A nice guy called Alan (and a 'flag' update)

It's Tuesday evening and today was the second day in a row I've completed 9 miles, dragging a 14.5kg tyre across, up  and down Rothwell Park.

My tyre trails from the first 3 two-mile circuits yesterday

Yesterday was good, if a little hot whereas today started mild but gratefully dropped in temperature after 2pm, but the weather isn't what I'm here to write about. Today it's about 'people' and we'll start with the generosity of a guy called Alan.

Out walking his dog he was kind enough to ask what I was doing (as did 4 others today). I explained and handed him one of the new 'North Pole Trek' business cards that the wonderful Rushfirth Creative provided (what LOVELY people they are). By the time I'd looked down to zip the pocket shut and looked back up there was a crisp £20 being thrust towards me.

MacMillan Cancer Support are the receipients so I'll be sending the equivalent by cheque to the client account Bartfields UK hold for me at Barclays Corporate.

I also had two more pledges today to be #ontheflag (check out the hastag on Twitter); Nicola Hanson from Leeds Victoria Quarter and Sarah Jayne Walker who is supporting London Clubs International both confirmed they will be donating a minimum of £50 to have their respective company logo's on the flag I'm taking to the Pole. That's 42 out of 120 spaces taken and I intend to close applications by 25th February so I can display the flag at the Yorkshire Mafia Confrence in March 2012.

In fact I need to send out the PDF Rushfirth created as they are co-ordinating the creation of the flag; goodness I really am SO very fortunate to have their expertise and involvement.

And now its time for a rest before bed .... and another 9 miles tomorrow.

Nipple rash and my 'flag' offer starts well

It's been a while but here I am again.

Today is Thursday; thought I'd try to post this out on a Thursday evening rather than extremely late on a Sunday night at stupid o'clock to see if it gets more readers. Here's where I'm up to: -

- Last two weekends saw my first two x 24-minute non-stop PT sessions for quite a while (and I mean non-stop; even the rest periods had lower level activity in them) and both Sundays saw a 4-mile tyre-drag (which felt great as not only wasn't it too warm but only one dog went crazy at me for pulling the tyre).

I have a 2-mile circuit now and although I can see it will get  r-e-a-l-l-y  b-o-r-i-n-g   next week when

I try to drag a tyre for 9 miles a day, 8 days in a row!!!!

then at least I know the distance I will have done.

Part of the circuit includes me yomping up an down a particular slope 3 or 4 times in a row which may not sound much but when it's every 1.75 miles it gets your legs when you get back down to the bottom. Oh how it gets your legs !!

The slope of doom (ok so maybe that's a LITTLE melodramatic) and there's an even bigger one I do every two miles

I've also found myself doing PT session (Saturday), 4-mile tyre-drag (Sunday), gym for cardio (Monday night) and gym for strength (Wednesday mornings) so there's a pattern forming I hope to maintain.

Hopefully though in this packed schedule I will have time to relax and enjoy my new DVD; 'Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein', which is a real hark back to my days of youth when I'd watch the Saturday morning matinee on TV which sometimes featured films with Laurel & Hardy, or Jerry Lewis, or Norman Wisdom and some of the old black and white Abbott & Costello films.

I'm not sure precisely what decade that was but I recall it was just before the era of 'Swap Shop' In the mid-late 1970's. Remember that? The stuffed dinosaur 'Posh Paws', Keith Chegwin acting like a demented child after a triple shot of concentrated Red Bull (no change there then), and those bl**dy hideous jumpers Noel Edmonds used to wear that demanded you use sunglasses to watch TV?

YouTube clip from SwapShop

So pleased when I discovered Chris Tarrant and Sally James on TISWAS.

Chris Tarrant before WWTBA£m

Speaking of black and white images of days gone by, my mate Sammi sent me a text last Saturday after several months of radio silence. Presumably she was on her way to some drunken posh party with her mates looking at the photo, probably squiffy already with something she's trying to pass off as champagne. Oh ey ar' Sammi, thas great mayte; a bird from the 'Pool poshing it up : )

Actually you underestimate Sam at your peril; a GREAT commercially-minded Director, a fantastic mother, a bezzie mate to those she cares for and has the capability to make an entire room rock with laughter. She's my notional sister and I'm her 'big bro', offering advice when needed.

