People ask what you take for a week in the desert. Less than you think, and more carefully than you think. Here is the list, because if you are sponsoring the kilometers you might as well know what is walking them.

On the body

Shoes are Hoka Speedgoats, worn on the flights so they cannot get lost with a bag. The running pack is a Salomon Adv Skin 12, which is small on purpose. It holds the mandatory kit, the water, the day's food, and nothing else.

The mandatory kit

This rides in the pack on every stage because the organisers can stop you and check: a survival blanket, a headlamp with batteries, ten safety pins, a lighter, a whistle, antiseptic, a signalling mirror, sun cream, sunglasses, 100 euros and a passport. Sleeping bag and soup cubes are checked on the inspection day and then live in the tent.

Food

Maurten solid bars, Skratch chews, and Precision Hydration electrolyte tablets. Nothing new. The rule on a long walk is that you never eat something on the course that you have not already eaten in training, and we have eaten a lot of these.

Power and cameras

Aaron carries the cameras: two DJI Action 6, an Osmo 360, a Pocket 3 and a small microphone, with an Anker 26,250 mAh power bank to feed them. That is how the stage reports and the photos reach you. Debbie carries a phone and a power bank and the good sense not to film anything.

Sleep

A shared tent in the bivouac, a sleeping bag each, and a small inflatable pillow that Aaron insists is not a luxury. On Thursday night, Star Night, the tent stays behind and the sky does the roof.

What is not coming

A satellite internet terminal we would have liked to bring stayed at home, because Morocco requires a permit for it and we did not get one. So the daily updates come by whatever signal the bivouac has, which is usually some in the evening. If a report is late, that is why.

Every gram of this is paid for by us. Every dollar you give goes to the house in Nepal.