Beth Davies and team are on their way to Antarctica.
The team have arrived in Port Stanley, Falkland Islands. I feel like I’ve been travelling for weeks! Aberystwyth – Guildford – Heathrow – Santiago – Falkland Islands. It took 4 days. We sail on Tuesday, so we have two days here to get acclimatised. Unfortunately, Lan Chile lost two of our kit bags on the Santiago – Falkland Islands leg, so Mike and I are missing some important equipment. Mike has lost lots of camera equipment and some medication; I have lost my down jacket, science equipment, maps and also some medication! I’m glad I had a heavy bag so had quite a lot of things in my hand luggage, otherwise it could have been a lot worse. You’ll be glad to hear that our Alpkit tent made it through! Fortunately the shops were open when we arrived on Saturday afternoon, so we were able to replace some of the essentials. Unfortunately Port Stanley is very small with only one general store, so we’ll be without many items.
Port Stanley is a strange little outpost of Britain. So far from home, yet people speak with a distinctive accent, which is a little similar to that in eastern London. The houses are brightly coloured with many British flags. All around the town there are mementoes of the war; guns and cannons incongruously on the seafront next to the post office.
Two days to go and then we meet up with HMS Protector and sail for James Ross Island. Despite the setback we’re all excited and looking forward to our next field season. Hopefully the Protector will be able to provide a couple of away days to the small islands. We’ll be in touch soon.
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