She's doomed isn't she. Darn.


- Nipple rash. We now come to the comments about 'rash'. Sunday before last when I did the 4-mile tyre pull, I had the harness a little tighter than usual. OK a LOT tighter than usual (which would probably explain why no blood was getting passed my shoulders and into my arms) and it dawned on me that with every step made the harness scraped on my 'nippular' area. Not in itself a problem because it was only a short drag but it did remind me of the risk of saddle rash we had as we cycled across Cuba.

(Hold on, hold on ... what's a tight harness got to do with the obvious but very different challenge of friction rash when cycling in 85-degree heat on a mountain bike with little suspension ... and is 'nippular' even a word in the Oxford English Dictionary? - Ed)

Sorry about the interruption; as I was about to say the challenge of nipple rash seemed a small but timely point to consider but when I extrapolated the current discomfort by a factor of 20 (given I'll be dragging the sled 20 times further than the 4 miles I was doing) I realised there will be an additional problem over and above frostbite, leg ache and general fatigue.

How will I cope with friction rash in an environment where going for a wee is potentially dangerous to ones appendage let alone having access to areas where cream might be required when you can't leave the area exposed too long for the cream to soak into the skin, not the clothing. At least in Cuba we had time and the weather to allow the cream and affected skin time to gel.

At least while I was thinking about that prospective problem I was enjoying a Sunday night treat ......

Best gingerbread in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD !!!
(and you can buy it on-line too)

The 'flag' offer - Douglas, one of the other Trek guys, has managed to persuade 2 companies to donate £10 000 EACH to an epilepsy charity if he takes a small flag with their logo on it to the North Pole (and photo's them). Great job Douglas; well impressed !

Now I don't move in those circles but figured maybe companies would be interested in donating £50 to have their logo on a multi-logo flag I'd take. The price? £50. The benefit? Immeasurable AND one company will win the flag when I get back, courtesy of a raffle.

Well the initial interest was encouraging (27 companies all asked for more info) and a few have already paid their donation on-line. I think I need to keep this going as the target would be to raise £5000 this way but I must be sure I can carry the flag given all the other weight in my pulk (that's a sled to you non-Polar adventurers).

If you know of any companies interested please either get them to contact me via e-mail which I'll put in code to avoid SPAMbots picking it up hopefully (it's northpoletrek and that's at ymail dot com), or via Twitter which is @northpoletrek or they can search for the hashtag #ontheflag.

Already had a begging e-mail into my 'npt' email address so I hope the above attempt to conceal it works.


And finally - I've suffered a couple of setbacks with fundraising events in the last 2 weeks and probably found myself in an ever-decreasing circle of trying to fit more things in to an ever-decreasing time as I fight to get anywhere near back on track.

Lots of kind words of support from people and a few notes from charity friends who say they too are struggling with fundraising in these economically challenging times, so I found the cartoon below a beautiful way to summarise my current dilemma; two possible targets, one bullet, which 'opportunity' do you fire at to get the best return and who says either of them will give you a return?

And with that I'm signing off tonight as I have my last couple of evenings of freedom before the big slog starts on Sunday afternoon. If you've got any spare time in daylight hours (or at least between 11am and 4pm) next week then feel  free to pop along to Rothwell Park (also known as Springhead Park) and keep me company.

Don't come along (as my work colleagues have suggested) to throw stones and laugh, but also don't come eating cream cakes and crisps either. Think I'd prefer the stones to be honest.

Of course I've got another PT session on Saturday to get through so let's hope I don't pull anything on Saturday !!!!

A third dose of reality; Margo & MS

Over the past 8 months I've joked in my blogs,  I've asked for involvement and sponsorship, I've exclaimed my surprise at the global followers I have, or the number of people around the world who simply mis-typed something in Google (or any other perfectly good search engine) and I've been quite serious about my training regime but the biggest responses to my blog entries via email, text or word of mouth have been about two entries: -

- A Dose Of Reality (the startling contrast in my emotions during my visit to the House of Commons and meeting people with Muscular Dystrophy in their lives)

- Another Dose of Reality (the story of the launch of the cycle ride known as Em2ee in support of MacMillan Cancer Support, but primarily of James Golding; an extraordinary cancer survivor)

I know about these two diseases because of personal awareness, experience and education, but this blog is the third in a small series of 'Dose of Reality' entries and it's about MS; a disease I was only vaguely aware of until a woman I know (from when my girls were at primary school 10 years ago) told me she now has MS. It was then I became interested in raising money for the MS Society.

