 🎄

Tis the season to be jolly at The Smiddy Kirkwall

Our lovely trees from Wellpark Garden Centre and The Willows Coffee Shop

26/10/2024

Kevin’s Kilimanjaro Challenge 2024 🏔️🚶‍♂️for Prostate Cancer UK and the RNLI

Thank you to everyone who attended, supported and helped with the Coffee Morning at the Orkney Sailing Club. The total raised today was £633.12!

The total raised so far has just passed £9000!!!

http://www.justgiving.com/team/kevins-kilimanjaro-2024

Thank you so much to everyone who has donated so far ❤️

Prostate Cancer UK
Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Orkney Prostate Awareness
BBC Radio Orkney
The Orcadian
RNLI Kirkwall Lifeboat

13/10/2024

Day 7 - Kevin’s Kilimanjaro Challenge 2024 🏔️🚶‍♂️for Prostate Cancer UK and the RNLI

http://www.justgiving.com/team/kevins-kilimanjaro-2024

Day 7 - Friday 11th October

MOSHI - 6 HRS. TREKKING

Had an incredible first full nights sleep in the tent last night after a long day yesterday. We had breakfast at 6am and Damian had made us a congratulations cake! After breakfast we got a group photo with Kilimanjaro behind us. We set off at 7am and continued our descent off Kilimanjaro back through the rainforest to Mweka Gate. The noise of the rainforest was amazing to walk into and the warm and oxygen rich air was most welcomed after the last day and a half!

The gate marked the end of my unforgettable time on Mount Kilimanjaro. The local team met us and we had a final celebratory farewell to our local support team which included singing and dancing, followed by an emotional goodbye. I happened to check the just giving page once we got to the gate and it had hit £5000!

A bus then took us to our hotel, where I finally got to take off my walking boots and enjoyed a much needed hot shower!

Thank you to everyone who has supported this challenge and help raise an incredible amount to Prostate Cancer UK and the RNLI.

We are planning a coffee morning at the sailing club with the RNLI and Orkney prostate awareness on Saturday 26th October, I’ll try and sort through all the photos I’ve taken now and get them ready for the day and hope to see as many of you there.

I’ll keep the giving page open until after the coffee morning if anyone would still like to donate.

Prostate Cancer UK
Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Orkney Prostate Awareness
BBC Radio Orkney
The Orcadian
Action Challenge

10/10/2024

Day 6 - Kevin’s Kilimanjaro Challenge 2024 🏔️🚶‍♂️for Prostate Cancer UK and the RNLI

http://www.justgiving.com/team/kevins-kilimanjaro-2024

Day 6 - Thursday 10th October

SUMMIT DAY - 5895M - 15 HRS. TREKKING

This was the toughest day by far, yet most rewarding day yet.

We got a wake up call at 10pm and got all the thermal clothes on and met for a hot drink and snack, we had to put on high viz vests and switched on our head torches. We Ieft camp at 11pm and treked the steepest and most demanding part of the route by torch light. We weren’t long into the climb and we were passing people who were already being affected by altitude sickness. I don’t think I’ve felt cold like we did going up the mountain both my water bottles in my bag froze solid, we would walk for an hour and then get a couple of minutes break before going again. It was all uphill and was relentless, we literally had our heads down and walked step by step following the boots infront. Everyone in the group was affected by altitude and several were sick, I had a severe headache that got worse and worse the higher we went. I tried taking medication but nothing was helping so just had to power through.

We reached Stella Point at the crater rim at 5730 meters just after 6am, after a long relentless 7 hour climb, just in time for the sun rising above the clouds, as sore and my head was it was an incredible moment.

We had a short rest and then powered on to Uhuru Peak, the highest point on Mount Kilimanjaro and the African continent at 5895 meters.

The rising morning sunlight provided spectacular views across the plains below, the glaciers and of Mount Meru in the distance. I felt like I was on top of the world!

Today was by far the hardest I’ve ever had to push myself physically, mentally and emotionally.

