“Eating hot croissants on a café terrace in Paris…”
Published on 06.04.2009 - Catlin Arctic Survey
It was 5th April: Pen Hadow simply couldn't get out of his head the strong desire to be sitting outside a café in Paris, reading the papers and eating hot croissants...
This is not to say that the team is down in the dumps. You just constantly have to give way to these flights of fancy and keep your mind occupied with anything other than what you're doing. On 5th April, Hadow imagined himself sitting outside on the terrace of a Paris bistro, reading the newspapers and enjoying breakfast. "It was such a strong image," he wrote on the day, "that I could almost taste the butter in the croissants and feel them crunching in my mouth..."
Although nothing serious has happened to the three members of the group, they have to remain focused on what they are doing. Not only battling against the ice, which is not bad -which is the least that can be said -but especially against the cold: minus 70°C with the windchill, noted Pen Hadow on 3rd April. Brrr... In fact, it has sometimes been so cold that the daily satellite link has to be cut into a number of episodes. Because holding the receiver for longer than a few minutes at a time is just about impossible without running the risk of getting frozen fingers!
And no doubt Martin Hartley is suffering the most because he has incipient frostbite in his feet and still has to climb into a damp sleeping bag every evening! He can't wait for the second batch of fresh supplies in a few days' time, which will include bringing him a new sleeping bag.
No positions have been published for the past few days.