The internet is a great place to learn more from but, I believe, there is nothing as powerful as hearing from someone who deals with MS to understand more about their daily challenges and to remind those of us who are (currently) healthy just how lucky we are!!

This entry is courtesy of Margo.

Hinge & Bracket, not Margo & Sarah

I was introduced to Margo by Sarah, someone who also has MS and both keen users of Twitter. I call them the 'Hinge & Bracket' of Twitter ............. ah yes, for those younger readers of my blogs you'll have absolutely NO idea what I'm talking about, so feel free to go to YouTube for a clip.

If you're wondering why H&B look a bit butch, it's because they are men in drag. Okay, so now that's out of the way perhaps you can concentrate.

The entry below is Margo's work; I found it informative, utterly readable, concise and thought-provoking so I've not edited any of the words nor changed the flow (but the colours and bold text are of my doing to highlight the points that caught my attention). Please take the time to read it as I promise it's worth investing 2 minutes of your life.

"Multiple Sclerosis is the most common acquired neurological condition in young adults. It’s most often diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 40, although increasing numbers of children and teenagers are now being developing it. About 100,000 people in the UK have MS. It’s about twice as common in women as in men. I was diagnosed with MS in 2005, at the age of 43, though I’d probably had it for at least 15 years at that point.

But what actually is MS?

It’s an auto-immune condition: the body’s own immune system attacks the brain, spinal cord and optic nerve, leaving scars called plaques or lesions. This potentially causes symptoms anywhere in the body, depending on where the damage is.

If you think of the nervous system as an electrical circuit, the MS lesions cause the circuit to fuse in places so that signals don’t get through at all, or else distort.

So, for instance, I might want to move my leg – a perfectly sound ambition, I’m sure you’ll agree. There’s nothing wrong with my leg. All the muscles and joints are in perfect working order. But the message “Move!” doesn’t get from my brain to my leg.

Also, my brain interprets signals coming back from my body in the wrong way. My arm (let’s say) is fine, but I experience dreadful pain, or pins and needles, or numbness there because of damage in my brain.

The symptoms of MS are hugely variable. If you asked 100 people with MS, you’d get 100 different sets of symptoms! They can include visual and balance problems, fatigue, dizziness, stiffness, spasms, pain, and problems with memory and thinking.

Many of the symptoms of MS – including some of the most distressing, like pain, fatigue, or bladder and bowel problems – are invisible to an observer. This can cause a lot of problems. I’ve heard of, and experienced, partners, family and friends doubting the validity of what’s being experienced.

Many people find “fatigue” particularly difficult to communicate. Everyone’s been tired, and it’s hard to explain how MS fatigue differs from this everyday experience. I’ve seen MS fatigue defined as “an overwhelming feeling of weakness”. I describe it as being like if the house was burning down, I couldn’t move to get out.

I have very bad fatigue, so I can’t often get out. Much of my day is encompassed by the sofa, the telly, and chatting to (or up!) online acquaintances on Twitter and Facebook.

When I do get out, to the theatre, a gig, shopping, for a hospital appointment, or just to meet friends for a coffee, the planning involved takes far longer than the outing itself. How will I get there? Is the venue accessible for me in my wheelchair? Do I need a carer to help me get around? The previous day I need to rest, and for several days afterwards I’ll be unwell.

Developing MS doesn’t have to end your life. But it’s often a very different life from the one you had planned and hoped for before. The MS Society helps and supports us emotionally, practically and financially, and with advice about care. It also invests a huge amount into research about MS – £156 million in today’s money since 1956. They do vital work."

I'd like to publicly thank Margo for taking the time and making the effort to do this; there was I looking for a little addition, some injection of the humour that makes Margo irresistible reading on Twitter, but her fatigue means she couldn't and when I received the tweet from her saying so, I felt stupid, guilty and selfish for not recognising just how sh*t some days can be for her, for Sarah and others with MS.