Once the photos were taken I didn’t hang about at that altitude and had a tough decent back to Barafu camp for 1030. Our tents were still set up from the night before so we packed up our gear and had some lunch before starting the 3 hour trek to High Camp at 3950 meters.

Prostate Cancer UK
Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Orkney Prostate Awareness
BBC Radio Orkney
The Orcadian
Action Challenge

09/10/2024

Day 5 - Wednesday 9th October

BARAFU CAMP - 4673 meters - 4 hours

Woke up at 6 and the view was clear towards Kilimanjaro and Mount Meru was breaking through the clouds in the distance.

Today was about arriving at high camp – and getting prepared for the Kilimanjaro summit push overnight.

We left camp at 8, after about 20 minutes the fog came in so we didn’t see much today unfortunately. As it was cold with the fog we didn’t really stop and made good progress even though it was a steady climb to Barafu Camp at 4673 meters by midday, 2 hours ahead of schedule. We had lunch at three and are planning to try and get a few hours sleep and leave the camp at 11pm tonight to reach the summit for sunrise tomorrow morning.

The positioning of our camp, at a higher altitude and quieter location will hopefully give us an advantage for our summit push, allowing us more rest and a slightly shorter route to the summit.

09/10/2024

Day 5 - Kevin’s Kilimanjaro Challenge 2024 🏔️🚶‍♂️for Prostate Cancer UK and the RNLI

Please share!

Thanks so much to everyone who’s donated so far! It’s incredible setting off this morning seeing the just giving page sitting at £4400!!!

http://www.justgiving.com/team/kevins-kilimanjaro-2024

A last minute update with a photo of Mount Meru breaking through the clouds this morning. I’m just about to leave my camp to go to Barafa Camp at 4600m, the plan is to get there at 2pm this afternoon, get lunch and get some sleep as we will be leaving BARAFU Camp at midnight tonight heading for the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro at 5895 meters! All going well we should be there at 8am on Thursday Morning.

Not sure if I’ll get signal again after this camp until we get back down to a lower altitude, but will do another update as and when I can!

Prostate Cancer UK
Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Orkney Prostate Awareness
The Orcadian
BBC Radio Orkney

08/10/2024

Day 4 - Kevin’s Kilimanjaro Challenge 2024 🏔️🚶‍♂️for Prostate Cancer UK and the RNLI

http://www.justgiving.com/team/kevins-kilimanjaro-2024

Day 4 - Tuesday 8th October

KARANGA CAMP - 3995M - 6 hour day
Woke up at 6 and went outside to see my frozen tent! That was by far the coldest night we have had on the mountain, even my water bottle inside my tent had frozen! Mr Paul was our lead guide today and is know as MR! We left our camp at Barranco Camp at 8am and within 15 minutes had reached the bottom of the Barranco Wall, they say it’s the Barranco Breakfast as it’s the first thing we do! As it was so close to the camp the small ledge on the side of the cliff was extremely busy with people trying to get up. We had to wait our turn before we could begin the challenge of climbing and scrambling over the volcanic rock of the Barranco Wall. I really enjoyed the wall itself, something that I hadn’t expected or experienced before. If you zoom in on some of the photos you can see people on the Barranco Wall (cliff!), from the bottom to the top is 257 meters.
Upon reaching the top of the Barranco Wall at 4200 meters we should have been looking over Barafu and Mount Meru which is the third highest mountain in Tanzania but the cloud was just covering her peak. We then headed onwards to Karanga Camp, first through undulating terrain and then across the steep-sided Karanga Valley.
We arrived at Karanga camp at 3995 meters at 2pm and had a cook lunch. We spent the afternoon at the camp resting and re-building our energy for the Kilimanjaro summit push in the days to come. It was a lovely afternoon as I sat outside my tent and watched the clouds clear over Moshi and around the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro, the sun setting whilst watching the lights of the closest city of Moshi light up into the darkness with Venus bright in the sky!

A short 6 hour day but hugely interesting!

