Journey To The Top Of The World - Part 1

Life Matters News Digest No.074 July/August/Sept 2024

It all started with a horror story. When I go for a walk each day I tend to listen to podcasts on my earbuds but getting bored of the same half dozen presenters I searched out some fiction to listen to instead.

The story I was listening to on this particular day was called “The White Vault” and it told the tale of a team of investigators who were sent to a remote automatic research station 10 kilometres north of Ny-Alsand in Svalbard, which had stopped working.

Svalbard is a remote archipelago halfway between the north Norway coast and the north pole. It is on a latitudinal par with Greenland, but further north than Greenland's most northerly settlement, and well inside the Arctic Circle. The harbours of its main settlements on the largest island of Spitsbergen are only kept open by warm water from the Gulf Stream.

Just as I was walking down the street to my home at the end of that day’s walk, my mobile rang and the call interrupted the story. It was my partner, Tricia, who has no idea what I listen to on my walks. Her opening line was, “Would you like to go to “Svalbard?”

I had also previously published in my newsletter this wonderful photograph of a Polar Bear asleep on a drifting iceberg taken off the coast of Svalbard - it won the Wildlife Photographer of the Year award in 2023.

So how could I refuse? Opportunity knocked and my destiny was clear!

After flying to Bergen in Norway towards the end of July, we checked into our hotel and explored this busy city, Norway's second largest after Oslo with almost 290,000 inhabitants.

A ride in a funicular railway provided a grand view of the city spread over several islands and peninsulas and the fjord beyond. After a good meal in a wine bar, which we discovered behind the hotel on the first evening, we joined our ship for the journey north the following afternoon.

Our ship this time was the MS Trollfjord carrying about 370 passengers and 100 crew. It is a sister ship to the MS Roald Amundsen with whom we went to Antarctica in March 2023. I mean, if you get to the most southern part of the planet, you have to go to the most northern, don't you? Roald Amundsen, the famous Norwegian explorer did exactly that, as you will see later.

Due to some skilled discount negotiating by Tricia, we ended up with a luxurious cabin at a relatively cheap price. These ships, run by the Norwegian company Hurtigruten, are incredibly well-kitted-out, have friendly crews and are very stable. I highly recommend them if you ever get the chance.

As we got underway, we were treated to the wonderful Norwegian coastline of high mountains plunging into deep fjords, broken by colourfully painted houses and villages nestling on the shore in a large patch of bright green carved out from the surrounding dark green of the forest trees.

Our first expedition stop was Andalanes where we took a gondola from the town centre to the top of a nearby mountain. Up there were stunning views over the adjacent valley, low clouds swirling around the peaks. While Tricia stayed fairly close to the gondola station, I walked higher to get more pictures.

On my way back the fog/clouds closed in and the path began to disappear, causing me to take a wrong turn at one point. When we got back down to the town centre, the groups going up after us were faced with acres of cloud and not much else. This is what they missed.

Our second stop was at Traina where our young local guide took us on a long and interesting walk around the island. These days the descendants of the Vikings are into fishing and particularly salmon farming. The tell-tale circles of the salmon farms are everywhere in fjords and along the coast, Norway being the world's largest producer at 1.2 million tonnes a year.

Despite only having a population of 400, Traina puts on an annual music festival that attracts several thousand people. Some years they hold it in a cave in one of the mountains shown below.

By this time we were approaching the Arctic Circle, marked by a globe on a rock. The tradition is that if it is your first time you have to go through a little ceremony consisting of having some ice cubes stuffed down the back of your neck, followed by a small glass of strong aquavit (a popular drink in Norway made from fermented potato and aromatic flavourings).

Tricia had crossed the Arctic Circle line before and was spared the indignity. I quickly shuffled the ice cubes out of the bottom of my loose-fitting shirt and went on to the aquavit. The captain of the ship, whose wife and son were onboard for part of the trip and crossing the line for the first time, gave his family the full treatment, poor souls.

We had now entered the land of the Midnight Sun, which is very strange if you have never encountered it before. The setting sun goes down to the horizon but just sits there for several hours, not going below it and then rises into the sky again. This affects your body clock as we discovered when we flew back to the UK and for the first few days we could not get used to it starting to get dark at 9.30 pm.

In Svalbard, the most northern inhabited region of Europe and where we were heading, the Midnight Sun or Polar Day lasts from the 19th of April to the 23rd of August. It does produce some spectacular and prolonged sunsets. Some of these photographs were taken at 2.00 in the morning.

When we stopped at Reine our excursion for the day was kayak paddling in the fjord, led by a lovely, informative Czech guide who took some of the photographs below. Beautiful scenery, crystal clear water and on our return, we paddled right around our cruise ship, the MS Trollfjord.

