Scott Expedition: The Worst Journey in the World

You understand that Offroading Home has been following the "Scott Expedition" currently underway at the South Pole. In fact, we've made an entire Google Earth file containing nearly every landmark and historic trail we can find, so you won't need to go looking for them yourselves.

Today we've pulled together an entire BBC docudrama video about the book "The Worst Journey In The World" based on Apsley Cherry-Garrard's memoir of the British Antarctic Expedition in 1910-1913.

Why do this? Well, one page seems like a good place to have ALL the video series. They're not all that easy to find in sequence. And, as far as the GE map is concerned, the way GE displays cartologic labels really doesn't work in the Antarctic.

Take a look at GE down where Ben Saunders and Tarka L’Herpiniere are sleeping tonight and what do you see (besides my tent placemark)? White. That's it. A sparse map down there made even more sparse by GE itself. Google as you know has it's labels set to appear only at certain altitudes, usually so close to the ground that you completely loose your bearings from the grand scale of things.

When I set out to follow these guy's expedition I quickly got frustrated with labels turning on and off so began adding my own based upon the landmarks Ben and others were mentioning in all their correspondence; hence, the birth of the Scott Expedition Google Earth Resource Map. And, Offroading Home is proud to have received mention about it from the acclaimed Google Earth Blog.

The Worst Journey In The World

Apsley Cherry-Garrard, an English aristocrat and explorer, was a survivor of the original Scott Expedition and eventually became it's leading chronicler with the book The Worst Journey In The World.

Taken on the expedition as an assistant zoologist, the protégé of Dr. Edward Wilson - second in command after Scott, he was one who went in search of the delayed-in-returning South Pole Expedition and found his friends frozen in their tent only 11 miles from their next cache of food.

He had been with Scott on an earlier expedition to bring back Emperor Penguin eggs then helped set up the caches of food and supplies needed along the way to the pole; but, he was told by Scott that he wouldn't be in the final group slogging on to the finish. After waiting for Scott's return back in Cape Evans, it was Cherry-Garrard of the 'rescue team' whose lot it was to describe the frozen tent that contained the bodies of his three companions: Scott, Bowers and Wilson.

Here is the BBCs drama of Cherry-Garrard's book in five parts - found on You Tube, and provided here in one place.

The worst journey in the world - 1/5

The worst journey in the world - 2/5

The worst journey in the world - 3/5

The worst journey in the world - 4/5

The worst journey in the world - 5/5

Also recommended reading is the book: South Pole: 900 Miles on Foot by Gareth Wood and Eric Jamieson. It recounts a similar journey to follow Scott's epic exploration by Roger Mear, Robert Swan and Canadian Gareth Wood.

Are You Going To Get The Books?

If you are planning on purchasing either of these books, I'd like to entreat you to do it via this link to Amazon: South Pole: 900 Miles on Foot or The Worst Journey In The World. That way you'll still pay the same price but a portion of it will go toward keeping Offroading Home "on the air." Thanks!