We’ve been meaning to update for ages. Time just seems to be running away at a supersonic pace and there are only about 15 weeks left now until we leave. Arghhh…

So what have been up to?

Well, firstly we’re working even more ‘normal’ work hours than usual. We all need to get some money in the bank but more importantly, we need to push hard now so we can take so much time off later in the year. We all work for ourselves but that really just seems to add more pressure at the moment.

Also, we’ve begun to train quite hard - longer, more endurance focussed sessions. Lots and lots of dragging tyres around Hyde Park in London (hello to everyone we have met recently!). And all three of us have entered the London triathon which is in about 4 weeks so we’ve also been doing some swimming as well as our normal running/cycling.

Sponsorship of course is one of the biggest and most time consuming areas. Things are going quite well in this area though and we’ll let you know more soon.

And finally organising. Occasionally we need to do some of this and occasionally it happens.

Up until last week, it was all really hard work, but now, with deadlines looming, we’re getting really motivated and beginning to see through the work load and get excited about the trip. There’s nothing like some new kit or booking flights to make it all real!

A few little changes to the site - hope you like them. We’ll write a lot more updates, a lot more regularly now…only 108 days to go.

My Tyres had a pleasant surprise this afternoon after stopping to chat to two friendly faces, Milo came from nowhere and cocked his leg on my tyres…. Milo is a small (but very sweet) dog. Maybe he was not impressed with the effort we were putting in!?

Thanks to those of you who added to the weight of my pack and added money to the collection box…

On a separate note I found an old shilling in the sand track.. how long has that been there.. lucky shilling me is thinking.

Not only did i find a lucky shilling but i have just bought a Nordic Ski Trainer.. (no not a person, a machine) for a bargain on the internet.. well done me i am off for a beer to celebrate.

Charlie Hunter signing out..

 

I have just been given permission to write blogs on the site! lucky me, or should i say lucky you.

Planning and lots of it has been taking up all our time lately.

Lots of thank yous to make too:

Hilary and Conrad Dickinson - we had a great day and Night up in Hexham talking Antarctic Talk, a very very useful evening Thank you both very very much.

Sprint Physio Therapy - Who have been looking after me and are taking on Cynan next week. Thank you all very much

http://www.sprintphysio.co.uk/

Otter Box - Thanks guys i put my laptop in my smart new case and promptly got hit by a van in London, I wrekon if i had my laptop in my back pack it would be history.. Thank you very much. and as for my iphone case.. priceless i had a bucket of water flood a bag which my phone was in..

http://www.otterbox.com/

Thank you those who have registered for us to carry your flags to the pole, the images will be up by Friday.

Due to popular demand we will be bringing the flags photos back to the UK so you can keep them.

All you have to do is upload your image send us your money and leave all the hard work to us.. Those of you still not got round to registering for your flag go sign up ASAP

http://www.beardodging.com/

Thats enough from me

X

Charlie

For those of you who still can’t imagine quite what tyre dragging is..

It involves two Land Rover tyres tied one behind the other (only the rubber bits at the moment)

You then attach the rope from the tyres to your back pack waste strap and you start walking.. using ski polls or not if you want a real work out. I will film a session tomorrow and put it on youtube.

Photos can be found here:    http://www.youtube.com/user/charliethehunter

Now get back to work

;0)

Charlie

Clearly we will be hitting Carling up for sponsorship

If you weren’t at our launch party last week (or even if you were), take a look at an expedition we made earlier - Wrong Way Down, a motorbike expedition through Morocco, taking in the Sahara and even a stage of the Paris-Dakar rally.

That’s right - in true English spirit, Fortnum & Mason will be providing luxury essentials to our otherwise lightweight, calculated, calorie rich, dehydrated diet.

There are just some things you can’t do without in life, no matter where you might be. Some things are worth their weight in gold, even if you have to drag them half way across a continent. The simple thought of their taste and purity at the end of the day is enough to spur you on.

So thank you, Fortnum and Mason - your tea is the best is in the world and to us, it will be the most treasured item on our journey!

Thank you to everyone who came along on Thursday night - all 187 of you. It was a brilliant night with a great atmosphere so thanks so much for your support.

We’ll be adding the two videos from our most recent expeditions, which were first shown at the launch, on this site over the next few days. It was a bit hard to hear the videos that night with all the noise in the background but you’ll be able to really enjoy them here.

We had also planned to launch a new site in time for the launch, which didn’t quite happen with all the other things that needed doing. But we’re catching up and you’ll be able to see a lot of changes very soon.

We don’t really have a lot of money.

This is a potential problem for getting to the south pole and back.

That is why we went and saw Dan Fletcher at Mindshare who looks after an impressive list of clients and their sponsorship requirements - small clients like HSBC and Ford. If anyone could get us sponsored, he could.

But, if we ever expected an easy answer to our problem, Dan rest assured us that there was none. It is a hard, miserable slog and we probably won’t be able to get any cash. “It isn’t about the costs” says Dan, “it’s about the value you can provide a sponsor. You must provide value. But you probably won’t get any cash.”

Most expeditions focus on the costs because they are so damn big. It’s hard not too. The costs can be so high that it is usually very difficult to justify them to any sponsor. And if you can’t see how you can provide massive value, what do you do? Cancel the trip? But the point is taken, we are thinking a lot about what we can provide to people/companies.

So how do you provide value? There are hardly any real ‘firsts’ left that are worthy of media coverage and the only one we have revolves around David having orange hair and that isn’t even funny. We don’t really see any point in claiming new routes to the pole (not that we are) or having the first person from an obscure village (Perth!). Neither are we likely to be particularly fast; we don’t see this as a race (we’re glad not to be doing the polar race although Ben Saunder’s expeditions command a lot more respect). So from an international news perspective, we’re a little lacking in appeal. Yet most people are still quite interested in what we are doing.

The current economic client isn’t helping much either. Under normal circumstances, the banks would be lining up to sponsor us, but of course as we all know this credit crunch thing affects us all in different ways. Now, these same banks won’t even return our calls. Actually, that’s not quite true - if you owe them lots of money, they are more likely to call you back (can almost hear the phone ringing now). As some saying goes - if you owe the bank £2000, they have the power but if you owe them £200,000,000, then you have the power.

But the beers with Dan continues to flow (he has a very cheap bar in his building too!). Creativity began to follow.

We’re pleased to say that we have come up with a strategy that will solve all our problems - one we still liked when we woke up the next morning and the beer effect wore off. Clearly is is brilliant.

We just can’t see a single sponsor shelling out £100k to send us away. But we can see quite a few other options at a much cheaper level ie, £100-£1000. We’ve got plans to exploit this end of the market but we can’t say too much more right now because we haven’t built it or put it into practice. Dan wasn’t totally convinced but we have to start somewhere. So we’ll update after the 24th (the launch party).

Thanks Dan - you’re a legend.

If you’ve ever considered taking up tyre hauling as a hobby, then we can suggest you tackle Hyde Park.  It is fast becoming a social hot spot.

In our two laps yesterday we met no less that 25 people, had 4 photos taken, were in 2 videos, had 4 cars beep their horns and were handed coffee from Lucy at Ice Cream Van at Speakers corner.

We are dragging tyres round the horse track pretty regularly now - usually every Tuesday (although not the coming Tues) and every Saturday. So if you happen to be in Hyde Park, please do come and say hello.  We’ve also had a few friends express a desire to take our tyres for a spin - so if you feel the urge, just ask.

Looks like we missed a great training opportunity this morning - it snowing in London. Looks just lovely…