Repair and re-organisation

First Campfire — 2000-05-16

With the first rays of sun we crawl out of our tents. Again it’s been a relatively cold night, but I’m glad the weather means well with us. Now, at the beginning of this big journey we need good weather worse than ever. A period of rain would not only be unpleasant, it would also hinder our continuous improvement work on saddles and equipment and, above all, be detrimental to our already troubled morale. After a quick breakfast – müsli and a cup of tea – I begin the day’s work by knocking Istan’s saddle pad into a better shape using an iron bar.

Already after the first kilometres of the march we noticed that the saddle was lopsided and it may be due to us having padded it unevenly. While Jo resews some of the velcros, Tanja re-organises the kitchen. Again, we are busy all day preparing everything for tomorrow’s new start. During the night, I hardly find any sleep. I constantly have to think about the forthcoming departure and, to be honest, I’m very concerned that something might go wrong again.