WORLD famous explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes' boots, bags and bamboo knickers for his latest expedition to Antarctica were supplied by an Essex company.
Skee-tex in Battlesbridge has given seven outfits, from hats, boots, luggage and pants to the adventurer, who aims to achieve a feat no other human has managed, to walk across Antarctica in midwinter, when darkness covers the land permanently and temperatures can plunge to minus 90.
Owner Roy Hart contacted the explorer to offer his gear, including thermal underwear made from bamboo, for the expedition.
Roy, 66, from Battlesbridge said: "Sir Ranulph used my boots in his very first expedition a long time ago when I had a shop in Covent Garden.
"When I contacted him he was so shocked and couldn't believe I was still around.
"He d even sent me a letter from his first expedition telling me our boots were the best and warmest he had ever used.
"He invited me and my wife to look around his ship with him before setting off on the voyage the same day.
"I've even given him a book of mine, Due South by Scott Brunner, to take on his journey, probably the only book to travel that length of a journey to such a remote part of the world.
"In March, Anton Bowring, who is one of Sir Ranulph's former expedition partners will be giving a lecture at the Rural Theatre in Battlesbridge near my house and will even try and get a live transmission to Sir Ranulph at the South Pole.
"It is very flattering to be a part of this expedition – it is always nice to be associated with winners isn't it." Sir Ranulph Fiennes, 68, is leading a team of five explorers on the The Coldest Journey expedition, which aims to raise millions of pounds in donations for the Seeing is Believing charity to tackle avoidable blindness.
Their ship, the SA Agulhas, set off on December 6, and aims to reach Antarctica in a month.
The expedition proper – from the Russian base of Novolazareskaya to the Ross Sea – is due to begin on March 21 and is expected to take six months.