So the next time I'm stuck in bed with man-flu (albeit a very serious thing), the next time I wonder if I can be bothered to get out of the house and train for my North Pole Trek in the rain or nag someone else for a donation to charity when the last 127 people have all said no, and the next time I'm just too darn lazy to do something I take for granted, I'll remember how lucky I am not to have MS and I'll push myself to DO what needs to be DONE.

A bit like tonight; with my eyes burning with tiredness for the last 2 hours I was still determined to write this blog entry (despite my PC playing up too). Why? Because even if it only makes a small difference to lovely people like Margo, Sarah or the woman at the gym ..... it's bloody well worth it.

Bedtime now but soon it will be time for: -

- A blog entry from Daniel whose brother passed away recently from Muscular Dystrophy; a chance for Daniel to share his perspective of living through such a trauma

- Hopefully an entry from someone I once knew who, on the outside. seems the very opposite of the stereo-typical Samaritans user but, quite literally, they saved her life about 12 years ago. Something as equally difficult to comprehend but yet another dose of reality.

I hope these entries continue to create a big response.

Sleep tight.  x

Dahlink you'll haf to tok to my agent

Hello and happy Halloween from the newest media luvvie in town. Yes the world has finally discovered 'me' ... or rather the people who tuned-in in Leeds and, as part of a six-month trial, in Sheffield and York heard me on BBC Radio Leeds on Friday.

You can listen to it yourself for a few days more by clicking on this link: -

One on One with Liz Green; Geoff Major

But hold on, I'm jumping ahead of myself so I'll start at the very beginning, which is a very good place to start .. yeah I know, hardly Julie Andrews huh.

Clare Young (of 'The Apprentice' fame) sent a tweet to Liz Green suggesting she features me on her 'One on One' slot; an hour talking with the 'great and the good' of Yorkshire (apparently) and lo and behold I got the invite.

The producer Kim (photo below) and I swapped a few emails and it was done, although I have to say I think she let me down over the promised changing room with flowers, space for my entourage of 14 and the fresh Alaskan water I've now started demanding. I mean it's not as if they've created a monster out of me is it?

Oh and before you answer that rhetorical question, just remember I know how to 'tweet' Max Clifford so watch your answer buddy or there'll be lawsuits and counter-claims about your sex-life with Freddie Starr's hamster !! We fledgling celebrities have rights you know.

Anyhow, back to the plot; I duly replied to their questionnaire, selecting 10 songs and exposing the minor highs and some of the significant lows of my life and suddenly the day was upon us.

I tried to recruit a hairstylist called Gaston afor the event and a Feng Shui guru called Miss Teek-Anong-Patayatu (evidently her real name is Shirley Hegginbottam but she found it tough to get gigs what with the name and the floral stripey wallpaper in the background of her Facebook photo). If they had been available along with a rent-a-PA I found on Yellow Pages and the trio of bald bodyguards called the Cannonballs, my entourage just needed a few hanger-oner's and groupie's and we were there, but no, all busy 'washing their hair' that day, including the Cannonballs.

My travel plans were fraught too. Evidently there is no such thing as a 1st Class Day Rover with the local bus company, something to secure a seat next to the window, so I decided to use my car instead only to find that NCP don't do valet parking!

I finally arrived at the door to fame some 25 minutes later ....

.... only to find them locked.

Fortunately a lovely lady behind reception caught my eye and pointed me to an open door. Asked to sign-in I spotted a huge bouquet of flowers on the reception desk and, naturally, assumed someone had simply forgotten to take them up to my changing room. The lovely lady saw me looking at them and said "Oh do you know Agnes from the dining team? She's leaving today and is really well thought of; they're hers".

Ok first Gaston and the Cannonballs were a disappointment and now these weren't my flowers? Thank goodness I had brought my own bottle of Alaskan water with me, fresh from the 3000-year old ice glaciers and bottled without touching human sk ........... oh yes you're right, you CAN see the Nestle label. Err I must have picked up the wrong bottle in my haste.

Kim arrived in reception all smiles and energy and enthusiasm, and whisked me upstairs into the production suite. A short chat and words of advice before I would be invited into the studio, as soon as the news bulletin started. I glanced inside the hosts booth and recoiled in horror - my god Liz Green looked butch !!!

