107 jumps might seem like a lot in a game like Elite Dangerous but it’s still peanuts compared to what some of the game’s true explorers do. Initially I thought it’d take me the full weekend to do it but to my surprise I made it after spacing my game time out over a day… a few jumps here, a few more there… it still was a few hours in total but I did get there! And so my ship found a safe haven at the asteroid base Attenborough’s Watch in the system Lagoon Sector FW-W d1-122. Note: you see a lot of system names like this but you quickly get used to taking down notes and bookmarking locations!

Unlike my previous stop, Attenborough’s Watch is not sitting inside the planet’s ring but a short distance outside it. I was caught out on my first approach and realized I had tried to approach it from the wrong side so needed to fly out and under the ring to get to there. I was impressed with the view – the planet’s Jupiter like characteristics certainly made it seem familiar. Time to cue music from 2001: A Space Odyssey…

Next destination was Eudaemon Anchorage in the Rohini system which was going to be the first space station I would see on the trip. Around 112 jumps this time and once again I spaced it out over time and completed the journey during one of my regular “late night sessions”. Worth noting that once you get into a rhythm with the FSS you can scan a system quite quickly so getting that valuable data becomes habit and pays off without consuming a huge amount of time. One of the more interesting parts of this leg of the trip was that I would be skirting past the Orion Nebula which meant I could once again see in action my progress as I approached another galactic “landmark”. Pics in a slideshow don’t really do it justice but I was getting excited the closer I approached and could help but snap away. 🙂

After taking a lot of pics of my progress I can understand more why you can often see the game deliberately pausing. Every time your ship arrives in a new system the game has to render this view again to take into account your new position in the galaxy. And there’s a lot of stars out there…

After passing the nebula it wasn’t long until I reached my destination. Even though the Rohini system was well established it was still worth scanning the system for any additional data I could get plus visiting the nav beacon turned up a wanted vessel which netted me a nice bounty to cash in at the station. All up this leg rewarded me with about 14 million credits in scans which is nothing to sneeze at. The station looks like a very handy stopover too for anyone needing to modify their ship or even consider an upgrade if you’re flying a smaller ship.

My next destination is Sacaqawea Space Port in system Skaudai CH-B d14-34. Another first for the trip is this being my first planetary stopover. Hopefully my landing skills won’t be too rusty by the time I get there! It’s 124 jumps so another long one and for the first time I’ll be leaving our region of the galaxy, the Inner Orion Spur, and enter a new one which the Colonia system resides within which is the Inner Scutum-Centaurus Arm. It’s also marks what is close to the halfway point for the trip so progress has been swift so far but also valuable in building my confidence in getting as far as I have!

As of this point in my travel I’m down to 60 jumps which (fingers crossed) I’ll be able to cover on the weekend. It’ll also mean I’ll be halfway to Colonia which is far better than I thought I would be after this period of time. I suppose time flies when you’re having fun. 🙂