29 January 2006


A few nights ago I went for a run along the river. It was minus 30 degrees. The northern lights were faintly smeared across the sky. This is what I looked like by the time I came home...

24 January 2006


Here I am, attempting to dogsled. You will notice that the dogs are few, and they are pretty disorganized. I have some way to go with my dogsledding skills.

20 January 2006




17 January 2006

It's warm this afternoon. It's only minus 20 degrees. This morning it was minus 30. And according to the forecast there's colder weather to come. At six o'clock this morning, the northern lights came out on show. Unfortunately I was sound asleep in bed at the time so I missed them.

15 January 2006

Day one at Muktuk Kennels has been a fabulous one. I went out on my first dogsledding expedition this morning. It snowed a little last night so we had fresh snow, and mushed for a couple of hours along the river. I asked Frank, the owner, how many dogs they have here and he said, "I don't know. A hundred and something. Maybe 105 or 108." They're all lovely, friendly, exuberant animals who seem to love to run - the ones I went out with today turned round and gave me reproachful looks whenever I put my foot on the brake pad. In the afternoon I helped feed them: chopped up horsemeat mixed with water to form a reddish slop. Just what you need after a hard day in the harness...

14 January 2006

Greetings from Vancouver airport. It's one o'clock in the morning UK time, I'm sitting in a dim cafe that smells of stale chips, and I still have four hours to go till my connecting flight for Whitehorse departs. Who ever said travel writing was glamorous?

12 January 2006

I'm just cramming the last few things in my bag because tomorrow morning I'll be off to the land of the huskies. I'll post again as soon as I can after I arrive...

05 January 2006

Aargh. Seasickness I was prepared for. I bought every kind of tablet, patch and acupressure wrist band that Boots had to offer. And, even when the ship was leaping about like a rollercoaster, I was right as rain. Now, however, I am home in the warm and safe environment of my own flat - and I have landsickness. The floor keeps lurching into unfamiliar inclines and my desk is pitching so badly that I keep grabbing my coffee cup to stop it from flying into the air. Oh well, it was worth it. The photo to the left is of some of my fellow crew members working aloft. I took the photo while clinging for dear life onto one of the yards of the opposite mast, my legs wobbling upon a very unstable rope as the ship buffeted about on the sea. It was a blast. (Read: shockingly scary.)

02 January 2006


Ahoy. (I have been discovering all sorts of new nautical terms this week.) Right now, I am not at sea, however, but in the not-so-steamy port of Las Palmas on Gran Canaria. Unfortunately, my inner ear has yet to realize that I am on land and I seem still to be pitching and rolling as I type. It is proving a fun and interesting week aboard the tall ship. I have climbed the rigging, set and stowed sails and pulled and eased all sorts of bits of rope that rather confusingly all look the same. I have learnt an astonishing number of new words, most of which have misleading spellings. I have seen dolphins frolicking in the ship´s wake, glinting phosphorescence, and even the rising sun, which was a very great novelty.