Hungerord trekker Geordie Taylor scales his latest - ‘and last’ - African peak

GO Geordie!

Hungerford trekker Geordie Taylor has scaled a final African peak before giving his hiking boots a rest.

For a while, at least.

He has ticked the Lenana Peak on Mount Kenya, 4,985m above sea level in Kenya, off his list.

Mr Taylor said: “Annoyingly, there are two slightly higher summits on Mount Kenya – Nelion and Batian – but they both require technical climbing skills that are way above my pay-grade, so we had to settle for third best on this occasion.”

Geordie’s African adventures started in 2008, climbing Kilimanjaro, known as the ‘Roof of Africa’ in Tanzania (5,895m).

He followed this in 2014 with Margherita Peak in Uganda (5,109m), Ras Dashan in Ethiopia (4,550m) in 2015 and, on the third attempt, with 2016 on Mount Toubkal in Morocco (4,167m) in 2016.

Following his latest climb, Mr Taylor added: “As well as reaching the summit, the surprise bonus of this climb was actually seeing Kilimanjaro, 200 miles away on the distant horizon as dawn broke.

“That's like standing on Combe Gibbet and seeing York Minster.”

As an addendum to his achievements, his highest peak came in 2011 when he scaled Cotopaxi, an active volcano in Ecuador (5,897m)... which subsequently erupted in 2016.

Mr Taylor went on: “My days chewing a bowl of cold pasta, then squatting over a hole, then getting two hours’ sleep – fully dressed – in a tent pitched on rocks, at altitudes in excess of 4,000m, in temperatures way below zero, clutching for breath, are finally over.

“At 66, the body's telling me ‘enough’s enough, fella’.

“From now on, it’s Catbells in the Lakes, followed by a couple of pints, a steak and ale pie and a four-star room with en-suite.

“I reckon I’ve earned it.”