Back from the Pyrenees

Just had a fantastic week walking in Pyrenees for seven days, end of June. Feeling fit. A knee problem I'd picked up a few weeks before seems to have settled. It's one of the hazards of this 40-year-old, nearly 41-year-old body, trying to up the training as December looms. My tissues just say 'NO', not 'avin it, and particularly tendons, achilles and knee. So proceeding cautiously, went a bit ballistic for a while.

Got a text message whilst away to say that one of my team had pulled out, and then an email the day i got back to work to say the other had pulled out, both due to lack of funds. So officially got no team. But we'll see. Tony Martin who is running the show is very keen to have an all girl Brit team and maybe be able to perform a miracle re sponsorship. Hope so. If they are unable to go then there is at least one other person I can team up with and would be very happty to, but a team of three would be better, not least from the point of view of crevasses, falling in them and being pulled out, but also getting the tent up quickly in a blizzard.

Crevasses training took place weekend of 19th/20th July in Zell am See ( spelling in Austria. A Fantastic weekend. No crevasses because they were full of snow/ ice and we couldn't get into them. So had a couple of days chucking ourselves down steep snow slopes and simulating a rescue. The Austrian Mountain Rescue guys and Brit instuctors were fantastic. Very lucky with great weather and wonderful views. Hard work, lots of laughs, but please don't let me fall down a crevasse, coz chances of not surviving - HIGH. Teamed up for the weekend with my good friend and ex North Pole Team mate, Hylton, who has decided very late in the day that he's gotta go South, and Ben Fogle, all round good egg, who's two team mates had had to come out two days earlier.


This weekend just gone, tyre pulled up Plym Bridge trail on Saturday. Chatted to a few folk who kindly accepted leaflets about The AMBER Trust, which I'm supporting, and thankyou to those who offered me water. I was going for about four hours, hot and hard work. Not managing more than two miles an hour. Rope broke on return leg and had to carry tyre, which added to the general discomfort of it all. Glad it won't be that hot at the Pole. But got a feel for the effort required with the altitude when in Austria, 2700 to 3000 mts, which ids approx where we'll be at in the South. Very different form pulling a pulk at sea level ( North Mag)

Met up with Anne Civardi, of Amber Trust who has talked to parents and children involved and given me a list of tunes the children would like me to listen to, including 'Twinkle twinkle little star, from Verity who is just two years old. That'll be one for Christmas Day.