When I wrote the blog yesterday, I stated that everything was going to plan. At the time, it was. However, moments later, I was not a happy man.

Previously, I’d always written this during my break sometime around 9 o’clock, the intention being that I’d then go out and row a bit more before going too sleep. But every now and again, the rest would get the better of me and I’d make the decision that it was probably best to get an early night and then wake up really early - the waking up part rarely happened. So, deciding to embark on a more disciplined approach, I chose to write it right at the end of the day.

Having rowed into the early hours of the morning, I packed everything away, got into the cabin and tidied up ready for bed. I even attended to my wounds and slid into my sleeping bag. After writing the blog - I have a feeling they’ll be a little shorter now they’re eating into sleep time rather than rowing! - I connected everything up to send it.

Being a satellite phone, it needs to be able to see the sky. Therefore, so that it can be used inside, I have a little aerial attached to the roof that I plug into. Sadly, several weeks ago, this broke in a violent act of vandalism - I sat on it. Somehow, though, the phone seemed to work inside. It was magic at work. So I had no reason to expect it not to work last night. That said, I hadn’t accounted for the fact that I was now in bed - it couldn’t possibly go to plan. After numerous failed attempts, I incredibly reluctantly removed myself from the sleeping bag and stepped out to face the cold, dark, damp outside world again.

After that episode, the first job of the day was clear: I HAD to fix that lead. Once again, having no idea at all what I was doing, I pushed everything together as much as I could, cut a few wires, stuck a few things together, and then wrapped it in acres of self-amalgamating tape, of course. To my astonishment, it worked. Well, I think it worked. I guess you’ll know when you get an account of an even more tragic tale of night-time woe and despair tomorrow night!

As for the rowing, well it’s still going well, incredibly. Obviously I’m not going to make any predictions; I’m still well over 1,000 miles away and pointed out just the other day how foolish they are.

I do quite fancy an Easter egg though.