Hands on medical training

When Andy mentioned going on a medical course I had visions of sitting in a large, 18 century lecture room, overlooking an operating table many floors down like a scene out of Frankenstein.

Unfortunately it turned out to be much more educational and hands on than that and I wasn't able to loiter around in the background hiding the fact that I had by far the least medical training of all the guys on the tour.

The 5am start on a Saturday was a struggle but as we drove towards Hereford I started to learn a bit more about what we had to look forward to - Prometheus were providing a course in Surviving Adventure which meant that we were going to be put in situations we'll hopefully never find ourselves in.

Tom and Andy were fantastic instructors and turned all of my limited medical knowledge on it's head. My first instinct on finding a guy with a simulated broken neck in one of the exercises was to a) panic b) desperately look around to see if anyone else was around who knew more than me and failing that, make every effort not to move his neck in case I made things worse. I quickly learnt that someone will die of a blocked airway before they will of a spinal injury and that is the key message I'll take on tour with me. That - and if anything really goes wrong I hope it doesn't happen to our very own tour Doc Andy!

Chris was missed but his place expertly filled by Steve and it was great being part of the team in chalenging situations, we're more used to sitting round drinking tea and talking about how we're going to find our big sponsor....anyone?

So we turn our attention now to The Moss Marathon. Oslo to Lisbon to recreate Sir Moss' practice run and make sure or basic logistics work. In the dark, boredom hours on the drive at least I will be able to think back to the highlights of the Prometheus course - Jim hitting the deck at the sound of an explosion thinking we were under attack and Will selflessly taking one for the team by spooning the simulated hypothermia victim to share his body warmth. A real team player.

I just hope it's not cold in the back of the vehicle on the way to Lisbon...

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