Team Cruachan est arrive

We're now here in Portugal, resting up, prepping gear and sorting ourselves out for the impending adventure. We've got a nice little villa at the Vila Bicuda, our team reporter (Pyro) is alternating between kipping on the sofa and drinking coffee, and the sun is occasionally showing its face. The pool next to the villa is a little bit cold to go and play in today, but there've been Kiwis and South Africans skating around it and Americans jumaring up the trees nearby, so at least we've been entertained.

Lizzie and Phil drove down, all the way from Bonny Scotland, in a very small van containing a very large pile of gear. Not a particularly enviable task, especially since they have to do it in reverse with a very large pile of smelly gear on the way back. Dan and Elizabeth took the easy option and flew over to Lisbon on Thursday. Now we're all safely ensconced in Cascais, getting ourselves ready. We've all been working on our gear and food - Dan's estimated a ridiculous 60,000 calories intake for the weeks racing, Lizzie's packed her 'toilet trowel' and cooked her pasta, Phillip's got the First Aid Kit (we think) and Elizabeth's trying to sort out when to wear glasses, when to when contacts, and when just to be plain blind. We've got the race distances and times plotted out on graphs, we've packed out huge food bags, our climbing and paddling kit, our bikes tows are rigged, and we're just about ready to go. The official welcome and briefing starts at 6pm tonight (Saturday), and we set off on stage 1 of the race at 9am Sunday morning.

There should (hopefully!) be daily updates, pictures and commentary on our progress on here, but if you don't see anything, have a look at the Sleepmonsters and ARWC links to the right, there'll be reports from a variety of people up there as well.

Lastly, a big thanks to all our supporters and sponsors - Tunnocks, Nav4, LochVisions, Try Skating, Outside Edge, Seafreedom Kayak and Glenmore Lodge - for all your support and help in just getting us here. We couldn't have done it without you.

Cheers - wish us luck and cross your fingers!

Team Cruachan