Wow – what a couple of days! Fieldbase certainly has been a hive of activity since the PMs arrived! After a good night's sleep we were straight into comms training on Monday, learning all about the radio protocol that everyone will use on Expedition when calling into Fieldbase.
Our 27k trek was truly beautiful (and incredibly hot) and took us through rice and cotton fields and lots of rural Indian villages. Every village we passed through, we were greeted by smiling locals and very excited children, all waving and asking our names and where we were from. We felt a bit like celebrities!
India 1 having a quick rest and chat with the locals
Rice fields on our trek
After a few water stops and of course our famous chai breaks, we were finally at camp and boy was it a sight for sore eyes...or should that be feet! It was a tough day but we all made it and felt incredibly proud off ourselves and shattered!
As soon as we got to camp we did a risk assessment and set about making it our home for the night. With tents up, a short drop and slops pit dug, it was time to start cooking and build the obligatory camp fire.
Just arrived! India 2, shattered but proud!
Digging the short drop
Welcome to Kim!
The PMs find out which projects they’ll be going to on phase 1 tomorrow so Fieldbase is full of anticipation and excitement today. I’ll update the blog tomorrow as soon as everyone knows where they’ll be going and give you all a bit more detail on what they’ll be doing so...watch this space!
We get our project groups to call into Fieldbase twice a day; once in the morning and once in the evening, to tell us what they’ve got planned for the day and how it went (and, of course, give us the low down on any gossip!).
When the groups call in we use a radio protocol similar to the army so that we’re 100% clear on everything that the groups want to tell us and vice versa. All our venturers will be using this system and it will form a very important part of their training.
With the phonetic alphabet under our belts (echo, alpha, sierra, yankee), next stop was lunch followed by more comms training and our all-important trek brief. Tim expertly took us through what we did and didn’t need (hair straighteners out) and then it was off to pack our rucksacks and get an early night ready for our 5am start!
On Tuesday we woke up to the early morning delights that are ‘energy bombs’ (oats, cocoa and condensed milk), courtesy of Charlie and Tim and then split into our two teams, India 1 and India 2.
India 1 (Andy, Clare, Ed, Hannah B, Kath, Sian, Rachel, Job and Charlie) headed off first, followed closely by India 2 (Tim, Anthony, Jonny, Hannah D, Sarah, Maggie and Helen).
Charlie and Anthony fueling up on energy bombs
Our 27k trek was truly beautiful (and incredibly hot) and took us through rice and cotton fields and lots of rural Indian villages. Every village we passed through, we were greeted by smiling locals and very excited children, all waving and asking our names and where we were from. We felt a bit like celebrities!
After a few water stops and of course our famous chai breaks, we were finally at camp and boy was it a sight for sore eyes...or should that be feet! It was a tough day but we all made it and felt incredibly proud off ourselves and shattered!
As soon as we got to camp we did a risk assessment and set about making it our home for the night. With tents up, a short drop and slops pit dug, it was time to start cooking and build the obligatory camp fire.
After a delicious meal of noodles, tuna and tinned cheese (yes tinned), we had a surprise cake to celebrate Lou and Andy’s three year wedding anniversary and then it was an early night so we were ready for another early start.
The next morning we had breakfast, some training from our medics, (Anthony, Sian, Clare, Hannah D and Maggie) and then headed back to Fieldbase for a well deserved (and definitely needed) shower.
The whole team after finishing trek!
After lunch and some health and safety training, we all headed into Mysore for an afternoon of exploring and a yummy meal out. After a pretty hectic first few days for our PMs it was a much needed break from training and a chance to explore and experience the fantastic country that they’re in.
The next morning we had breakfast, some training from our medics, (Anthony, Sian, Clare, Hannah D and Maggie) and then headed back to Fieldbase for a well deserved (and definitely needed) shower.
After lunch and some health and safety training, we all headed into Mysore for an afternoon of exploring and a yummy meal out. After a pretty hectic first few days for our PMs it was a much needed break from training and a chance to explore and experience the fantastic country that they’re in.
We also had the final member of our Raleigh family arrive; Kim is joining the other PMs and can’t wait to get stuck in.
The PMs find out which projects they’ll be going to on phase 1 tomorrow so Fieldbase is full of anticipation and excitement today. I’ll update the blog tomorrow as soon as everyone knows where they’ll be going and give you all a bit more detail on what they’ll be doing so...watch this space!
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