I get this question almost every day. The situation right now is this:

The Mothership and The Princess as the team calls the two Landrovers are stuck in Ulanbataar. The capital of Mongolia. We have right now no idea for how long. We are following the developments in the area closely.

In the meantime we are working hard on developing vehicles that will be able to cross pretty much any obstacle on earth! To be able to go from London to New York we have to cross a few stretches of water. Like the channel and the Bering Strait.

For this reason, Sofie and myself, flew over to the UK to meet the extremely inspiring, passionate and great friend Steve Brooks. He and his team have spent lots of time at Fritton Lake . As you remember we had several problems with our vehicles on the London to Chita stretch of the journey. But Steve has assembled a new tech team and together they have done some amazing work to develop our ability especially to sail and cross any water. We were impressed!!!

We are almost there. A few more tests and we have a vehicle, according to Steve, that is unique, has never been seen before and can cross an ocean!

As always when it is something to do with Expedition Defender X, there´s drama involved!

To get to Fritton Lake from Steve´s peaceful and amazing farm, we went by helicopter. We set of with some visibility with the promise from all weather forecasts of all being clear within 10 minutes. It didn´t happen. It was 75 minutes of full concentration. I don´t get hand sweat often, only when I am really worried. I had it on this flight, but still enjoyed the views. And the feeling of having a bird’s perspective of life. Problem was that Steve was showing signs of concern. Now Steve is one of the most experienced helicopter pilots on earth. He has done some legendary flights, like from the North Pole to the South Pole. See http://www.sb2.eu/exploration#icechallanger So there were reasons for discomfort. Flying a helicopter is not easy! On the way back he allowed me to try. Now, first of all there’s so many things to keep an eye on. And the flying or steering is such a sensitive, full on concentration job, so I was knackered after 10-15 minutes!

But of course we made it to Fritton Lake. The test impressed us all. Not far off having the most impressive vehicles on earth!

More to come!

Photocopyright Sofie Rördam on the best photos!