After an emotional and biological roller coaster I finally ecstatically returned in to the bosom of my family in London W14. The Atacama Crossing was an extraordinary experience but it was more that it re-enforced how lucky I am to have what I have in normal family life. it also served to renew my faith in the strength of friendship and I have my Los Flamingos tent mates, Tom, Blair, Eddie, Simon, Graham and Phil to thanks for that. They were unstinting in their support and encouragement as well as in their many visits to the medical tent whilst I was encamped there. What happened and why? My demise was due to a combination of reasons which included the heat, dehydration, nutrition and a bit of asthma chucked in but it was only when i started to pee blood at the end of stage one of the long day that i really decided that my lot was up in terms of finishing the race and other considerations had to take over. This was very upsetting and rather frustrating but i was not in a good way as this was a sign that my body had started to consume its own tissue with the red pee a product of my kidneys being unable to process the waste. I was later told that the funny taste in my mouth was probably "key tones" which are another bi-product of the same self destructive process. I was also severely de-hydrated and was whisked off to the camp after being withdrawn to be put on a drip to get some quick hydration. This was by no means an unpleasant experience! Day four had started shakily since i had been pretty bad after day three and still felt distinctly weak. it started off with another slate hill which, though not as long or as hot as the day before, was quite arduous for me with legs of lead and with a cloud of nausea hanging over me all the way. My spirits were somewhat lifted at the top when i looked down a steep dune into a green lush canyon with a stream running through it. I ran down the early part of the dune as if it were fresh powder though you had to be careful nearer the bottom as there were a few treacherous flat rocks which if hit wrong could have sent you skidding into the gullet below in a mass of tangled Raid Light and water bottles. It was a further boost at the bottom to find a clear stream flowing down the valley which we had to wade through for about 300m to the next water stop. Wading through the cool knee deep water through shoulder height reeds was utterly refreshing after the first arid stretch. I topped up with water but had probably not drunk enough so far that day anyway. It was then a short idyllic walk down the valley into a small village which the course passed through before heading out onto a barren grey gravel wasteland. as I left the village i thought it was time to get some nutrition on board so sucked on some perpetual. As soon as this hit the back of my throat i was violently sick and everything i had been trying to get on board for hydration came out in one go. A fellow Scotsman, Sandy, was close behind me and very kindly steered me into some shade until I recovered from this ejection of liquids. I then headed out onto the plane following a few others. it seemed to go on forever but eventually we came to a rather serene thorn tree forest provided a welcome respite from the previous barren spell. I was obviously;y feeling the heat at this stage as I weaved my way between the trees passing through shade whenever i could to soak up any cool air whenever possible. I passed a small quite well kept farm which looked quite idyllic but I did wonder how they made ends meat until I spied a herd of rather healthy looking llamas some of which were roiling playfully in the dust. at the end of the forest there was another water station where i filled up before heading out onto the infamous salt flats. This was a three hour walk across was was like salt encrusted coral with the odd salty creek to cross. i teamed up here with a charming Australian East Timorese chap who was trying to do all fours deserts in one year for schools in East Timor. He set a good pace so we made good progress but he did pull away after around two hours and I started to flag. it was at this point that I started to get some asthma trouble and my breathing became laboured to the extent that by the time i limped into the next water station I sounded like I had a severe whooping cough. I was also very dehydrated as I had also been sick again. The medic there made me drink 1 1/2 litres before leaving which took around an hour. i set off for the final 6.5km feeling a bit better and the sun had cooled a it. i got about 150m before I was sick again and was picked up this time by a charming Italian from Milan called Paolo who I found out later had multiple sclerosis. What a brave man. I ended up edging ahead as Paulo's friend Claudio had bad feet which slowed him a bit. Though it was a short stint, it felt quite long given that you could see the camp most of the way but it never seemed to get any closer. By the finish i was wheezing agin but was heartened by a group of Los Flamingos ow clapped me in, took my ruck sack, collected my water ration and shuffled me to the medical tent for yet another recovery period. i lay there for at least an hour amongst other heat victims as well as those with gruesome blisters. Rob James's team mate Andy's were so bad he had to have injections before the doctor could work on them and he managed to finish the race. A brave man indeed. With all the time I spent in medical tent, I ended up getting to my tent by 9pm when i should have been asleep preparing for a 7.30am start the next morning. I managed to force down a little food and as much water as I could stomach and lay down for a fitful sleep. i woke at 6.30am feeling awful and struggled to get a few nuts and half a Cliff bar down before rushing to prepare for the start. I made it but set off feeling bilious but as the sun was low in the sky and the salty ground bright and fresh i eventually settled into a steady rhythm and joined rob James and crew for most of the first stretch. Around 2/3 of the way through stage one Rob said to his team mates, "time for e a pee". I also peeled off to do the same and it was then that I got the shock of my life as the product came out bright red. The rest is history but it was very disappointing since i had no blisters to speak of and I still had life in my legs. The lesson is get the hydration right and try to keep it that way but sometimes the desert just gets the better of you. By the end I felt like Clint Eastwood after he was dumped in the desert in the Good, the Bad and the Ugly with blistered lips, unshaven and dirty but I was very happy to get out to know that I will fight another day...