Just as I turned round to Kim a male voice boomed out of the booth asking "What's her surname?" The other lovely lady in the production suite, Jo, replied "Seth, it's Jackson". Seth?

"Liz has had to go to a funeral sadly so Seth is standing in. He's really good too" said Kim.

Seth was closing a feature on 'first dances at weddings' and some guy (Tom I think) had just phoned in to say his was 'Smoke On the Water' by Deep Purple. Ooooooo-kay then.

An attractive young woman with a lollipop stuck in her mouth glided past and smiled, disappearing into booth 4 to read the news (without the lollipop in her mouth); she looked fresh out of University (am I getting THAT old??) and then I was swept into the booth to meet Seth.

Seth smiled warmly and we chatted a little bit as the news, travel and sport were read; Seth intro'd them seamlessly from his control desk ... and then we were on. I tried to get as many of the 10 charities I'm supporting mentioned, I mentioned the organisers charitychallenge.com twice, Bartfields the accountants once and Iveridge Hall once as well. Not sure their client numbers will go through the roof but hey 'every little helps'. You know I'm sure that's a great catchphrase for SOMEBODY to use.

And so the hour simply flew. Soon it was a final photo shoot and time to depart. I looked back at the glistening building and smiled as I'd clearly managed to sneak out before the paparazzi arrived to grab the photos of me for next months 'Hello' magazine.

My greatest fan and harshest critic (my Mum) rang that evening to ask why I hadn't told her I was on and then promptly said she'd heard it and thought I was great. My brother in California is going to listen to it but will probably give me some grief for complaining about his incessant talking through Match of the Day ... but he does.

******************************************

As I type this attempt at a humorous blog entry, I have to remember that there are people out there suffering daily issues due to one of the dreadful diseases we need to find a cure for, like my Twitter friend Sarah who suffers with MS. Tonight her first tweet simply said "I can't cope with this much longer".

She went on to explain she'd had a relapse due to a chronic infection; the relapse was affecting her breathing (described as "... right now it's proper pants") and due to lack of sleep the previous night she doesn't feel well enough to do the exercises which would help her get temporarily better.

And so, whilst I started to create this blog, while many people out there were tweeting about the 'X Factor' show that was on tonight, of making impressive salads and drinking too many cups of tea today, and about wanting to get so drunk tonight in Blackpool that they can't move, Sarah was having a shit night. One of many she may face.

It wipes the smile off my face, and so it should.

RIP Sir Jimmy Savile, sleep well tonight Sarah and now I need my beauty sleep too. According to a friend (Lesley) I have the ideal face for radio so maybe even the extra hour won't do me any good.

One can always hope zzzzzzzzzzzz

A shameless plug for PR (for you) and donations (for charity)

A fellow Polar Trek participant, attempting the Trek with me next April, has persuaded 2 companies to each pay £10 000 to an epilepsy charity to have their company flag/logo photographed at the North Pole.

Now I'm not suggesting many of you are willing or able to pay that much (or are you?) but you may know someone interested in one of the following two propositions: -

a) Highest bidder gets their logo photo'd at the North Pole (closing date for entries is the end of day 1 at the Yorkshire Mafia conference 2012 (March 21st-22nd) - reserve price of £2 500 and it all goes to charity, so it's a tax write-off for your company as well folks)

b) Are there 500 companies who will each pay £100 to have their logo in a patchwork with the winner of a raffle getting the PR of being awarded the patchwork once I return?

That same business will also be featured as a Foundation Sponsor of the Trek - got to be worth a great feature in the national and local press at the VERY least.

Anyone who has already donated £100 or more to charity through me will automatically be included in the 500 (so thank you already to Hermes Europe, iSource Group, 3CO's, Rullion, Journey Management, TouchPoint Change Consulting and The Individual Restaurant Company). Anyone who wants to top-up a donation they have already made to make it £100 can do so.

Provision of the logos will be at your expense and need to be in a format that one of my creative partnering companies can use. Creation of the patchwork will be funded by using up to £2.50 from each £100 (given I've already PERSONALLY committed to pay £26 000 to go on the Trek).

If the patchwork costs more than the £2.50 per donor, I'll personally fund the difference.

I will require a minimum of 100 companies to make this sufficiently eye-catching to the media folks so please, don't be shy.

