I promise this is the last you will hear of the Mt Blanc trek! I am very grateful for the wonderful support I received, for my personal challenge, and for the Muscular Dystrophy cause - we raised in excess of $190,858 which is an amazing result.  It has been my painful pleasure to do this on behalf of those who never will.  That said, I was very scared as I set off on the trip, and I was right to be.  It was way worse than I could ever have imagined, and I really don't know how I managed to haul myself around for the 11 days. Now that it is done, and I am on the way home, I am numb, and probably a bit traumatised!  

Physically, I might have dropped a kilo and a centimetre or two.  Otherwise I only have calf muscles and stripey legs and arms from sunburn to show for it!!

I just have a little bit of a summary of things which might not have made it into the other emails.

The refuges were an integral part of the challenge, with hair/makeup/clothes/hygiene to a degree/privacy/clean clothes etc etc all going out the window. I wonder how different the days might have been after a comfortable night.

• The beauty of our surroundings was amazing and never to be forgotten.
• I have learned never to believe a mountain guide!!! I don't know if its deliberate so as not to alarm you in advance, or if they just spend too much time playing Heidi in the mountains, but they never quite know how long/how high/how far, and when they guess it is almost always wrong, and never in our favour! They only talk in metres ascended and descended, and really have little idea of distance.
• Who knew feet would be the focal point of our lives! All the wrapping/strapping and padding each day to ward off blisters. Then when the blisters arrive, the careful management of them. It took me until Day 9 of the trek to get the right combination of shoe, sock and dressing for my terrible toe!
• We learn so much about nature and geology - courtesy Simon our guide who is very knowledgeable about the flora and fauna, and Sarah in our group who is a geologist. I do hope some of what they taught me "stays in there". Did you know for example that woodpeckers and the cypress trees they pick to death are actually co-dependent? The termites attack the trees, and the woodpeckers eat the termites, boring holes in the trees to get to the termite mounds inside. The termites are eaten, the woodpecker gets fed, and the tree survives.
• Would you ever expect to hear a real cuckoo in Switzerland? We did!.
• Our trek is 11 days/180 kms/3 countries and who knows what the total ascent/descent was - I will add it up when I can bear to! Most full treks such as hours have three rest days. Those in our group who did the Nepal Challenge 18 months ago pronounced very early into this one, that Tour Mt Blanc is much harder. That was encouraging to hear on about day 3 - not!
• It was always very hot - 30 plus each day to begin wth, then mid 20s. Lots of sunburn. I am quite "stripey" as a result!
• There were 17 trekkers in all - youngest 22 and a couple north of 60. Big concentration of young ladies in their 20s and others in their 40s. The four with a direct connection to MD (they were either a parent or a sibling) were an inspiration to us all.