Prostate Cancer UK
Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Orkney Prostate Awareness
BBC Radio Orkney
The Orcadian
Action Challenge

08/10/2024

Day 3 - Kevin’s Kilimanjaro Challenge 2024 🏔️🚶‍♂️for Prostate Cancer UK and the RNLI

Thank you for all the support, comments, donations, likes and shares!

http://www.justgiving.com/team/kevins-kilimanjaro-2024

Day 3 Monday 7th October

BARRANCO CAMP - 3900 meters - 10 hour day

This is the day that prepared our bodies for the strenuous summit climb in three days time. We ascented up to Lava Tower, followed by a descent to a lower overnight camp at Baranco Camp which will aid the acclimatisation process.

Just before we set off at 8am the local team did a song and dance for us which is to welcome us to Kilimanjaro! This lasted over five minutes and I was great to see them all having fun!

Our lead guide today was a local legend, known locally as the mountain butterfly and has submitted Kilimanjaro more than 350 times over 30 years! We set off and headed east across beautiful barren moon-like landscape and around craters that scar the mountain and then trekked in the shadow of mighty Kibo, with it’s southern ice field visible above us in between the clouds as they passed. It was a hard uphill trek all the way to Lava Tower at 4900 meters where we stopped for some lunch at the highest point of the day. We got here at 1pm and left around 3pm, we tried to stay at this altitude for a few hours to help our bodies acclimatise to the altitude. Most of the group suffered some form of altitude sickness with the least being a sore head and the worst with the sore head and projectile vomiting. We descended through several ravines into a scenic valley with a wonderful micro climate and flora unique to Kilimanjaro, a Giant Scenecio which is believed 250 years old.
We arrived at Baranco Camp at 3900 meters at 6pm. Last nights sunset was hard to beat but tonight didn’t disappoint either, Kilimanjaro Cliffs and glaciers tower above us, with views down into the Umbwe Valleys below which was covered be low clouds. Again It was absolutely stunning!

This may not have been the longest day for us at 10 hours but has been the hardest so far.

Prostate Cancer UK
Orkney Prostate Awareness
Royal National Lifeboat Institution
BBC Radio Orkney
The Orcadian
Action Challenge

07/10/2024

Kevin’s Kilimanjaro Challenge 2024 🏔️🚶‍♂️for Prostate Cancer UK and the RNLI

http://www.justgiving.com/team/kevins-kilimanjaro-2024

Day 2 - Sunday 6th October

SHIRA 2 CAMP - 3850M - 12HRS. TREKKING, 17KM
I slept well and was woken up at 3am by the sound of moneys in the camp! Our wake up call was at 5am to give us time to pack up and after fuelling with a hearty campsite breakfast, our first full day of trekking commenced just before 7am - today’s ascent was over 1,200m! We started in the rainforest zone, and within 2 hours noticed a major change of scenery, as we entered the Moorland zone – with shrub like trees and unique flora. This is where one of our local guides Frankie asked for a photo! He’s known locally and Frank the Kilimanjaro Tank! We then started the sustained ascent up to the Shira Plateau, along what the locals call ‘the Elephants Spine’ – a broad ridge with what I was told had incredible views to the plains below Kilimanjaro. Unfortunately the clouds started rolling in and the temperature dropped and before we knew it we had the waterproofs on. Once on the Shira Plateau we stoped for a delicious cooked lunch at Shira 1 Camp at 3610 meters, I even got a photo in the Kitchen (tent) with our cooks, Damian is the head chef and is Frank the Kilimanjaro tank’s brother. After lunch we continued onwards towards our camp for the night, an hour into this section the cloud lifted and we got our first glimpse of Mount Kilimanjaro, unfortunately the summit was tucked in behind the false summit and we couldn’t see and appreciate how big she actually is! A slow and steady ascent allowed our bodies to acclimatise to the higher altitude as we crossed Kilimanjaro’s Shira Plateau, and entered the High Alpine Desert zone.
It was a long day but worth every second and the views once we arrived at Shira 2 Camp at 3850 meter just before 7pm were absolutely breathtaking, with great views of the imposing southern face of Kilimanjaro above us – and the Shira Plateau below with the low clouds rolling in. An overwhelming location and it has to be up there with one of the best sunsets I’ve ever seen!

