Send me a message in the desert!
From 8th to 14th April 2006 you can send me a message whilst I am in the desert and apparently I’ll have it delivered to my tent!
Go to the Official Site and click on "Write to a competitor".
Follow the instructions. Only messages with the competitor’s first name, surname and race number (540 GOLD Peter) can be delivered. Do not send any attachments (for example photos) as this annuls the message. All e-mails will be printed(!) and distributed to competitors on the bivouac every day. After April 14th, the e-mail distribution service will no longer be available.
I look forward to hearing from you :>)
5 days and counting 1st April 2006
Well, this time next week we will be in the desert for our first night under canvas! Am I ready? Mentally and physically - yes. Have I packed? Not once - yet. I have started shipping my gear up to the spare bedroom and have to say, am surprised at how much there seems to be. Still, I'm pretty sure I'll wittle it down enough but time of course will tell. I do however need to keep some space for the flare, light sticks and cooking gear we get when we arrive at the desert.
So, for tonight I'll not worry too much about it. Debbie, Christy and Abbie fly off to Spain in a few hours and I'm taking them to the airport. This gives me from Saturday onwards to get it all done.
If you want to wish me luck, take the piss or anything else, if you CLICK HERE it will take you to a page where you can make comments as you please!
4 days and counting 2nd April 2006
Well, I managed to get all of my gear sorted today and laid it all out as shown below - will it all really fit?!
As can be seen however, I've managed to get it all in the Tardis rucsac. So far, so good. Total weight - 11kgs. Target weight - 9kgs. A little bit of pruning required but not bad for a first pack.
3 days and counting 3rd April 2006
Spent most of yesterday just packing and re-packing to see if I could get it any lighter and actually got it down to 9kg. Part food reduction, part clothing. The thermarest seat kit is now waiting in the wings, I added 15g of sun dried tomatoes and 100g of organic(!) cous cous just to add some variety. I suppose I'll have to take something else out now to compensate although I'll be eating 1 - 1.5kg of food each day so a few ounces won't make too much difference after the second day.
I managed to get a good position for my digital camera so hope to get some good pictures as I go. Need to get some work done today to see if I can get ahead of myself and relax before I go!!
2 days and counting 4th April 2006
Managed to get a little bit more weight out today. I did have 150g of meusli for each day. Have you seen what 150g of meusli actually looks like in a bowl? Too much, so out came 50g per day. I also removed some noodles and jerky resulting in a total 1kg weight saving. And did you know how much a plastic mug weighs? 100g so I found a kids plastic cup that only weighs 30g.
The mugs in question! Big ain't clever, big ain't going!
The first aid kit was cannabalised slightly as below. I do now intend to take my seat kit so this will add back 250g. I know this may all sound a little boring but this is what you get like when you have to carry the damn stuff for 7 days and 250kms across sand and rocks.
