It is around 21:15 on Friday and the end of our first full day of walking on the ice. We have had a good but tough day, despite a very early setback.
We woke up from camp only to realise that the ice drift overnight had reached a speed of up to 1kph eastwards, meaning that we were effectively further away from our goal than where we had started yesterday, effectively wiping out half a day of solid walking.
We also awoke to the continuation of the storm that has been raging since we arrived in Barneo, with a complete white-out for the first seven hours of the day.
Despite this however, spirits in the camp are very high. We knew all along that ice drift could be an issue and we knew that the best course of action was to just get out on the ice and start walking.
It was another tough trek, with thick snow, ice rubble to negotiate and open water to negotiate, forcing us to leap across crevasses and gaps in the ice.
Then, rather suddenly and unexpectedly at around 1800 hours, the winds died down, the clouds cleared, the sun shone and we were presented with a beautiful blue sky. As I call this latest update in, we have set up camp against a stunning backdrop of ice sculptures and rubble, with the light gleaming off them.
That seems to have kept everybody’s spirits high ahead of another day of hard walking tomorrow, given that we haven’t really made any progress because of the ice drift, despite walking mile after mile. Nevertheless, we’re ready to get back out onto the ice tomorrow.
Again, I would like to give a huge thank-you to everybody who has donated, no matter how large or small, to my two charities; Riders for Health and BASIC.
Also don’t forget that you can follow me online at Twitter and Facebook. You can also subscribe to my updates in the iTunes store.