Shortly after Reine, the ship docked at Tromso which calls itself the Capital of the Arctic. It has a population of 42,000 and strong connections with the Sami people, the indigenous residents of northern Norway, Finland and Russia. At Tromso, one of the main terminals for Hurtigruten ships, we offloaded cargo and took on more supplies and fresh food for the vessel and cargo for further north.

In between ports there was always something to do on board. Walks around outside on the decks to take in the stunning scenery, talks about some point of particular interest, lectures on wildlife, history and nature, excellent food and drink of course, a sauna and a small gym and invitations to try Norwegian food.

One of the Norwegian food tastings was dried cod. Everywhere along the north Norwegian coast, you see these traditional, wooden cod drying racks. When fully dehydrated the cod is so tough the chef has to break it into pieces with a substantial hammer. Chewy but tasty! Torrfisk or Stockfish as it is called, is Norway's oldest export.

The downside for me was a poor wifi connection, which was surprising as it had been first class via Starlink satellites when we went to Antarctica, which is far more remote. As you probably know from my email, I tried to write this newsletter onboard off Norway, but the photographs would not upload.

At the port of Honningsvág, we took a bus ride up into the mountains where we sighted our first reindeer chewing on the tundra-like vegetation. They are brought here by ferry every year for summer grazing by the same Sumi families. After the young have been born and have gained some strength the whole herd swims back to the island where they overwinter.

As we got higher and higher into the mountains the fog/low cloud came down and by the time we got to our destination we could barely see 15 - 20 feet in front of us. This didn't seem to phase the coach driver, he was used to it. Our destination was North Cape, the most northerly point of mainland Europe, marked by another of those steel globes.

From Honningsvág the ship headed out across the Barents Sea towards the island of Spitsbergen in the Arctic Ocean. We spent a day on the mildly choppy waves and passed Bear Island, the most southerly of the islands in the Svalbard archipelago.

Bear Island, once a hunting ground for walruses and exploited for its coal reserves, is now a nature reserve, inhabited only by a few personnel running the meteorological station.

Finally, the next day, we reached our first stop in Svalbard, the town of Longyearbyen, the most northerly settlement in the world with more than 1,000 inhabitants. As you can see from the map above, Longyearbyen is on par geographically with northern Greenland.

The town is named after an American, John Munro Longyear, who started the Arctic Coal Company, mining coal there in 1906. Coal was transported from the inland mine to the port area by aerial tramway, the remains of which can still be seen.

Coal mining had been going on at Longyearbyen since the 1890s but was never really financially viable and, more recently, with the collapse in use and value of coal, mining has stopped altogether.

The approaches to Longyearbyen are dotted with numerous glaciers coming down the valleys to the sea. Despite it being summer, small icebergs that had broken away floated in the sea around the ship.

The town was destroyed by the German Navy in 1943 as it lay on the sea routes used by Allied Forces to resupply Russia and only four buildings survived. However, after the war, the town was rebuilt and now has a hotel, a garage, a shopping mall, a cinema and full internet and communications via satellite and cable to Norway's mainland.

It's a strange place to live though. Longyearbyen experiences continuous daylight/twilight (midnight sun) between the 18th of April and the 23rd of August (127 days) and continual darkness between the 27th of October and the 15th of February (111 days). Snow covers the town from November to March and then the main form of transport is the ubiquitous ski-do0 or snowmobile.

The town lays claim to the world's most northerly petrol station and probably the world's most northerly hot tub in the harbour, which we saw being used from our cabin window.

Our expedition at Longyearbyen was a "husky dog wagon ride." In winter, of course. the dogs pull sledges, but in summer, with snow only on the hill and mountaintops/glaciers, they pull a wagon. I was unsure about this, my main concern being for the dogs.

But, as it turned out, the dogs, who were in their cage transporter when we arrived, could not wait to get out, harnessed and get going! Twelve dogs were attached to each wheeled wagon, carrying eight passengers and the driver.

As each dog was removed from its cage and attached to the wagon cable, they jumped, wagged their tails and howled, eager to set off. If the wagon had not locked its wheels with a substantial brake I am sure the dogs would have run on ahead without us.

​

The course we ran down was only a couple of kilometres and we stopped three times to give the dogs a rest and bowls of water. Eventually, when we got back to our starting point, I had the privilege of unharnessing some of the dogs (all of whom were friendly I am glad to say) and putting them back in their transporter cages.

These Svalbard Huskies had been crossed with Greenland Sled Dogs and were therefore tough to handle, incredibly strong and larger and less cute than the ornamental husky dogs we know at home. Afterwards, we visited the husky centre where they were all kept. Almost 300 dogs, each dog handler with several teams of 12, which they rotate so each team only goes out once a day.

