Five miles of contingency. Four hours of solar charging.

Anyone near this section of the TET with electricity?

First proper outing on the Zero. Worked the route out very carefully last night. Dash said 80 miles, route was 75. That’s five whole miles of contingency, so please don’t start with poor planning.

Bike stopped at 68.

Yes, there were hills. They were on the map when I calculated it, so I assumed they’d been included.

Did a couple of extra runs up one section because my mate missed the video, but they were only short. Also came back down, which I understood put it back in.

Anyway, I’m not completely unprepared. Brought a folding solar panel for exactly this situation. Plugged it into the USB socket and have been sitting here for nearly four hours.

Absolutely no difference.

Panel says it’s suitable for outdoor adventures. There’s a picture of a mountain on the box. Not sure how much more specific I was supposed to be.

It is overcast, but it’s clearly daytime. I can see the panel.

Have moved it three times to follow the brightest bit of cloud. Also wiped it with the expensive visor cloth rather than the ordinary one.

Someone’s saying the USB socket is an output. Surely that depends which end you’re standing at?

Please explain in normal terms. A bloke’s just sent me a calculation involving kilowatt-hours and according to him I need to stay until Thursday. He hasn’t said which Thursday.

I don’t need a full charge. Just enough to get to the charger I drove past earlier because it was £1.20 more expensive.

Starting to get hungry. Already eaten the emergency flapjack and the flapjack I was keeping in case the emergency got worse.

EDIT: Panel charges my phone fine. Now on 100%. Bike still on zero. At least I can keep updating everyone.

EDIT 2: Have unplugged it from the bike following several increasingly firm explanations.

EDIT 3: Mate’s coming with his diesel van. Would appreciate it if nobody mentions this under my post about energy independence.