It's All Over Now & Feeling Totally Pooped !!

Did not sleep a wink last night as hands were extremely painful and throbbing, this was a result of Thursday when we'd had to do two day's of travelling because of the condition of the ice on the lakes. I also felt the house was too warm and want to keep the heating turned off as unable to bear the heat, of course hubby's freezing! My muscles still producing a lot of heat of their own, my OH commented that if he held his hand above my arms or legshe could actually feel the heat coming out of my body. Have been feeling a bit low today because of the pain in my hands, lack of sleep because of it and my lips are so sore, in fact you cannot actually see them as they're a mass of blisters and a mess. It's frustrating they are like this because I'd been so careful constantly applying lip block all day long up and wearing my balaclava when the temperatures plummeted. But all it took was that short time in the blizzard when I couldn't get my gloves off and get my balaclava pulled up. My hubby wanted to take me out for a meal today and have a family get together but as feeling out of sorts thought best to put it off for a few days.

Decided to take it easy and take my time unpacking my kit bag. Everything smells "doggy" and I feel sad it is all over, I want my own pack of huskies!! It's the first time I get chance to think about what we have all just done. Whilst we were away all thoughts had been taken up with what we need to do such as looking after the dogs, putting up/taking down the tents, making meals etc. Then when we were on the move we needed to concentrate on driving the sleds, which could be quite tricky at times and certainly was hard work most of the time (I'm sure the minute people took it for granted and didn't pay attention because they thought they were on easy stretches that was when a lot of the stupid mistakes occurred). Most of us had no experience of "wild camping" let alone in waist deep snow so thinking about things now at home, I do feel extremely proud of what we all did. There was about 10 months of preparation for this trip taking up nearly all my free time; at first concentrating on fund raising and then hours and hours worth of walking to make sure I'd be fit enough. Every minute spent over the past year leading up to the trip was 100% worth it. Words simply cannot do justice to the whole experience and emotions you go through on an expedition like this. So put very simply in the words of American teenage movies it was "Awesome Dude"!

It was utter bliss last night getting into a lovely, comfy bed. Slept in fits and starts dreaming on and off all night. Kept waking up trying to get out of a deep hole but it wasn't snow at all only the white duvet !!!

Spent ages enjoying the hot water of the shower so come out of the shower looking like a lobster. Karen shows off all her bruises - she is black and blue, has some humongous ones at least 4 which are 8" long and 4" wide across her stomach and legs. I managed to get away with only having a big one across the back of my knee where a runaway sled ploughed into me and a small one across my hip bone.

We go down to the dining room and enjoyed a delicious continental breakfast. Everyone comments how strange it seems not going to see our dogs. We swapped stories with Alan, Peter, Jeremy and Laurie, they had stayed in the bar last night until the early hours and are all looking a little fragile. After breakfast we're able to go and take a quick walk around Tromso before we have to meet up again to be taken to the airport.

We stayed at the Clarion Collection Hotel (very nice) which was right on the waterfront

Walking around the habrour we came across a little square with the memorial statue of Roal Amundsen, famous Norwegian polar explorer

We really liked Tromso with its quaint little streets and mix of old and new buildings. I would love to go back some time with my hubby to explore the surrounding countryside, I know he would love it and it.

Tore drove us back to the airport in the centre minibus and just before we went inside he gave us all a little husky key ring as a memento!

The day ahead was flight from Tromso to Oslo, Oslo to London and 5 of us would then catch a flight from London to Manchester (the others would be driving, catching trains or a coach to their various destinations). There was a slight delay with the flight from Tromso but the rest of the day went fairly smoothly. We arrived at London extremely weary and once through customs and the baggage collection point we hurriedly said our goodbyes as some had to get away for their transfers. Andy, Brian, Jeremy, Lauri and myself had an hour and half wait before our connection, it was a relief when we finally touched down in Manchester and saw our members of our families waiting to give us big hugs!!!

Up early again this morning despite having not gone to bed until 12.30 am. Due to the distance of the sleds from our tent and the depth of the snow it takes ages going backwards and forwards with all of our gear. Another beautiful morning, thank goodness.

Karen and Sue putting the world to rights

Anne looking very stylish

Tove & Tore

Tove and Tore fixing a sled - a common occurrence over the trip, quite a few had bits of twine holding things together !!!

Although we have a very short distance to go to this morning feel quite nervous as usual about setting off and a little low that this would be the last time. We arrived at the Ice hotel about 9.30 am where the transport vehicles were waiting to collect the dogs. As each sled pulled up Tore shook everyone's hand, gave them a hug and said well done. It felt strange as we' d only just left camp and I felt as though we were just getting going. We did some final posing for pictures before reluctantly saying cheerio to our dogs and headed over to pay the Ice hotel a visit.

