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After the long day we got through yesterday, we were feeling very excited about our rest day today. The purpose of this day is not the gain any altitude overall, but instead, we climb a little higher and then come back down again to help our bodies adjust to the increasing altitude. We are due to climb 400 mtrs today and then come back to Namche.

We, stupidly, think today will be a breeze, a walk in the park, so to speak. When we remember this now, we laugh, oh how we laugh. TODAY IS NOT EASY! The climb is steep, short, but steep. But I will tell you something, it is totally worth it, because today you get to see the beast that is Everest, for the very first time. The views on today's climb are amazing and everything you could hope for.

We climb to the Everest hotel, take some super photos and head back down to Namche where we treat ourselves to chocolate cake, cinnamon rolls, lattes and WIFI in the Namche bakery. I mean there are no words required, only pictures.

You get WIFI in just about every village, but you must pay and the connection is intermittent to say the least. It's totally worth the money though as we sent photos back to our loved ones on a massive group chat we created on Whatsapp before we left. It was lovely to hear from everyone and their thoughts and prayers really kept us going - love to the fam!!

We have a lovely shower, and dinner later on in the evening. I had some tomato soup with a cheese toastie, Deryl had chow mein, we share some chilli chips and POPCORN!!! Who knew there would be popcorn on Everest.

Later in the evening, we play cards and drink some beer with our new friends - Ozzie Brad is our main card player at this point! Go Brad!!

Day 4 begins with a 7.30am start.

We wake up to a lovely breakfast of apple and cinnamon porridge, get all our gear together and set off for Namche Bazaar - this village is a main thoroughfare for all trekkers in the region. Those going to Everest, Ama Dablam , Gokyo, etc, all come through Namche - it's full of shops, tea houses, bars and you can buy any type of trekking equipment here you may not already have sorted.

Today, we go from 2,600mtrs to 3,400mtrs and it is a brutal day of trekking. Today is one of the most difficult and long days of the entire trip, it's relentless and tiring - but the views are utterly amazing, breath-taking and worth every difficult step. The terrain is dusty, forest-like and very very steep. It's slow progress and at this point, you wonder what the heck you are doing half way around the world, away from all your creature comforts. We stop in a little café for some lunch and rest the then pick up where we left off.

Throughout the day, we cross five of the famous rope bridges. Starting from the smallest, and finishing with the highest. I am pretty height-averse, I go a bit weak at the knees and I am very pleased with myself, that I manage to get across all five without so much as a whimper. Once you hit the 5th and highest bridge, you are well accustomed to them and I don't bat an eyelid. In fact, I'm rather disappointed that there aren't any higher ones left!

We also see the famous Yaks, every step of the way. We see horses, donkeys and men carrying loads that seem impossible to you and I. They are transporting goods, food, drinks and supplies to the trekkers higher up the mountain. These people are hardy, strong and resilient. I'm in awe of them.

After 6-7 hours trekking, we see Namche in the distance - it is like a beacon from heaven - we've made it!

I am so pleased and delighted and Namche is everything I thought it would be. The tea house we are staying in is somewhat modern for the mountains, with an actual hot shower, decent toilets and BEER - lots of lovely beer!! When we get into our tea house, we take our hiking boots off and the relief in my feet is glorious. We settle down to a beer, get a shower and change of clothes and then have some traditional Sherpa stew (veggie option), also known as Dal Bhat. This is the meal all the porters and guides eat and I was keen to try some local foods. I was allowed to eat it, but on one condition - I eat like the locals, with my hands. Never one to turn down a challenge, I use some anti-bac gel on my paws, roll up my sleeves and shove the Dal Bhat into my mouth like I hadn't eaten in a week. It was delicious.

We threatened to go to one of the Namche discos, but we're too tired and mosey on to bed at a decent time to prepare for tomorrow's acclimatisation day.

JOEY IS TIRED!

