I had to look twice at my inbox tonight on returning home after the morning ride to Newbury and the afternoon lazing in a Reading coffee shop with a friend (and getting frost bitten in the process: has anyone told the weather people that it is July?). I have received an email from none other than Mark Beaumont, the man who cycled the World! This is the equivalent of a reserve player at Halifax Town AFC (Blue Square League) getting an email from Ronaldo. If you are out there in Canada Mark and reading this – thanks for taking the time to respond to my blog post of a few days ago: Mark Beaumont’s tent. Here is what Mark tells me:
Hi Andrew,
The tent is a Terra Nova Laser Competition – a reliable choice for ultra light bike tours. Good luck with your prep.
Cheers
Mark (from the wilds of Canada)
So, it wasn’t a Vango Force Ten Helium 200 after all. Mind you, the Terra Nova Laser Competition (I want a job making up these tent names btw!) sounds a tent to bow down and pay homage to: the Pope of tents. A little bit of research tells me that it is 930 grammes (this cuts a whacking 300 grammes off the Vango FTH200 – even the abbreviation sounds cool) and used to be the Guinness World Record holder for lightest tent in the, err.. World. The Terra Nova website itself even has a “Certificate of Calibration” from Derbyshire County Council to prove the weight! I bet you are eager to see a picture, no? Here it is:

So thanks Mark for the info and the time spent actually emailing it to me.
Jonathan Scott – a guy from Australia I had also been in contact with earlier in the year regarding the Puglia trip has posted a comment on my Facebook page:
“Hey mate, How is the preparation going for the big tour? I’ve started to plan my route in a bit more detail – some of the mountains will be a bit scary though!”
I agree with him there, especially after having watched the experts crawl to the top of Mont Ventoux yesterday afternoon in the Tour de France – Bradley Wiggins came fourth overall btw after having seen Mark Cavendish win on the Champs Elysées today.
Off for a look around Hampton Court Palace tomorrow, but need to get the accommodation sorted for next week in the Pennines. Urgent!!