End of the road - Kiruna, Sweden

Tom, Andy at the back, Sue & Dave

A final pat for my furry friends

Front doors of the Icehotel

Getting our glasses filled

Brian and myself - you can't go to the Ice Hotel without having a drink in an ice glass!!

We spent about an hour in the hotel. It was good to see although if I'm honest was not as good as I expected, perhaps that's because they are getting ready to close the season as its starting to melt. The Absolut bar was shut so we had our drinks in our ice glasses in the Reception area. After checking out quite a few rooms it was time to go back to the vehicles ready for our 6 hour drive back to Tromso.

We stopped on route at a huge Wallmart type supermarket to get goodies for eating on the journey. It was a first for me walking round a supermarket absolutely stinking of dogs, no make up, hair greasy as a spoon and cracking great blisters erupting everywhere on my lips. (One of the days where we had blizzards I'd pulled down my balaclava to shout instructions to my dogs but couldn't get it back up again because of my mittens. I'd been too scared to try taking them off as it would require using both hands and leaning on the sled which is ok in normal conditions but the weather had been far too crazy and required total concentration. I must have gone a good hour or two without any protection so I knew they'd got a good case of wind burn).

The journey passed quite quickly, a few chatted quietly and some caught up on their sleep. I sat with Anne and no doubt did more talking in that journey than all week. We arrived at the hotel much earlier than expected. Our rooms were gorgeous with huge comfy beds and pristine white sheets, piping hot shower - bliss. We had some time to ourselves, Karen went off for a sauna, I stayed in the room and sorted through all my stuff, repacking it so I wouldn't have to do it tomorrow. My hands felt very swollen and throbbed whilst my mouth was tingling like crazy with the cold sores. After showers we changed to our "normal" clothes although our muscles were so "pumped up" we thought we weren't going to get into them. We met up with the gang at the Flyt sports bar for a celebratory drink and meal. Tove and Tore handed out award certificates and a medal from "Global Adventures". Brian gave out little postcards of huskies with a different message on for each member of the group - mine was for the most supportive member. We all had to take it in turn to get up and recount both our most challenging and rewarding moments. The week had been pretty intense so being put on the spot it was hard for everyone quickly to separate events and make a decsion but one or two things seemed to stand out in everyone's mind as experiences they will never forget.

Unwinding in the Flyt Sports bar, Tromso

Tove & Brian handing out Medal & Certificate, Dave looking very seriously studying his.

We woke up really early again to another beautiful morning. No one really out and about. We first spotted Peter taking photos and went for a chat. Sue came out to go and find a toilet spot and was dismayed at first to see us milling about so went headed off in the opposite direction away from the camp to a section of small trees a bit further away! One by one someone would come out and have a few minutes chat before making a stat on the daily routine. Everyone seemed very content this morning and looking forward to the day ahead.

Peter taking a stroll !!

This morning we had quite a stretch of moguls to travel through. Karen, my tent buddy suddenly starting having problems, she was falling off left, right and centre. She took some cracking falls and for what seemed like no reason. Tove knew there must be something wrong and kept looking the sled over and watching Karen but couldn't quite fathom it out at first. Then she realised that a rope had been attached incorrectly and it was warping the sled resulting in it pulling to one side. Tove refastened the sled and thankfully for Karen this sorted the problem. We followed a track through a forest for about 10 km and then came to our first lake which was quite tough as there was hardly any snow coverage at all. The dogs were slipping all over the place. We hoped no one ran into trouble here as it would be very difficult to stop as the brakes would be of no use on solid ice. We stopped briefly for lunch about 3.30 pm.

Simon & Andy during a quick lunch break

The next lake there was no snow coverage, pure ice. It was extremely bumpy and at times holding onto the sled felt like holding onto a pneumatic drill. The ice cracked and shattered, bits flying behind us everywhere, the dogs looked round at me every so often as if to say what was that. Although I knew the ice was extremely thick and there was no risk of falling in, it was still nerve racking trying to stop the sled from overturning on the huge uneven ice ridges that we were speeding across. Eventually we were on a lake with snow on it, I sang songs to my dogs so I wouldn't fall asleep but that wasn't because it was so easy it was boring. Far from it, it had taken an immense amount of concentration to get through today so far. Thinking we musn't have much longer to go the weather took a dramatic turn for the worse. Visibility was very poor as we travelled through biting almost blizzard conditions. Throughout the day I'd waved my arms about in turns doing exercises, trying to alleviate tensing the muscles up but now it was very difficult making myself let go and only keep one hand on the sled while the weather was so poor. It was extremely cold and I felt very tired as for what seemed like hours all I had been focusing on was the back of the person in front so I wouldn't lose sight of them. At this point the only other thoughts in my head was getting hot soup and into my sleeping bag. It eventually stopped snowing and things became much easier. Wasn't it supposed to have been an easy day from the start today - I had a vague recollection of it being said during team brief, were they talking about the same place, couldn't have been.

