Just been out for a walk/run with my new training partner - Oscar!  I was little apprehensive as to whether he would keep up as he tends to go into a world of his own when out for a walk! But, he was brilliant and we went further and faster than I thought we would!

Here’s the two of us after we completed our walk!

Things are moving along nicely now. Steve and I spent sometime in Guernsey last week meeting up with some of the teachers from schools that we are visiting in January to give a talk about the expedition but we also were able to get our hands on some of the new kit that we had ordered a few weeks ago. We unpacked our new skis, sledges, boots, poles, skins and crampons which was great fun and also a worry! We found that Steve’s boots arent a perfect fit so they will have to go back. Not the end of the world but something else that cant be ticked off the lists.

Everything else seemed to be in order so will be sent to our individual islands soon so that we can prepare them for transport up to Cumbria in February. Before that of course they will be visiting the schools in our own islands and then be shipped to Guernsey to visit the schools over there.

Steve and I also managed a tasting session of our “on-ice” breakfasts. This year the company that we use have brought out a new range of meals, so we needed to try some of the new options. We quickly realised that Porridge with Strawberries was the overall winner with Hot Cereal Start a distant second and Muesli with Mango a complete non-starter! I will be ordering the whole food required later this week so will put a breakdown on here so that you can read what we will be eating!

Steve unpacking the sledges

Garmont Boots

 

Steve and I are at a point in the organisation of the Expedition where there is getting less and less to do! We seem to be incredibly organised which I find a little disconcerting! Im sure we have forgotten something really important and I will only remember it next April a week before we’re due to go! That aside, things are going really well. Our pulks, skis, boots etc… have arrived in Guernsey and Steve and I will be checking them over next week when we meet up over there. Our branding is on its way, ready to be sewed onto all of our kit and equipment. The big thing left for us to do is to order our food from Expedition Foods in the UK. They are specialists in producing and supplying dehydrated food and we have used them for all of our previous trips. I will be ordering the food next week.

The website is nearly finished now so Im officially making today the first day of the Expedition!

Steve and I have spent the last 6 months talking to sponsors and suppliers to try and get the project off the ground and now it is! We have our main sponsors, namely Guernsey Gas and Cable & Wireless SURE and some secondary sponsors as well. They all listed on this site please take a moment to visit their own sites and see the services that they offer.

At this point I have to offer our huge thanks to Chris Betley who really made a differerence when it came to finding sponsors for us. He is owed a huge curry!

Once all the money had been secured (about a month ago!) we have been busy checking what kit we needed to replace, what new items were needed and then sourcing them all. Its been a very busy time but I feel that we have made real progress in the last fortnight. Skis, Boots, Poles, Bindings and Crampons were all sourced through one company in Scotland (Braemar) who have now sent these items down to our warehouse in Guernsey.  Sledges have been built by Roger at Snowsled and have also been despatched. So this time next week we should have the majority of our equipment. My next big job is to order all the dehydrated food (hundreds of bags of curry!) which I will do in the next few weeks. Steve has two main projects at the moment - sourcing the fur which is sewn onto our windsuit hoods and to obtain all the badges from our sponsors which we need to sew onto our kit.

So its all looking good -  we even have a possible start date of 21st April! Less than 5 months away!