Day three ended with me in the medical tent with an asthma attack and bad dehydration but I did finish in over eight hours. Not a fun day! Started off feeling stiff from two marathons and probably slightly dehydrated but not that bad.  The stage kicked off with 4kms of "crud", basically like running over a pl;ploughed field, crusty and hardened by salt with the odd dry plant to scratch bare legs, then a short mud road section followed by more "crud"  but this time more like 10kms and the sun had already got up.  When this was over there was a short dune section and then a slate hill that seemed to go on forever and ever and it was getting very hot indeed.  i kept marching on but had to breath hard to get enough air at this point.  When it was finally over there was a steep dune and luckily somebody at the top with water. I was being filmed on the way up which was n't great since I could hardly talk.  When I reached the medic with water everything shut down and I had to sit down hyperventilating. She poured water over my head and got me to take two puffs on the ventolin.  On the third attempt to stand up I managed to get going and very very slowly wound my way to the finish which was like everything in the race much further than I thought and it was blazing hot. I limped through the finish and basically collapsed and  was guided to the medical tent, a wheezing mess.  I lay there for around an hour taking more ventolin and being sprayed with water but did not quite make the drip!  I am ok and will try to sleep as much as possible and HYDRATE.  It was a truly nightmare day.  Love to Rose, Gustav, Dudu, Lachie and Willa. All sorts of thoughts flood through your head on days like these, all about the most important people in my like and that is all of you.

Made it through stage two and came in 35th but it took 7 hours 24 mins whereas yesterday I came in 40th in 5 hours 20mins!  It was a hugely varied day with 20 river crossings in the first stage down narrow lush green canyon which occasionally had almost a sea side smell betraying the Atacama deserts previous incarnation as the seabed. It was a fun stage with plenty of leaping through refreshingly cold water and trotting along lush green banks or stone hopping which all took me back to a holiday in Scotland in the famous summer of 1976 when it vwas hot for three weeks and we holidayed in the shadow of the Cuillin Hills. Got to have something to take the mind of the running! Stage two started off nice and flat but as soon as we entered the slot canyon things went downhill, the altitude started to bite, the sun got up and the legs got heavy. I was overtaken by a number of runners sporting ski sticks but eventually reached what I thought was the top where we entered an old mining tunnel.  At the other end it was a sharp left up an even steeper hill and along the longest ridge I have ever traversed by foot.  The huge bonus at the end of this was a huge sand dune running down which was like fresh powder snow.  I was very happy to finish this stage and met Tom Naughton at the bottom and we set off together from there down yet another canyon. It was all quite relaxed and we even saw a few "sand boarders" biking up from San Pedro to test the dune though I do not envy their walk up! At the bottom of the track we crossed the main road to Calama and entered the aptly named Valley of Death and started what felt the like longest trek I have ever undertaken and the temperature was now up at the 40 degree mark. Suffice to say it was an agonizing last stretch and I was happy when it was over. Now trying everything possible to prevent stiffness for yet another marathon distance tomorrow and it contain a dune section which I don't imagine will be all downhill!  Love to Rose at home and just to let you know you are keeping me going as each day seems to get harder and harder. Big kiss and love to Lachie, Willa, Gustav and Dudu. You can check out photos on the website and look for my number which is 85.

Hooray!  Made it through day one in 5 hrs 20 mins which was probably too fast for me but rather slow compared to the fastest time Ryan Sands who made it in a blistering 3hrs and 3 mins, 40 mins ahead of the rest of the pack!  Woke at 6.40am and scrambled to get ready for the 7.30am briefing and start at 8.15am. The start was quite a spectacle with 150 runners jostling to find a place in the pack but eventually I settled into a steady pace with Tom Naughton.  I definitely felt the weight of the pack once bottles were full with water and perpetuem and the front pouch slammed me in the stomach every step at the start but I soon adjusted it to a slightly more bearable position otherwise I would have been winded by km no.1. We trotted through spectacular scenery undulating through beautiful volcanic landscape sometimes following dry river beds which were good running. After a long salty plain on stage three just when the race seemed almost done the track turned left up a desert canyon.  This road when on and on and on all in the blazing midday heat and by the time I got to the top I was finished but then there was a "long" 3km to the finish which luckily was most down hill.  Have settled into the Los Flamingos tent and everyone has finally made it so its all about nutrition and rest before tomorrow's challenge.  Thanks for all who have supported my charities especially those at BAML. Thinking about Rose, Gustav, Dudu, Lachie and Willa and can't wait to see you all after the challenge have finished. xo