We eventually stop on the lake to make our camp. By the time we have staked out the dogs, fed them, and put up the tents it is extremely dark. At team brief we are told we've done 80 km!! This means we have done two days driving in one day, no wonder we were tired! Tove & Tore explained they knew it would be really tough but after weighing everything up felt we needed to keep pushing on as due to the condition of the ice it would not be safe to set off from any point on that stretch first thing in a morning with fresh excitable dogs. The good news of all this was that we had virtually arrived at our destination as the Ice hotel in Kiruna was only 5 minutes away.

A pretty spot for camping out

Drilling for water

After team brief everyone dispersed to unpack their sleds, sort out their gear and make a meal. It is gone midnight when we collapse on our sleeping bags to eat our tea - the longed for hot soup; we are so tired we don't feel like eating but know we should because we haven't really had much all day.

It had been mentioned we didn't have to get up until about 7 am today but Karen and myself seemed to naturally stir about 4.30/5 am. The sunlight came flooding through the cabin and feeling very refreshed after our cosy comforts we happily donned our suits and boots to potter outside, taking photos, and simply enjoying the stillness of it all and feeling great satisfaction in just being there.

Because we were up so early it meant we could have a leisurely breakfast, not that we needed to take a while to eat breakfast, in comparison to the others we probably ate too little. We would simply have our little pot of porridge oats with a big dollop of jam in and a drink, as we really couldn't face eating most mornings and made ourselves have something. But this morning it was nice to be able to linger at the table and just chat. After breakfast it was time to get all our things together and straighten up the cabin to leave it as spick and span as we went into it. We found a guest book in a drawer, it was filled with entries in every language - Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian you name it, but not English! Karen wrote a long entry and we both added our names and addresses, no doubt some bemused fisherman will think crazy English people. Sue and her husband Dave were chatting to, I think the manager/caretaker of the place, and said they couldn't thank anyone enough for letting us stay, telling him we were spending our nights in our tents, he looked at her incredulously, making the crazy sign and laughed shaking his head.

After vacating the cabin, it was time to say a "mental fond farewell" to our little oasis. We met up with a couple of the guys and we all walked down to where we had left the dogs staked out for the next part of our morning routine of feeding the dogs, and shovelling up lots and lots of doggie poop!!

Because by now we'd had hours of driving the dogs and we had this huge expanse of flat, open land, setting off and leaving the camp should have been a breeze. Previously I'd been really apprehensive at this point and this was quite a stressful part of the day but today I thought great everyone will be ok and for once we'll have a stress free start to the morning. When it was time to go Tore and Tove walked the lines and the dogs went into a frenzy, clamouring to be on the run. With the dogs all suitably fired up Tore set off at the lead. We had been moving for literally about 2 minutes when there was the signal to stop. On glancing behind it was hard to see what was going on but it looked like chaos with what appeared some runaway sleds. This was not a good at all. Problem sorted we got going again, only to recur what seemed like ten minutes later. In fits and starts we eventually got underway.

In spite of the early mishaps, we ended up having a great day, the weather was beautiful and we were able to take in the surrounding scenery. We stopped for lunch today which was very pleasant. The guys decided to be all macho and pose bare chested for a group photo, needless to say the girls declined the offer to do likewise.

My tent buddy, Karen enjoying the lunch stop

Dog Tired - Taking a quick lunchtime nap !!!

The guys striking a pose !!

Tore produced his map to show us where we had travelled. While we gathered round we heard a low rumbling sound and a crack and the snow collapsed in with our weight, it was just a foot down but it made us all jump. We repositioned ourselves, choosing what looked like sturdier ground but as we started poring over the map the snow started creaking again and at this point Tove decided it would be good fun to jump on it for the vibrations to collapse the snow in again. It was so funny we couldn't help but laugh especially as one or two of the guys shrieked like girls.

Eventually everyone settled down enough for Tore to get to serious business of telling us about a tricky manoeuvre we would come to later where the track turned 90° through a narrow gap in a fence. To get through we would have to leave off braking as we approached the turn so that the speed of the dogs could carry the following sled around and not through the fence post.

