It's All Coming Together

Well, things are really starting to move now.

Last weekend I met up with the crew from one of the support vehicles to work out timing and a possible route. Although the route is still up in the air, we do have a date....30 June 2012. Mark it in your diaries because from that day you will be able to follow our progress online. With the Spot Connect device we will be carrying, you will be able to see exactly where we are as well as receive short notes from us (40 words per message). I don't expect anyone will sit there and watch us drag ourselves across the Western side of the desert at 3km/h, just checking in every couple of days should hopefully maintain your interest.

Speaking of the route, we have decided that we are not going to trek too far from vehicle tracks. We were originally going to go through the middle of the desert but from a safety perspective (I have a wife and 2 young boys) we need to be a bit sensible. It will still be extremely hard yakka, no less than the original idea but we won't have a 100km trek to the nearest vehicle if something goes wrong, just 10 or so! There is another reason for the change of plan too. We are intending to film as much of the journey as possible and may even have a film crew in tow if the stars line up for us. There is no guarantee for the film crew but it would be out of the question if we went further north! There is one more reason too. Although we fully intend to go completely unsupported, we will have a water supply ready to be dropped in front of us if we need it. We will aim to carry 6 litres of water for each day (total starting weight for water on a 20 day trek, 120kg) and hope that it will be enough, but if not, we have no intention of dying out there! I should take possession of a the vehicle map for the area today or tomorrow and will plan the route from there. I hope to have the details finalised in the next couple of weeks.

I have ramped up my training a bit and I am now filling the already heavy tyre with sand and using the walkways on the dunes at Newport as mini desert dunes. I know they are not quite as big as what we are going to be faced with, but with the tyre full of sand I am already walking up one constant sand dune! It really is hard going but in training, the harder the better! I have to admit, having been off the drink for nearly 4 weeks and doing all this training, I already feel sooooooo much fitter. Just walking around and doing daily life, I feel quite cleansed. My mind is sharper and my motivation for the trek and indeed work, is spiking. Like I suggested in my last blog, if anyone wants to join me for a dry first half of 2012, your body will thank you for it. Mine already is!