Good Afternoon! Tea?

Every good story has a moral.

Take Homer's epic, The Odyssey. A classic without question, and thousands of years old, but this poem has a strong message embodied in the actions and determination of its protagonist, Odysseus. Persevere, like a mad person, and you will get to where you want to go. Don't let distractions get the better of you, and sway you off course.

Even Humpty Dumpty, no less. Not everyone's idea of a classic, but it has also passed the test of time (well, 200 years at least). And the moral? Don't climb walls if you are an egg. Smashing (sorry).

Last weekend we had afternoon tea with The Adventurists. We savoured fine teas hand-selected from Asia (Superior Keemun, considered one of the world's best black teas, and Pu-Erh, a mysterious tea, fermented underground if you're interested) and discovered a fondness for toffee apple cake. Now, when we did the Bamako Rally we did it like true adventurists - with a nice cup of tea to start each day. We made do with porridge for breakfast, no toffee apple cake for us. But there are few better feelings than sitting at the top of the cliffs on the skeleton coast, with your back to the Sahara desert looking out over the atlantic, sipping a cup of Assam. Bliss.

And whilst not a camel, our deer companion enjoyed the Keemun too.

We were also regaled by stories of ocean adventure by no less than Sir Chay Blyth, CBE, BEM.

In 1966 he rowed across the Atlantic with Captain Ridgway in a 20ft boat. That's about 3,000 miles. They arrived after three months. The other team attempting the feat were never seen again. In '68 he competed in a global sailing race without ever having sailed before - he actually had friends sail ahead of him for a while so he could get an idea of the right manoeuvres. He didn't finish. And in '71 he became the first person to sail non-stop the 'wrong way' around the world, after being at sea for 292 days.

We heard of the sailor who fell overboard in Antartic waters (and was never found), the sailor who, following a moment's distraction lost fingers to a wayward rope, and saw film of entire crews swept effortlessly across the bow by unforgiving waves.

All the time he was damp, soaked through or being battered by waves. And the moral from the stories? It is one that Steel Camel can live by: stay on dry land.