A DOCTOR who conquered Africa’s highest mountain for charity is thanking those who helped him reach the top.

Dr Simon Bagley ventured to Tanzania last month along with his brothers David and Jon. Together, they scaled Kilimanjaro for the Medic 1 Trust.

The GP said: “It was a great feeling and a great sense of achievement to reach the top.

“Everybody was quite drained and emotional. It was the middle of the night and everyone was exhausted after the culmination of several days’ fairly hard work.

“It was well worth it, though, and I have to say I enjoyed the whole thing an awful lot more than I thought I was going to; it was great.” The trio set out on the seventh day shortly after midnight before heading for the summit.

Dr Bagley told the Courier: “We got to the very summit at 6.20am and we were well and truly on our way back down by 6.30am.

“It was freezing and because of the altitude you got a thumping headache.

“My older brother, David, and I had started to feel unwell and the only way to deal with that is go down.

“Even taking your hands out of your gloves, you could only have your hands exposed a few seconds a time.

“We were at the top for 10 minutes maximum but when you got 100 metres further down you were fine.” A final figure for Medic 1 Trust is yet to be unveiled, but the trio have raised more than £1,200.

The Medic 1 flying squad vehicle was launched in 1980 and features a team of medical and nursing specialists who deliver pre-hospital care in the Lothian and Borders.

The team can be requested by any of the emergency services, or by a medical practitioner, and is usually an emergency department consultant and middle grade doctor, as well as one or two experienced emergency department nurses.

Dr Bagley, from The Maltings, Haddington, said: “The walking was not the hard bit.

“It was challenging but fine and no more taxing than hillwalking in Scotland but the real trials were the food and toilets, which were fairly basic.” The three brothers were joined on the 5,895m peak by a team of guides, cooks and porters. Now, they are aiming to thank the team of 13 who helped them up in the mountain in just seven days.

Dr Bagley, who works at Cromwell Harbour Medical Practice in Dunbar, found the experience “quite eye-opening”.

He said: “We had a day in a little town called Moshi, which is very poor.

“Although Tanzania is reasonably wealthy, there are quite a lot of people in hardship.

“Many of the porters did not have proper footwear or clothing and the guide did not have gloves or sunglasses.

“We are getting together a box of gloves and my old walking boots and stuff to help them. It is hard work and the porters go up Kilimanjaro for next to no pay.” The walk came about as part of the celebrations as David turned 50.

Dr Bagley does not reach that milestone for another two and a half years and added: “We will have to come up with something similarly challenging!” To make a donation, visit the centre or go to www.edinburghemergencymedicine.com/medic1-about