Over the past weeks we have compared Kilimanjaro, honestly, one mountain at a time, with the seven great treks and climbs it shares the world's daydreams with: Everest Base Camp, the Inca Trail, Mont Blanc, Elbrus, Aconcagua, Mount Kenya and its neighbour Meru. Every one of those pieces answered the same question: this one, or that one?

Climbing Kilimanjaro was the best thing I have ever done, and also the thing I was least prepared for in all the ways that actually mattered. Not the kit or the training, I had read about all that. The things that caught me out were quieter and bigger. So here are the five things I genuinely wish someone had sat me down and told me before I set off