Arrived and organised

Once I got to Santiago I soon realised that the connection time I had was just no way do-able becuase I had to collect my luggage and re-check in for my final flight to Punta Arenas. As expected and despite running at full speed through the airport I missed the 11.10am flight and was very annoyed by the news that the next 3 flights were also full. I ended up having to wait for 12hrs, with all of my luggage, at the airport until I could get onto the 1.20am flight heading South. I adopted the technique of people watching to help the hours pass.

I finally arrived at the youth hostel where my team mates kindly rolled out of their beds to greet me. It was now almost 6am. (That was the third night with little or no sleep). I got almost immediately into bed but because of the new surrounding and some very squeeky floorboards, I could not sleep! At 7.30 I got up, when the others did, and the day of preperation began.

Hoping everything would go to plan was not quite on the cards today. Thomas and Fred helped me with assembling my bike but we soon realised that the values for the tubeless tyres I had were the wrong size and this was a major problem! We spend the day trying different solutions such as cutting up inner tube to try and form a good enough seal, we wondered around Punta Arenas asking at local mechanics shops if they had anything that could help but unfortunatley this didn´t work out. On our way back we stumbled across a small back street bike shop (that no one seemed to know about). Unbeliveably they even had the right size valves and the tape we needed so after parting with far too much money, our problem was solved!

Next stop was to head to the local supermarket and stock up on snacks for the race and this was follwed with 2hrs of bagging all of my new purchases.

After a delicious fish dinner, some herbal sleeping tablets and a shower I dived into bed.

Today, Friday, we´ve got media interviews and kit checks and I´ve just returned from a quick spin around town on my bike. Everything seems to be coming together finally.

We´ve just been told that we will be starting the race from Puerto Natales at the edge of the Torres Del Paine National Park...how exciting!

https://maps.google.cl/maps?q=puerto+natales&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-beta&ie=UTF-8&ei=Iu8UUbeTE8fO2QXCoIG4Ag&ved=0CAsQ_AUoAA

Stuck in Madrid

I arrived at Heathrow in plenty of time for my flight at 7pm. Everything went downhill from there. A fuel pump fault in the plane caused a 3hr delay at London and in spite of running for the connection in Madrid my bags did not make it and hence I missed my flight. Team mates are now very nervous and not convinced that I am planning on coming at all!

I am now stuck in Madrid for 24hrs!!

Packing is not going too well

It's always the most difficult part of an expedition...to get to the start line!

Having now packed, not only am I 6kgs over-weight, I also managed to crack my bike lights which is a vital piece of equipment. I sense I'm going to have a busy afternoon getting everything sorted. I'm also still waiting for a box to arrive from Berghaus with yet more vital pieces of clothing such as softshell trousers and waterproof trousers. I leave tomorrow morning at 11am so hopefully the post will arrive in time. Maybe if I wear some more clothes to travel in and fill my pockets I might meet the weight standards, besides passengers aren't weighed and I'm probably less than the average person!

The race website is http://www.patagonianexpeditionrace.com/ although the organisers have said that tracking will be intermittent and possibly not updated for a few days.

Anyway, a slight diversion from Patagonia, this morning I took the opportunity to get some shooting practice in whilst Kris, the Deer Park's marksman was on hand to give me some vital training.

We used a 44 Mag under-lever rifle which seems like just the job for what I've got planned next. I can't yet say what the training is for but all will be revealed when I get back from Patagonia!

What's in my bag?

So if you've ever wondered what I've got in my bag when I'm training, today I packed it with 6 large rolls of plastic bags and took it for a 2 hour run followed by a 1hr bike....I really need to find a new hobby!

It was good training though as it ended up weighing 8 kilos which is the likely weight I'II be carrying in Patagonia.

Sleeping bag and mat - 1.5kg

Spare clothes - 1kg

Food - 2kg

Climbing harness, carabinas and crampons - 1.5kg

Team kit - 2kg (although I'm hoping the boys will carry this for me!)

Training goes on

Given all this rain, it's nice to look back and remember how fun the training was when it was snowing. I was running with a 6kg pack here in training for my long trek across Patagonia's dense forests and mountains. I'II probably be carrying a 10kg pack during the race including tent, sleeping bag, food and much needed foot treatments.

This picture below was taken right in the middle of Cardiff Bay (a good 200m swim to land!) last Saturday when Neal and I were out training for the DW. The thing about K2 paddling is that the number one rule is not to fall out because if this happens the only way to get back into the boat is to swim/drag the boat to shore, empty it out and start again. Neither of us spoke much during this crossing despite the conditions being perfect!