There are two schools of thought on climbing a mountain with the person you love. One says it is the most romantic thing you will ever do: a shared summit, a sunrise nobody else will ever fully understand, a story you get to keep telling together for the rest of your lives.

There is no official public register of deaths on Kilimanjaro, so treat any precise figure you read online with caution. What is commonly reported is this: tens of thousands of people climb the mountain every year, and in a typical year a small number of deaths are recorded among climbers, most linked to severe altitude illness or to underlying heart conditions revealed by exertion at altitude.

If you are waiting to feel ready, you will wait forever, because nobody feels ready for a mountain they have never climbed.

Not fit enough, too old, dodgy knees, no experience, scared of heights, skint? Here are the six reasons people decide Kilimanjaro "isn't for them", and why each one is probably wrong.

It is the question we are asked most: can I actually do this? The honest answer is more encouraging than you would think. Here is what really makes Kilimanjaro hard, and how to give yourself the best possible chance of the summit.