Our travels would take us across some fairly steep downhill sections, icefields followed by a rollercoaster ride over snow moguls. After an extremely exhilarating day we arrived a our camp for the night, a really lovely spot with lots of little trees dotted about. Despite the abundance of trees we couldn't get a suitable one to tie our stake out to without getting to near anyone else's dogs so there was nothing for it but to dig a big hole again to secure one end of the line. The ground was particularly hard and it took ages to get deep enough, the others had their tents up before we even managed to get all our dogs out of their harnesses. After the dogs were fed, we had our team briefing and we were told we had managed 55 km today. Tore tells us that tomorrow we have long stretches on the ice fields and that it is so easy we will be falling asleep with boredom on the sled.

Everyone goes back to their tents to prepare their tea feeling quite happy. Around 9.30/10 pm we sit down to have our evening meal. As it felt really warm, Karen and myself decided to eat sitting on the floor outside the tent instead of in our sleeping bags. We must have become acclimatised as Sue noted that it was minus 10 at this point. We chuckled at Tove's earlier remark this afternoon - it's just like being in Spain !!

Cue the Blizzards !

Sunrise brought a much calmer, brighter and very mild morning promising a good day. Looking at the position of our sleds balanced precariously on slopes with deep, soft snow all round hinted at the fun and games to be had trying to get the dogs to the sleds and then again when setting off from camp.

Brian having been to collect water - it takes a while getting anywhere when the snow's this deep.

I think everyone felt very apprehensive about today's start and it would take a miracle to be able to get going without any hitches whatsoever. Sure enough people started having problems very early on. We made very slow progress, far to slow and for what seemed like no reason at all. Tove and Tore were not happy with the group's performance and made it quite clear people were going to have to work a lot harder and totally concentrate 100% of the time. Chastisement seemed to have done the trick and there seemed to be less problems later in the day. Once up on the plateau the scenery was superb - we were surrounded by "Toblerone" peaks of nearby mountains, everything seemed very peaceful and the morning's tension melted away. This was to be one of the highlights of the trip; one of those "special moments" beyond words.

These pics taken by Brian our Exped Leader

Before we knew it the weather changed again. Rapidly the wind came sweeping across the plateau stirring up the snow with a vengence. Visibility was limited to the point were the feint outline of the person in front could just be made out. You couldn't tell the difference between land and sky at this point. We tried to keep as close as possible so we wouldn't become separated. This was one of the "hairy" moments - I didn't want to blink in case I lost sight of the person in front of me. This seemed to last for hours. It was extremely cold; we were told later that it was -25°today.

Due to the weather Tove and Tore decided it was best to keep on the move. Going all day without a stop meant snacking on what we'd stuffed in our pockets at breakfast time; in my case nuts and raisins and mini Jaffa cakes as I'd forgotten to put my sandwiches in my pocket today and they'd been sitting in the flap on top of the sled - needless to say at today's cold temperatures they were rock solid. Despite or perhaps because of the bad weather, I think everyone was concentrating 200% and there were no mishaps and we managed to get to our base for setting up camp quite early.

Looking around we've stopped at what looks like middle of nowhere, a flat plain as far as the eye can see with a little hill like bump to one side. Amongst our "kit" we had been issued with 2 planks of wood and now it was time to use them! We had to dig a hole about 3 ft deep, tie our stakeout chains to them before dropping them in the hole, refill, stomp like mad to compact it all and hopefully when it was all frozen over it would be nice and secure and all the dogs would still be there in the morning!!!

Karen busy digging the hole for our stakeout line

This is me checking out Karen's handiwork - think its deep enough but dare I tell her the planks are a bit longer than the size of the hole !!

Feeding the dogs went like clockwork this evening and seemed to be over in no time at all. We were told to line up our sleds side by side and gather all our kit together and put it in a big heap, this seemed very strange and we weren't sure why. Next minute a huge skidoo arrived pulling a trailer took away all our stuff and 5 minutes later came back and we all piled onto it and had a quick ride - still didn't know what was going on but it was great fun. In minutes we were the other side of the "hill" and at a little cluster of cabins by a frozen lake.

Quick chat before distributing the dog food

Preparing the dog's food

Totally unexpectedly we are told we are be allowed to use the cabins for the night although Tove and Tore and Brian would be staying in their tents. This had not been part of our itinerary and we all are totally stunned, amazed, grateful beyond words as it had been a bit of a nightmare 2 days for some.

When Karen and I went inside our little cabin we could have done cartwheels. We had bunk beds, a kitchen area with stove to cook our meal, a little table and bench where we could eat our meal and most importantly HEATING to dry out our clothes - we couldn't have been happier even if we were staying at the Ritz!!!

The Ritz !!!

I love this picture taken by one of the guys it really sums up the beautiful evening (a total contrast to last night)