Your donation can go to ANY ONE (or more) of the charities; you don't HAVE to donate to a group of 5. It's your hard-earned money and you have the option to decide where it goes.

All donations that are not placed over the Virgin Money Giving sites I've set up are placed in a client account at Barclays that Bartfields the Accountants have set up for me, with Bartfields assuring all sponsors, donors and charities alike of integrity and transparency. Cheques should be made payable to Geoff Major Polar Trek and sent to: -

Polar Trek

c/o BlueDucks Limited

Round Foundry Media Centre

Foundry Street

Leeds LS11 5QP ............ with a covering letter expressing which charity (or charities) you want the money to go to (out of the 10 I'm supporting).

Please send your bids there as well.

Thank you. Lots.

And lots and lots .... and lots ...... and lots. Honest.

You are the weakest link ... hello

Friday 21st October at 4pm saw the start of the first day of our 48-hour (over 3 days) training weekend on Dartmoor for the North Pole Trek. The first time all 6 intrepid explorers would meet and all under the wise and watchful eye of our trek lead, Alan Chambers MBE.

Despite a dud Sat Nav I arrived wonderfully early at Brimpts Farm in Dartmoor National Park; the weather was mild and sunny and exactly what I WASN'T hoping for (given I'd primarily packed for a bleak wind and hopefully some frost). Having had a quick cuppa and read the scandal and international intrigue in the local rag I went for a stroll to find a mobile signal.

On my return a slender white haired mild mannered gentleman entered the room and introduced himself; Geoff Somers our new Trek lead. Err hang on, where's the stereo-typical 'trek lead' I was expecting; hands like paving stones, 6' 6" tall with fingers missing and a scar down his face from the last polar bear encounter?

Would we really be entrusting ourselves (whoever 'ourselves' were) to this lovely gentleman who looked like he could bend in a breeze but take great care of your grand-children (if I had any, which I don't)?

This is about as stern as Geoff S. looked all weekend & I think it's because his tea was cold.

Next to arrive were friends Rob and Rowland (Rowlie for short, although as a standard rugby player with shoulder blades like the back of a wardrobe the word 'short' didn't enter my mind), who are doing the Trek as a 40th birthday challenge. They were closely followed by David who was recently back from mountain climbing, glacier walking and river rafting in India and who would have been diving off Egypt if it were not for this event. Who said Action Man was only ever a toy?

Of course it became clear from David's huge smile that despite his adventurous nature he had struggled with his Sat Nav which had led him past the Farm and on to Tavistock (about 15 miles too far) but what he doesn't know about kit, given his experience etc (and that he's a nice guy too) probably isn't worth knowing and makes him a great polar colleague.

For me the weekend was one for learning and for testing myself against a few benchmarks so I knew just how far I'd come and how far I still had to go. I knew I had a long way to go yet but this afternoon really demonstrated JUST how far!!

It started well as I declined the 'soft' option of an 8kg tyre and went for something more akin to the weights I'd been pulling across the local park. Enter a bl**dy large tyre stage left, and the initial drag felt ok despite the thick brown outdoor-type jumper I was wearing and the jeans, even up the initial incline ....

For the first few hundred yards I kept pace with Rowlie (who looked physically capable of dragging a tractor tyre, with the tractor still attached) but Rob, David, Geoff & soon Rowlie were making far quicker progress and I had suddenly started to sweat, gasp for breath and my legs felt like lead. What was going on??? I'd pulled 28kg for over 2 miles before albeit on the gentle slopes of Rothwell Park or Heaton Park.

I started to curse; getting hotter and more irate I began to repeatedly growl at myself "Come on you old fat b*^%£$d" but it was no use I simply wasn't able to keep up and they disappeared round a corner on what seemed like a never-ending incline of dirt, rocks and ruts. I had made a few fundamental mistakes including not being kitted out for a drag and not warming up beforehand. Lactic acid rules KO !

Rob was good in that he offered to swap his slightly smaller tyre for mine (hmm did you notice Rob that we were near the top of the incline ha ha) but I thanked him and said I needed to grind through this to learn a lesson.

