We’re pleased with ourselves today – having covered six nautical miles and got back to our schedule of six sessions of one hour and five minutes walking between each pause.  That regular pattern had slipped a little because I was making frequent stops to dress my frost bitten toe.  Extra feet warmers and dressing arrived in the resupply however and it’s feeling a lot better.

Ann has done a magnificent job, weaving in and out of the obelisks of ice.  It’s Day 22 and the magnitude of the length of this expedition is beginning to dawn on us all.  We could have as many as 70 days left and that’s really sunk in today.  It’s -34, which is a significant rise in temperature for us.  Our sleeping bags are soaking wet and I can think of 20 million things I’d rather be doing than this.

After a week of experiencing a sharp stabbing pain in my backside I finally had to ask Pen for some medical intervention shortly after we set off today.  Unzipping my pants in these temperatures is something I was keen to avoid – but after some rummaging around he pricked his finger on something sharp and the mystery was solved; a needle, left by mistake in the lining of my salopettes by whoever sewed them together!

We used a pair of pliers to extract it.  The prevailing conditions make it impossible to say I’m comfortable, but I’m a little less uncomfortable than I have been for a while.