It was a long 12 hour day, but an amazing way to kick start the process of acclimatisation.

Prostate Cancer UK
Orkney Prostate Awareness
Royal National Lifeboat Institution
The Orcadian
BBC Radio Orkney
Action Challenge

06/10/2024

Kevin’s Kilimanjaro Challenge 2024 🏔️🚶‍♂️for Prostate Cancer UK and the RNLI

http://www.justgiving.com/team/kevins-kilimanjaro-2024

Day 1 Saturday

MT MKUBWA - 2640M

We left Qatar at 2am and arrived at Kilimanjaro International Airport just after 7am, once through customs we got a bus to the town of Moshe where we all met as a group for the first time. This is where we were supposed to spent the evening prior to the climb however 11 of us didn’t get on the flight as it was fully booked..!
The group consists of 16, plus a guide and medic from the uk. We took a 2 hour transfer in our bus to the west of the Kilimanjaro National Park and the Londorossi Gate, we met the rest of our Kilimanjaro support team (around 60 locals!) – including guides, cooks and porters. Finally, our bags were weighed to ensure they were within the 15 kg limit.
Our Kilimanjaro trail begin with a trek through abundant forest vegetation and passed through Lemosho Gate at 2100m; the ascent was steady and the pace was quite slow.
After a challenging yet rewarding few hours, we reached MTI Mkubwa camp at 2640m by 6pm when it was just getting dark. This is where we Settled down for the evening and got some well-deserved food and rest, we were treated to cucumber soup which was tremendous! And then fish veg and fried tatties! We also seen some rare Colobus monkeys throughout the rainforest! I was snuggled up in the sleeping bag by 10pm as we were told we would be getting a wake up call at 5am.

Prostate Cancer UK
Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Orkney Prostate Awareness
BBC Radio Orkney
The Orcadian
Action Challenge

05/10/2024

Day 1 - Kevin’s Kilimanjaro Challenge 2024 🏔️🚶‍♂️for Prostate Cancer UK and the RNLI

Made it to Tanzania 🇹🇿 that’s the bags loaded onto the bus and just about to leave for the gate which is a couple of hours away

http://www.justgiving.com/team/kevins-kilimanjaro-2024

Prostate Cancer UK
Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Orkney Prostate Awareness
BBC Radio Orkney
The Orcadian
Action Challenge

04/10/2024

Kevin’s Kilimanjaro Challenge 2024 🏔️🚶‍♂️yesterday I few from Heathrow to Qatar and was due to fly onto Tanzania however Qatar Airlines overbooked the flight so I got stuck in Qatar for a day. I’m booked on a flight this evening and will arrive in Tanzania tomorrow morning and going straight to Kilimanjaro National Park and the Londorossi Gate, where I will meet the rest of the Kilimanjaro support team
Prostate Cancer UK
Royal National Lifeboat Institution
Orkney Prostate Awareness
BBC Radio Orkney
The Orcadian




www.justgiving.com/team/kevins-kilimanjaro-2024

04/10/2024

A Kirkwall Lifeboat crew member is taking on “the challenge of a lifetime” as he climbs Africa’s tallest peak. Kevin Ryrie is on his way to Tanzania, this week, to take on Mount Kilimanjaro in a bid to raise money for both the RNLI and Prostate Cancer UK. This mammoth fundraising effort is ins...

03/10/2024

✈️ that’s me off on my challenge to climb Mount Kilimanjaro 🏔️ just about to leave Heathrow in the next hour and I will start the challenge on Saturday!

I’ll keep everyone updated on the progress as and when I can, thank you to everyone who has donated so far

RNLI Kirkwall Lifeboat
Prostate Cancer UK
Orkney Prostate Awareness
Royal National Lifeboat Institution



The Orcadian
BBC Radio Orkney

Help Kevin Ryrie raise money to support RNLI - Royal National Lifeboat Institution