Getting closer

Sunday saw a 'training day' at Teddington. It was useful to see the IT man Chris for some helpful advice on keeping in touch with the website>>>>

NOTE=>top left of home page now has a link which will have a live update of race positions daily. We will be able to get short postings on to this blog daily, and hopefully fuller commentry and even images onto this blog at the first and third checkpoints.

We had a useful update on photo/video techniques. In the afternoon we went over it all again as a certain someone from another team was late, and insisted on asking questions about everything we'd done in the morning. Ah well, 'twas ever thus!

We only have a 'packing day' left before we go, so it really is all becoming a reality. We were given wolf fur to sew into our hoods, animal fibres being so much more thermally efficient, so we are told. Makes me wonder why we don't all wear tweed suits and woolly jumpers, like Scott and Shackleton...oh yeah....

Anyway, frantic activity as all the customising of kit is going on, sewing patches, wolf fur etc.

Great news is that big Dave, on a trip to Australia, seems to have secured sponsorship, if only in kind with a Vinyard!!

He asked us what we thought...

'Entirely appropriate', I said.

Camera & GPS training -Feb 22

Iain and John spent a large portion of sunday at the Royal canoe club on the sunny banks of the Thames in Teddington listening to experienced cameraman Kees T'hooft talking about experiences filming in hazardous conditions ,especially the cold. This will prove more useful to some teams than others (especially those with a camera crew following their every step). However it was good to check that we already have adequate equipment. The race organizers appear keen to capture film of teams at their lowest ebb and have suggested filming arguements and close encounters rather than latrine humour. Are they in for a surprise ! Also we focussed on more GPS entries and now have the exact co-ordinates of all check points along the actual race route. A less scrupulous and better funded team might take advantage of such info (Top Gear where are you when we really need you). We also got our first look at EPIRBS which is the emergency beacon we all carry. Apparently they are registered with Falmouth coastguard here and also the Canadian authorities. All in Jock's name. He better be at those checkpoints ahead of schedule. After paying close attention to what was said and with certain late arrivals starting to repeat details we made a tactical withtreat. Back on the Internet as always jealous of other teams kit and sponsorship deals . It does appear David's absence in Australia may have yielded a corporate sponsor , I am sure he will update us all in due course. Suffice to say wine is a worthy substitute for hard cash !

More kit evaluation...

Having been up and down the country in various snowy conditions, I thought I had found the perfect creature comfort to take to the pole. Having driven through the worst of the blizzards, North, South and in the midlands, in the fast lane of the A1 between Edinburgh and London, I thought nothing could conquer the mighty Volvo V70. Then I got it stuck in the drive in Northumberland. Alas, it won't be accompaying us to the pole. It might have been a big ask to disguise it as a polk, and 1.8 tonnes of excess baggage an even bigger one.

Still much debate about all the little nick nacks (no, not you Dave!)

Anyway, sunset on the Tyne....ahhhh.

deep snow

Having had 18'' of snow I thought it worth heading north to find some challenging weather. 20 miles North of Luton, blue skies and no snow.
Stopped at Bottletop (http://www.bottletop.co.uk/) to say hello, and to whom, a huge thank you for the donation of this site.
Came up for a trustee meeting of Gardening Leave and am staying in North Berwick with my old boss Col. Clive Fairweather ex commander SAS. He's a useful man to know..................
Advice heeded...'take a good knife, don't get caught, and if you do, don't say anything'.
I maintain that is my motto anyway, so nothing gained there, apart from a bloody good chilli con carne, and a chin wag about old times. IPA, Grolsch and some Shiraz. He stuck to the Rose. IW

Kit Check

Very much chat post the weekend 'training' about the practicalities of what surplus, or rather extra kit to take. John has found a Norwegian Kettle that can boil a whole whale, and Dave seems to have sourced a solar panel that we could possibly double as a spare tent. John has immediately ordered both, but then he does work for Goldbags! Maybe if we all did, we could do it Clarkson style, complete with 4x4 (no, not you Ulrika) and G&Ts.

The real debate has centred on how we carry immediate kit, water, snacks, etc., and stuff that needs to be kept on us, i.e. warm...batteries, i-pods, cameras, lighters, cigarettes, Cotes-du-Rhone etc., under our windsuits. I suggested chest rigs, a la our boys in green, but they are very heavy duty, and err..heavy and would turn into pressure cookers. I reckon we could cobble together something out of the odd ammo pouch and a belt, or braces etc.

As soon as I said 'ammo', JM went all misty eyed and via interweb search found some AK47 chest magazine storage rig from the Tet offensive! Worrying, I think he was serious!

Anyway, after much thinking, I think I have it cracked! We need something light, ventilated, shoulder hung and capable of reasonable storage......unsure where we can source the larger chest models, but maybe an excuse to get in touch with Jordan, she must be throwing a few out!

Back to work...

After the weekends exertions, it seemed right to get a dose of reality once more....so back to work.

A bit of snow was no problem for an Arctic explorer. Spent most of the in the snow as we can see!

Training Saturday

John and David came to Iain's on Saturday for some rigorous pre match training. The idea was to tackle a bit of tent work and work through some Navigation exercises and focus on some safety aspects of the cookset, as John has somehow managed to find himself 'very busy' for the last couple of training sessions. Anticiption was high.

There was a couple of hours detailed and rigorous debate, and, having invested in some new equipment on a recent training recce down to the West Country Iain filled his new 'cider mug' with a pint of Weston's Best. John started with a Cobra and was joined shortly (no pun intended) after by Dave. The trio moved swiftly onto some '04 Chablis, a magnum of 1998 La Croix-Canon, Canon Fronsac, a bottle of South African Shiraz and some '04 Haut Brion. IW showed his skill on the cookset by producing fried Haloumi with Salsa Verde, Stuffed loin and confit of lamb. Tarte Tatin and Cardomom icecream was washed down with some Italian Vin Santo and a bottle of Tokaji. Having drunk ourselves round most of Europe, we retired at 0130 for some rest and reflection.

Lessons learned from the weekend:

The cookset showed itself to be very versatile and practical. David will have a job to keep up with Iain's culinery efforts, especially as it may be a big ask for him to drag an AGA. We may have to scale down our gastronomic expectation with two MSR burners and a metal pot.

Having thought that we would be booze free, it was decided that we may need to take a 'little something'. Just for special events....Of course, for practical reasons, we decided it will have to be quite strong in order that it doesn't freeze....;-)