Friday 17 April 2009

April 16th

April 16th (Day 15)
We are definitely clear of the worst of the rubble. We have pulled the equivalent of London to Brighton and across the English channel – twice. And with it covered in chunks of ice the size of washing machines ...

Our route today skirted along the coast line of Devon Island. The peaks look clear of snow, but we intend to stay in the valleys so hopefully all will be well; but given our luck so far I am not making any bets! Today, while we pulled, I had an hour of really low spirits and I felt like giving up. At the rest stop I ate some sweets while Mark took the ‘p’ out of me and I was ok again after that!

Pulling the pulk pulls my shoulders together so the top of my back has been aching each day. I'll need to look at a way to relieve the pressure or take something to relieve the pain as it’s really getting on my nerves.

The modified binding held up, but we have a serious shortage now, with Ian breaking another right at the end of the day. At this rate it could be the littlest thing that causes us the biggest problems.

Update to Day 15
We had a bear in camp last night. Becks was outside when she saw a large male bear near the tents. Way too close for comfort. She did the right thing and acted quickly to alert everyone.

We all leapt out of our sleeping bags and formed a tight group, rallying around and firing flares in the bear's direction. This seemed to scare it off but for the next couple of hours we made regular checks to make sure it was gone for good before settling down.

Despite all our Polar Bear practice in Resolute it is really difficult to leap out of a sleeping bag! In fact it all looked ridiculously slapstick with hamstrings being pulled and people tripping over. I’m sure that if I had dropped a bowler hat I would have kicked it trying to pick it up! Still, elegance counts for nothing out here and at least the system worked!


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