David was good in that he dropped back and supported me verbally until we got to flat grassed ground and then Geoff Somers walked and talked me through the last 1/4 of the tyre drag, pointing out that the weight I was pulling was far in excess of the effort required to pull the pulk (sled) at the Pole.

When we returned Douglas had arrived from the States and soon after Peter arrived from Newcastle; a relatively quiet guy who I think will be a massive team member and a great boost to morale as when he does say something it's bl**dy useful, and so the team was complete. A quick chat from Geoff S and we headed back to the hotel up the road, showered, talked, ate and quickly disappeared off to our rooms to rest.

It was at that moment I had my 'Anne Robinson' moment; I was unexpectedly rubbish at the tyre drag and I seemed to be the weakest link. I needed to buck my ideas up so I didn't perceive myself as a possible liability in the Arctic circle .... 

I truly felt I had failed miserably so when I laid down I did 3 things (oh please, let's keep it clean): -

- firstly I told myself I was here to identify how much I needed to improve and learn my current failings and therefore learn I would !!
- secondly I was paying hard earned money to go on the Trek and I wondered if anyone would doubt the validity of me being there, but I was determined that it bl**dy well wouldn't pop into my mind.
- thirdly I took out a photo of me in the year 2001 that I carry with me to remind myself how I once was (the first photo below has only ever been seen by 8 other people in the world, and shows me aged 40 and clearly wearing a 'tent' for a shirt. The second photo shows me aged 45).

Portland (Oregon) at a trip to see a Scottish Power subsidiary in 2001; the 'grade 4' haircut didn't help : (

Primrose Hill in London, 2005, with two possible recruits for http://www.tribewanted.com/ (well one could always hope)

The next morning after breakfast we had a short discussion with Geoff S and set out for a brief 'drag'. I took two smaller tyres this time and felt prepared to trek up the hill. Douglas made great company at the front of the pack whilst Rob effortlessly dragged the tyre I had tried the day before.

L - R: Geoff S, David, Rob, Peter and Rowland

After food and discussion, Geoff S told us it was time for the afternoon 'drag' but he had a little surprise as part of this one. for a mild-mannered guy he had a cheeky evil glint in his eye !!

We had only walked a relatively short distance when an upturned fibre-glass kevlar sled came into sight and Geoff S revealed the surprises; we were to load the sled with 6 of the tyres we had and, as a team of 6, cross some water and take it to the top of the hill ahead of us. Geoff S would help by loading rocks in along the way for additional weight (so helpful).

And yes it dipped down a lot before you got to the foot of the hill

Douglas and Rob were keen to load the pulk and rig four people in a fan up front with Peter and I providing lift at the side and rear over the numerous large rocks and outcrops. Rather than describe the uphill effort I'd let the next few photos do the talking but just say Rob and Rowlie in particular are just dragging machines; add Douglas and David's power and then finally Peter and I, and we got to the top.

Packing the sled with tyres

Inclines, scrub, tracks and rocks (although the rocks got less as Geoff S loaded them into the sled)

Some of the incline felt extremely steep (but fortunately some of the rocks 'fell out' all by themselves on the way up)

Pack horse at the back, powerhouse in front

Near the summit (and just before Geoff S sat on the back of the sled to compensate for 'lost' rocks)

The white dot, centre right, is near where we had come from

I'm sure David would correct any error I make in this statement but just over 2 hours elapsed time from start to the peak which was 1.83 miles (almost 3km) with us only physically moving for 58 minutes of that time.

Heading back down was far easier to pull, but the navigation was terrible guys : )

Going down was much easier although the team decided to cross the small river at a point where I was unsure I could stay out of the water. At the start of the weekend Douglas had asked what worried us most about the Trek and I said thin ice; I can have an irrational fear of small sections of open water and so this crossing presented a personal challenge.

At one point 3 people were over the other side, I was stuck on the 5th of 9 rocks and 3 people were queuing up behind me feeling like impatient buses waiting to pull out of a junction. Again Douglas helped, this time by passing me one of his walking poles to use as a balancing aide to stick into the river bed. What a frickin' wuss !!! The rest of the guys then followed me, just striding effortlessly from rock to rock.

On the return to the Farm we met Ann Daniels, a female legend of polar expeditions, who gave us an insight into the very modest Geoff Somers. Having checked his profile today (website link below) it soon became clear that mild-mannered Mr Somers was in fact an outstanding living polar legend and I had to smile to myself and momentarily thought "Sir Ranulph who??" (no offence Sir Ranulph).

