North Pole Training in Cape Town!

After the intensive training and cold of Yellowknife, I looked forward to the warmth and familiarity of Cape Town, my old home town. I purposely booked my accommodation on Muizenberg beach, for easy access to almost 30km's of open False Bay beach. This was going to be my new Arctic training ground, dragging tyres behind me along the beach sand, simulating the physical demands of the sled on the ice. I couldn't have picked a better place for my soul and mind, and the change of environment contributed to the increase in motivation and focus. I was out on the beach just around sunrise (5h30) two mornings of every three, two tyres, my backpack, walking poles and trekking for two hours down the beach, and two hours back. The Indian Ocean lapping the shores, and with the tide different everyday, the terrain was different on every day.



A different form of Arctic training! But don't be fooled, it was real tough!

From a physical side, I found towing the tyres significantly more demanding than the sled on the ice in Yellowknife. I could have reduced to one tyre, but I chose to work with the higher resistance on the basis that the 'real thing' will feel lighter. Once I left the popular Muizenberg main beach, I was largely on my own, save for the odd surf fisherman who would usually be friendly and interested in my apparently strange pursuit. True to South African humour, I had comments from "Hey, do you know you are towing two tyres behind you?", to "Why has your wife punished you like that? Closer to the popular beach I often got questions from knowledgeable outdoors people whose guess at my expedition ranged from "climbing Kilimanjaro", to "climbing the Alps", to a few who narrowed in an a Polar trip.

Four hours along the beach, with two mandatory sand dune patches really took it out of me, and on most days the infamous howling South Easter just added another dimension closer to the high level of adversity I expect on the Arctic. The only thing mossing was the cold, but after Yellowknife I felt it was ok, to be enjoying the luxury of the warm weather. A significant amount of the challenge is going to be mental, and for this these days on the beach on my own were high quality, training days.

To increase the diversity of the route, I often when inland initially discovering this wetland, which had superb and abundant bird life. I was amazed that in all the time I lived in Cape Town, I never knew about this special place. Hundreds of Greater Flamingos, Pelicans, Cormorants, Plovers, a huge range of wild ducks and waders. I was the only visitor there, but unfortunately getting out involved me trawling my tyres through a huge seagull colony. Much of the area had basic nests made in the beach sand, with the parent bird still sitting on eggs! Some chicks had hatched, but still clumsy on their feet, and certainly not able to fly...



A special scene I came across..one of the chicks here still has its head in the egg!

One adult had picked up some string which it had wound around its neck and then somehow also had the other end caught around its wing, in a tight chord that make it impossible to fly. My sympathy came to the fore, and I dropped my back pack and tyres, to catch the bird. Eventually it trapped itself in a thick bush, and I was able to get my hands around it with a view to undoing the string. Well, did I get nastily bitten by the bugger. Anyway, switching to my Arctic tough approach, I dealt with the pain of its sharp nips as I managed to get the string off its neck. At that point, it seemed to see me as a friend, and went quiet allowing me to even get my knife out to remove the difficult piece around its wing. A few minutes later, it flew off, and I hoped that this would count as a credit towards acceptance to Mother Nature's Ice room, or was this just a Warm Room credit!

These excursions into the bird sanctuary, and the sand dune patches, probably simulated the Arctic terrain very closely, as there was lots of ups and downs, obstacles and cause for frustration. I wondered how I am going to deal with sled getting stuck or overturning, or careering down on top of me... A little more painful than tyres hitting me!!!



It almost looks like THE ice! Cape Point the tip of Africa in the distance.

One particular day I call 'Death Day'...as I walked along the beach the death side of nature was in evidence in more ways than seemed a co-incidence. I took time out to celebrate the whole cycle of life. Here are a few of the sights I came across:



A dead Penguin, washed up on the beach.



A dead Cape Fur Seal, also washed up on the beach.



A dead Seagull

Finally after more than 12 sessions involving more than 40 hours of strenuous beach training (and quite a few more hours of fun with my friends), it was time to leave "The Fairest Cape in the World", and take a few slow, and necessary steps back to the cold of Yellowknife and eventually the Arctic. The next step being to the ski village of Wengen, Switzerland, my training ground in the Alps for the next 10 days....