Day 3

The big day! We are finally heading to the Himalayas, after months and months of planning. I wish I could say I am looking forward to it, but my mind focuses on the flight to Lukla which we are taking at 8am.

The flight to Lukla is well regarded as one of the most dangerous in the world, landing on one of the shortest runways in the world, carved into the middle of a mountain, on an uphill runway!!!! And I can tell you, it lives up to its name!! I’m not the best of flyers to begin with, but when I see all the size of the plane, I really start to get nervous! When we board, I am three seats away from the pilot, I can see out the front window of the plane as there is no barrier between us and the crew and our pilot is wearing fingerless, leather driving gloves – I figure he knows what he’s doing. I am accompanied on the flight by a few real characters - Lucky Lewis from Vegas, a lovely family from South Africa, our travel companions Elise and Angus and our guides. Even they seem a little nervous, which both comforts and terrifies me in equal measure.

The 16-seater propeller plane takes off from Kathmandu for a 25 min flight which takes you right into the middle of the Himalayas. You are unbelievably close to the mountains around you – sitting on the left ensures you set the most amazing views of the mountains. The plane flies like a car skidding on ice and my knuckles were white. But in a sick way, I was really enjoying it all!! There is a massive right turn and I look out the window, to see the little itty bitty runway in the distance....i think, no surely not, surely THAT’S not the runway......but the wheels come down, and so do we. The talented pilots lined the plane up with the runway, the wheels come down, we slam onto the runway and the full brakes are applied. Thank goodness we stop before the runway ends!!! We’re down and we’re ready to go!!!

We hit Lukla with a spring in our step and a renewed respect for life!! Lukla is a nice town with shops, restaurants, a Hard Rock Cafe, Starbucks and lots of bars! We walk through and make our way to Phadking. It’s a long day trekking, up and downhill, taking us from 2800 meters to 2600 meters. We all struggle with the pace and steep hills.

Phadking is another lovely village and the rest at the tea house is very welcome after our first long trek. I’m glad to get my boots off and chill for a while! We had lovely veg curry for dinner and I sampled some of the local milk tea , which is lovely, like hot, sweet milk? sounds terrible, but it was lovely. We were asleep for 9pm – rock and roll!!

So today's the day we leave for the adventure of a lifetime. This is going to be the most challenging and hopefully, rewarding trip we've ever done. I was going to say, the most rewarding trip we will ever do, but I hope there are plenty more adventures to come our way so I'm not going to set the bar just yet!

We are ready to get our asses whooped by the mighty Everest. I've no doubt there will be blood, sweat and tears, but I'm also sure there will be laughs, fun, new friendships and most importantly, new memories. If we do this......if we make it, it will be an amazing thing. We'll be able to take on anything after this!

Wish us luck and if you can, check in with us when we're away using this blog or my instagram channel where I hope to upload some pics....leave some comments here or on instagram https://instagram.com/joanneeland81/ and we should get them when we have wifi. We'll also be on whatsapp too.

See you on the other side!!

Back in March, we lost a very important member of our family - my Gran. She was a loving, warm, caring, funny person and she is sorely missed by us all.

Deryl and I decided we wanted to mark my Gran's passing when we're at base camp - it's the closest we can possibly get to her and we wanted to leave a memento in her memory and honour. My gran was a determined woman, and I'm hoping to draw from some of that fighting spirit when the times get tough out there - which they will.

It's tough to decide what to bring up there and how to honour such a wonderful person. After a bit of discussion, we settled on bringing up an angel pin. I intend to pin it to my day pack in the hopes that it will give me all the strength I need and it will be a good luck charm - lord knows some good luck would be most welcome after a recent spate of bad luck! Once we reach base camp, I'm going to leave that angel up there and hopefully it can bring luck to others.

The pin I've chose is specific to my granny and I think she'd be pleased that we've decided to do this.

So - who else brings a good luck charm with them when they need a little extra encouragement?

Is anyone doing the same trek as us and intends to leave a memento on Everest?