New book by Ed Stafford reveals what the great explorers took into the unknown

In April 2018, Ness Knight, Laura Bingham and Phillipa Stewart were preparing to paddle the mighty 1,014km Essequibo River in Guyana, from source to sea. If they were successful, their expedition would be a world first, but – as with all such undertakings – there were plenty of things that could go wrong. The evening before they were due to set off, in an attempt to calm her nerves, Knight did what many of us do when we’re about to take a trip somewhere: she laid out all her equipment on her bed and started going through it carefully, making sure she had everything she was going to need for the adventure ahead. Then, while Knight was in the middle of this painstaking exercise, Bingham sneaked up on her, whisked away the bedsheets and deposited all her gear on the floor. Fortunately, Knight was able to see the funny side and decided not to strangle Bingham with a mosquito net, but given the gravity of the situation – and how seriously some people take the act of packing – it was the kind of prank that could easily have gone either way.