A bit of an industry, but fortunately the animal safeguarding laws in Norway are strict and all the dog handlers seemed kind and knew all of their dogs individually.

The day we were in Longyearbyen, it was about 12C, though I had put on my thermals for the dog-wagon ride. It turns out, Svalbard, 50% of which is covered in ice, is one of the fastest-warming places on the planet as a result of climate change and warming seas. Summer temperatures now hit over 20C but in winter it can still plunge to below -40C.

More to come on this adventure, but I will leave it there for the moment with this Part 1 - Part 2 to follow!

*********************

Overcoming

Meet Ana Victoria Espino de Santiago. Ana, at 25 years of age, has become the world's first lawyer with Down Syndrome, getting her degree from Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas in Mexico.

Ana studied for five years, but it was not an easy task. She dreamed of becoming a lawyer and after completing high school, she aced the university entrance exam. However, the university rector at the time, met with her and said she could not study at the law school as they lacked facilities for a person with Down Syndrome.

Moved by her strong spirit though, a professor offered to support her by accompanying her to all her lessons for 5 years, plus helping her study and prepare for exams.

Unlike many countries, there is no bar exam in Mexico, getting a law degree is enough to become a lawyer, but that is not Ana's direction. She is clear she wants to go into politics to be an advocate for people with disabilities.

“I see myself being a local representative, I am passionate about the law, and I want to pave the way so that all people who live with a disability can occupy decision-making spaces, because our condition does not silence our voice, will and ability to contribute to improving our state.”

As someone who has worked with people with Down Syndrome and similar disabilities, she makes me very proud. An amazing achievement - may there be many more like her.

********************

Smile - You're on Camera!

This is one of the stunning images from wildlife photographer, Donal Boyd. Tired of the usual telephoto lens, he set out to create more intimate portraits of the animals by building a steel photo box with a camera inside controlled by a remote.

Placing the box in the predicted path of moving wildlife he captures much more of their personalities as their curiosity induces them to examine the box more carefully, to be more wary of it or to ignore it altogether.

Born in Boston in USA, he first got interested in nature by exploring the local forest and looking at the detail of moss on trees, a salamander sleeping under a log or a crayfish in a stream. When he returned home covered in mud and his mother asked, "What did you see today?" he would at first sketch out his explanations.

When his father lent him an early digital camera, his direction was set, despite later completing two degrees in chemical engineering and sustainable energy. Now he uses his portraits to make people more aware of endangered wildlife and to promote conservation.

You can see more of Donal's technique in this video:

​

​To read more about the photographer and see more of his pictures, there is an interview Here:​

Credits: My thanks to Tricia and Karen for their contributions. Photo Credits: Peter Clifford/Tricia Dair x 44, Nima Sarlkant, Chris Mongeau/Magazine.Urth, Islam Sémur/Wikimedia Commons, Mateusz War/Wikimedia Commons, Ana Victoria Espino de Santiago and family x 3, Donal Boyd x 4/My Modern Met.

*******************

If you have enjoyed this newsletter, please forward it to friends, family, acquaintances, or anyone you think might be interested in subscribing. That would be appreciated - many thanks in advance.

END PIECE

My apologies that it has taken so long to get this latest newsletter to you, there has been a lot going on. Wifi difficulties on the ship I mentioned to you in an email at the end of July. August has also been complicated.

Oh, and one last thing - on Sept 10th, in my 76th year, I married Tricia! We did not tell anyone except Tricia's dressmaker and the venue organisers; we just "eloped" to Butley Priory in Suffolk with Tricia's dog Syd in attendance and did the deed. Apologies to all our friends but quietly and with no fuss was how we wanted it.

Despite the unique event (for me at least) of getting married, I have not become disconnected from the world.

I am therefore painfully aware of Israel's latest indiscriminate attack in Lebanon, booby-trapping Hezbollah's pagers and 2-way radios. While Hezbollah as a controlling extremist organisation would never get my approval, the random nature of this attack by Israel is appalling.

At the time of writing, at least 39 people have been killed, including 2 young children, and more than 3,000 injured, some of them seriously. A Lebanese ophthalmologist in Beirut, Professor Elias Warrak, said he had removed more damaged eyes in one night than in the whole of his career.

Mostly young men, some of them lost both eyes as they picked up the pagers to see who was calling. Israeli Intelligence no doubt thinks it has pulled off an extremely clever attack. All they have done is cement in place another generation of Arabs demanding vengeance against Israel and all Israelis.

Until the next time, take good care of yourself - and be kind caring, generous and patient with those less fortunate than ourselves.

All good wishes,