Trekking in India for RNIB

I wanted to write a few blog posts about my past travels, adventures that took place before my blog started. My first post from the past comes from my travels in 2008 when I took part in a trek across parts of India to raise money for the RNIB (Royal national institute for the blind) Being passionate about photography my eyesight is incredibly important to me. I often think if I'm ever involved in an accident I could cope with loosing a limb but not loosing my eyesight and so being so passionate about sight and seeing I wanted to raise money for a charity that I feel so strongly about.

I raised over £4000 for the charity and in February 2008 I flew out to Delhi with 12 other trekkers. We met at the airport for the first time in the early hours of the morning and endured the 8 hour flight to Delhi.

Arriving in Delhi it was more than a shock to the system, the first thing that you notice was the heat and the dusty environment and then the smell hits you. It was definitely a culture shock for me as up until this point I had not done that much travelling and the places I had visited previously were often holiday destinations and therefore equipped for tourists to a certain standard. Suddenly cleanliness and hygiene were out the window and I was realising how other people live.

Getting a rickshaw ride through the centre of Delhi I was snapping pictures like mad, the things I was seeing I had never witnessed before other than on the television. People carrying massive amounts of goods on their heads, monkeys walking around in the streets and the spaghetti junction of electrics dangerously connecting the city. 

 

After a night in a Delhi hotel we were then faced with an over night train travelling north and up to the mountains, again this was another shock for me. Being British, I'm very used to the health and safety police and everything being over protective so seeing people jump off the platform and dash across the tracks in front of oncoming police to get to the opposite platform and seeing people riding on top of the trains was definitely an eye opener. With our overnight train journey complete the early hours of the morning were hitting our sleepy eyes and we left the frosty train station for car journeys further into the mountains. 

Here I am at the base of the Himalayas ready to start our trek up the mountains, the experience covered a lot of firsts for me, first time in India, travelling with a bunch of people I had never met before and meeting people that would change my life for ever. 

After several days trekking in the mountains and sleeping in tents in the snow our epic journey was complete, we had raised the money for the charity and now we were given a day to experience some more of India. Having spent most of the time in the North of the country we headed back to Delhi and then down to Agra to see the wonder that is the Taj Mahal.

This really was the experience of a lifetime and since then I've wanted to do some more charity work on this scale. I've done several sponsored runs for cancer research and even a fun run at Christmas dressed as Santa but i'd love to commit to another big challenge and raise money for another charity and experience something new and change my life and other peoples lives once again.