McVitie's Penguin Polar Realay - Update 19 May 1997

The last time we left you Penguin Echo had just "Argosed" to the effect that they had walked some 8 miles from the moment they hit the ice. They were prepared to hit the ice running with water bottles filled and food stuffed into pockets. This certainly proved to be the case not only for that first day on the ice but it appears for subsequent days also. For in the last two days Penguin Echo has covered some 21 miles North and today set a record of 13 miles. This puts their camp tonight at 88deg 41 N, 75deg 23 W.

This is fantastic news and was recieved with a rapturous cheer here in Resolute. To us it confirms our view of the focused nature of the final team. They have one objective and that objective never leaves their minds. Their pulks have been stripped to the bare minimum, they are taking precious little personal effects ( for example half the toothpaste is squeezed out of the tube and then it's shared around the six of them), fuel provision is at a level to melt ice for water and to cook, nothing extra has been taken for heat. Everything has been done and is being done to give the team that moment of triumph of raising the British Union Jack on top of the world.

However (there is always one), you should refrain from dividing the number of miles to go ( 79 ) by 13 and assume that it will all be over in a week. There is an increasing amount of open water brought about by the approach of summer. This is bound to cause major diversions in the route Northward, so we can only hope and pray that Sedna, the mythical Inuit sea godess, smiles on Penguin Echo.

336 N miles gone, 79 N miles to go.

Sarah Jones of Penguin Delta writes:

Hello to all who keep themselves updated on this fabulous machine. It is very strange being back here in Resolute. Life has been very different for me since I last wrote on the Internet. It is hard to know where to start in order to try and describe the beauty and wonder of our experience. I cannot deny, that when I first caught sight of the change over plane I lept for joy. But as I was sat on that plane a few hours later when we were preparing for take-off, I had a lump in my throat and was wondering if I would ever see this extraordinary 'land' of contradiction and fantabulous beauty again. It's a strange time for me now, being in the in between stage of life on the ice cap and life as I normally live it in England. One has time to reflect on what has just happened and it almost happens unconciously. On the ice you spend long periods of time plodding out the miles and thinking of many things. Some of the time you long for home and pine for your loved ones. Yet now, now that we are in this in between land, whilst longing to see those loved ones, you crave for the adventure of the ice still.

As I wrote in my diary yesterday, " 03.00 and as I look out on the sunlit snow, I remember my last few nights - sleeping outside of the tent, feeling the snow falling on my nose and seeing the snow crystals shimmering across my bedroom floor. The only noise was of the air whistling the antenae and the only feeling was of the light breeze across my cheeks. If a never never land exists, then I was in it there - and now I must make the painful transition between there and another reality .... a reality which forms the majority of my life - a place that I have missed and dreamt about during the difficult times on the ice, but which seems as far away to me now as does the ice cap.

More pictures of Delta.