Tents and Tendons

First the news on Mary: Her arm is healing well and the plaster is off next week, however there is still concern about the leg. Although she can walk a little easier, it’s far from comfortable and is not helped by the fact that Mary does not know the meaning of “rest”.  The physio has diagnosed muscle, tendon,  and ligament damage and is using all the latest technology and techniques to hasten the healing process. There’ll be a few bags of frozen peas going cheap at the end of the month! The medics are also being positive and so far only one eyebrow has been raised when Mary said she had to be cycling fit by the end of May. A big thanks to everybody and especially to friends, family and previous riders of the EV7 for their support and good wishes.
We’re still working our way through the pages of “to do” lists. Mary’s bike is repaired and serviced and my bike will be taken in for a thorough check next week. That will complete the kit preparations with everything  bar the tent (and our legs) tried and tested. As soon as Mary is up to a night under canvas, we’ll erect the “Wild Country Duolite Tourer  and inflate the “Exped SynMat Pump sleeping mats and spend a night in the garden hoping the wild boar don’t come looking for grubs. We’ve spent nights in some strange places (on glaciers, down caves, in snow holes, and on a little yacht during a gale in Biscay to name just a few) so we’re not too worried about the camping part of the trip but we did have to take care choosing a tent that would be easy to erect, keep the inner dry when packed wet, and have enough room in the flysheet for the trailers. We were also desperate to find comfortable sleeping mats. The old bones won’t take 100 nights of sleeping on hard ground. The Exped mats look good and we’ll find out how good soon enough. With the aid of a cunning add on, the sleeping mats also double up as very comfortable low chairs! Our good friends in “Up and Under” in Cardiff have given us sound advice on this kit and another of their useful recommendations was the  “Primus EtaPower EF” stove which we’ve found to be the most efficient we’ve used. There are lots of other little bits and I’ll list those another day.
Just one last comment - well done to DM who has just taken up cycling in her 50^th year and completed her first 25km ride. Come on BP, give the moths an airing and buy her a decent bike.