Geoff Somers' profile

That evening we had dinner back at the hotel, Geoff showed us some of the gear being custom-made for us in Russia and we all then headed to bed to rest after a heck of a day.

The next day we had a presentation from Geoff on polar expedition history and heard about his (literally) face to face experience with a polar bear, then finally learned about and tried putting up and taking down the 2-person tents we'd be using which can be put up in just a few minutes.

After a hearty lunch this bunch of would-be polar explorers all headed in our different directions and the next time the motley crew get together will either be in Norway in March 2012 for some training and trying our kit, or at Heathrow Airport on 3rd April 2012 as we head to Longyearbarn via Oslo, to prepare for our trek to the North Pole. It seems to get more real every time I say it. 

And perhaps David will have learned how to avoid Tavistock by then.

Good night.

Head's all over the place tonight; this is blog entry #3

BEFORE I FORGET AGAIN ..... hello to the wonderful Mandy Barwick and here's hoping you're well on your way to recovery after an exhausting operation for breast cancer. My thoughts and best wishes are with you.

BEFORE I FORGET IN ADVANCE .... thank you to @MargoJMilne and @sarahransley (the Hinge & Brackett of Twitter) for their offer to write a blog entry to help us understand more about a 'day in the life of someone with a sense of humour & MS'. Whenever you are ready ladies; you know the art of the possible better than I.

FINALLY ......... At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I'm running one more fundraiser this year to get me shifted past the £10 000 barrier and that fundraiser is at Harrogate Restaurant Bar & Grill. See leaflet below.

Thank you to  Anna 'risky' Fitzsimmons for her amazing help and generosity at reducing the cost of a special menu and guys, a trip to the fundraiser is well worth the effort as Glenn the 'sharpshooter' is suggesting Anna puts herself up as a dinner date for a silent auction prize - someone already offered £5000 if she wears a ski outfit (and no it wasn't me).

So, back to the thorny issue of fundraising; when my Mum, at 79, became my 8th biggest source of donation (after asking at her indoor bowls club members for sponsorship and getting over £100 in total), and my boss offers to bake a cake to help it's all a bit sad from my perspective so I'm doing this event then taking 2 months off to focus on training.

Sod the low response to fundraising, Sod it if MacMillan Cancer Support offered me 8 days of collecting at supermarkets but all I could get was 3 volunteers (although thanks also to Tina Bonetta for TRYING to get a weekend drinking in Leeds aligned to collection opportunities) - I mean I have to learn to ski and shoot and train bloodt hard and see my friends but most importantly my fantastic two girls and Lucia (and my Mum of course) - and work !!

Sod the fact that 4 different volunteers, different to the supermarket ones, stepped forward and then stepped back. It's ok, they have busy lives too and they haven't committed £26 000 of their own earnings to pay for the Trek of a lifetime. I did and I set the aspirational target of £100 000 for charity thinking it would be possible.

I mean it's not as if I'm just trying to organise a tea party or taking part in a 6k fun run - THIS IS THE NORTH BLOODY POLE I'M GOING TO !!!!!!!!!

Rant over.

Sorry.

It's late and that's the excuse I'm sticking to right now.

Maybe the appearance on Radio Leeds on Friday 28th October (Liz Green's 1 to 1 session at 2pm) will create a small blip but it's really then down to 2012 and: -

a) An event in Leeds, late January 2012 (probably at 'Create', the social enterprise restaurant).

b) An event at Piccolino's in Sheffield, February 2012, where my friends and I will ABSOLUTELY fill all 120 seats and generate the best fundraiser ever in my fundraising history !!!!

c) The stand at the 2-day Yorkshire Mafia Conference and Exhibition in March, just 2 weeks before I leave for the Pole. Thank you Geoff Shepherd and Sat Mann for your amazing and undying support and efforts regarding my charity challenge.

d) A goodbye event at Zinc in Manchester, a week before I leave for the Pole.

e) The amazing work Smiles SMS have done to line up 60 organisations and counting to promote my Trek in March and April 2012.

So let's see but, in the meantime, feel free to book seats for here ...............

...... please ......