Denali from the air

Monday 19th June. Its 4 am, and I have been only half-sleeping since 2.30. But being generous, that makes about 6 hours sleep so no complaining.

It may be the dead of night, but still a grey light seeps around the curtains – dawn cannot be far off. There is a definite feel of being quite far north – we are I think at latitude 58 degrees north here (Newcastle and Donegal are both at about 55 deg). But it is not yet remote; the regular sound of planes taking off from the airport close by ensures that. And this is a comfortable house too, from Air BnB, that we have for three nights while we get our bearings. It is probably the most luxury we will have for a while, who knows?

So, we have started! At least, we have left our various homes and families, each of us moved and appreciative of the heart-warming send-offs we had. Today we will retrieve our bikes from customs and the freight handlers. Then go over our luggage, re-pack to get the multitude of quarts into the pint pots that the bikes allocate. Fiddle and faff with the technology – get intercoms talking to each other, set up camera mounts, play with video editing… Actually, I  bet we put that off until tomorrow!

In reality, I am getting impatient to hit the trail. Yes, we are here in Alaska, but the adventure will only truly begin when we roll out of Anchorage on Wednesday, heading north.