A wonderful journey to the first camp through barren scenery until there was a glimpse of a lush green valley with three healthy looking lamas looking puzzled as four blue buses full of heavily kitted runners passed by. A little further on there was a ruin or at least it looked that way until we saw a pair of jeans hanging outside. Further up the valley the bloated carcass of a lama and then the rib cage of a dead horse showed how brutal this incredible place can be. As we moved further up the valley someone spotted a pink fag and then another and more, all 25m apart, this was part of the course. We reached the camp and found Los Flamingos, one of 18 tents in the camp, each one housing around eight runners. the occupants had soon laid out a sea of yellow blow up mats, mine is a thermarest which I am hoping will keep the cold from encroaching from below. There is a palpable feeling of anticipation of the next day and the first stage, everyone carefully loading up on calories, eating out of orange expedition food bags such dishes as chicken Tikka or spag bol.  I had picked up a few coca teabags to help me with the altitude of course and I am now feeling rather wide awake. have been given some melatonin to aid sleep this evening which I am happy about given the occupants of my tent are all snoring men. I am sure tomorrow's blog will have a bit more to do with aches and pain and the heat but I will be taking it slow!  Love to Rose and mingi thanks for giving me the chance to do this. Love to Gustav, Dudu, Willa and Lachie and thanks Willa for your advice on sleep and carbs!

My journey was not as eventful as many other competitors and managed to make it with only a three hour delay in Santiago.  This was amazing since Santiago airport was operating in three marquees which some would erect for a single wedding celebration. All credit to the resourcefulness of the Chilean people for running an international airport under such constraints post a huge earthquake. Calama airport is pretty small but very efficient so we cruised through and found a transfer bus without a hitch.  I got on the first one and headed off but those who got the second experienced an earthquake of 5.8 whilst they were waiting to depart. The journey from Calama to San Pedro was incredible with a landscape that could easily be likened to Mars which looked all the more aamzing in the crepuscular evening light.  San pedro is the perfect travellers destination with narrow unpaved streets of single story baked mud buildings with many cool bars, restaurants, cafes, shops selling local handicrafts all surrounded by perfect conical snow capped volcanos.  Quite happy that the race has been delayed for a day which allows for a bit more aclimatisation and time to soak up the culture and the atmosphere of the place. Have many many great competitors and already heard a multitude of stories about past events as well as getting some good advice about the task ahead.  I hope I can take 1.5kgs off my pack weight as a result. What a great spirit and camaraderie there is amongst those taking part as well as the volanteers, I am very happy to be taking part and hoping that all the training will top me to the finish. That is my aim. Thanks to all that have supported me on this challenge both with encouragement as well as charitable donations.  Most, thank you to Rose for her unending support and patience each time I headed out for another long run leaving her with four children in the house.  Love to Rose, Gustav, Dudu, Lachie and Willa and HASTA LUEGO to all at the Atacama Crossing.

I just got a call from my travel agent to say that Iberia have resumed scheduled flights from tonight at 00.10 direct to Santiago. Hoping that this means tomorrow should also be going. Keeping fingers firmly crossed and touching a lot of wood! Hasta luego to all with their travels. Gus

This is my virginal blog on the site (and ever!) but after reading some great input from other Atacama bloggers which have been both amusing as well as very informative, I thought I would give it a go.  I have been a big follower of Rob James's blog throughout training as he makes it almost seem doable even when you sit at a desk all day.  Though training mostly on dark, wet, snowy, sleeting, windy nights is not quite ideal for the desert it does focus the mind.  I did manage 4 or 5 12 -20km hill runs in the snow in the Scottish Borders over Christmas and the 16km Merrell Wild Man over an army training course in Surrey which were all good fun.  Most of my training has been running from Hammersmith to Richmond along the Thames and round Richmond Park with my friend Tom Naughton or round Hyde Park on the sandy horse track with pony treckers.  I am hoping that no stage can be as bad as the Sowyers in Hong Kong which was 42km of what seemed mostly like up and down steps, in 30 degrees with humidity and with pollution with jetlag.  That took me a whacking 7hrs and 42mins and a could hardly walk for a while afterwards and almost put me off doing anything like that again...but Tom said that it was his worst ever event so I thought, I've come this far why not got the hole hog! The more I read about the Atacama, the more attractive it sounded.  My question to anyone now is do we need to do anything over the next two weeks in terms of nutrition? (apologies Rob to repeat as I already asked this on your training blog).  I am now looking at piles of expedition foods and all the rest of the kit and wondering whether it will all fit in to my Raidlight pack?  I look forward to meeting all in less than two weeks! Keep calm and carry on! Angus