All these plans were based on an expectation that the finding of winter quarters was likely to be difficult.

If a really safe base could be established on the continent, I would adhere to the original programme of sending one party to the south, one to the west round the head of the Weddell Sea towards Graham Land, and one to the east towards Enderby Land.
We had worked out details of distances, courses, stores required, and so forth.

Our sledging ration, the result of experience as well as close study, was perfect.

The dogs gave promise, after training, of being able to cover fifteen to twenty miles a day with loaded sledges.
The trans-continental journey, at this rate, should be completed in 120 days unless some unforeseen obstacle intervened.

We longed keenly for the day when we could begin this march, the last great adventure in the history of South Polar exploration, but a knowledge of the obstacles that lay between us and our starting-point served as a curb on impatience.