By the time this update is posted we will have left Xining after a week recovering from the rigors of the run and will be en route back to the Tibetan Plateau and the source of the Yangtze River. With luck we will start paddling on September 1st beginning the final and longest stage of the expedition. Our intention is to navigate the entire length of the river by raft and kayak to its mouth 6,300 km away in Shanghai. However we our aware of how difficult and potentially dangerous sections of the Yangtze will be and envision portaging around 10% of its distance which we will cover by foot or bicycle.
For the initial 700km of the river we will be cut-off from human settlement and therefore will carry over three weeks worth of food and fuel as we trek overland to the source. Our pack-weight including our rafts is approx 65 kg each.
Internet connection will not be possible for the next month and so we will instead post several update blogs together whenever possible. We will also endeavor to give brief updates over the phone which will appear on our Facebook and Twitter pages.
We would like to thank Chris Eastabrook once more for all his help both with training and planning. Really appreciated Chris. We would also like to thank our sponsor Palm who have been hugely generous and made this expedition a possibility.
