British adventurers set off in Captain Scott’s footsteps

A British team have bid farewell to London before setting off to Antarctica to try to complete Robert Falcon Scott’s Terra Nova Expedition.

Polar explorers Ben Saunders, 36, and Tarka L’Herpiniere, 32, hope to complete Captain Scott’s ill-fated 1910-12 expedition, taking them on an unsupported 1,800-mile return journey from the edge of Antarctica to the South Pole.

If successful, they will be the first people to complete the return journey Captain Scott died attempting more than 100 years ago.

No-one has walked further unsupported than the 1,600 miles Captain Scott and his team managed, before perishing 150 miles from their final destination.

Mr Saunders said: “Completing Scott’s Terra Nova expedition is a life-long dream of mine and I’m so excited to be standing here today about to embark on the journey with Tarka.”

They will walk on average nine and a half hours each day and are expected to take 110 days to complete the expedition.