Tuesday 2nd August - Eqi Lodge: Trek to the ice sheet

 After dinner, those of us booked into the following day's ice sheet trek were asked to meet at the cafe for a safety briefing and I was surprised (although not disappointed) to see that it was just myself and a charming German couple (my 'age-mates' as they would say in Nigeria), Frank and Catharina (left, below).  The main message from our Greenlandic guide Jens (right, below) was good shoes, and to be ready to leave for about 9.00am.  The trek to and from the ice sheet would be about 20km and take 8-10 hours, depending on how long we spent on the ice sheet itself. 

The trail follows the route of Arctic Explorer Paul-Emile Victor who used Camp Eqi as the base camp for 6 years of expeditions into the Greenland interior from 1949-1953. Using track vehicles (i.e. with tracks instead of wheels, like tanks), the path is well marked and, although it includes 1,000 metres of vertical ascent, is rarely steep except in one place. Less mentioned (but more interesting for a geographer like myself), Camp Eqi was actually established by Alfred Wegener in 1930, father of the theory of Continental Drift and therefore Plate Tectonics. Wegener never returned from this, his third Greenland expedition, dying in November 1930 when bringing food to researchers in the middle of the ice cap.

Anyway - back to the walk. We started up behind the lodge, passing the lake which supplies its water, and across the tundra where we came across several Arctic hares, brightly coloured stones, and stunning views of the wilderness.  NOTE I have my friends Frank and Catharina to thank for several of these photos. To make my camera more accessible I popped it in my back pocket.. and then sat down on a rock when we had a break. Although not badly damaged, I put it somewhere safer for most of our trip up...

(Left) stone brightly coloured by iron deposits with lodge in background, (centre) one of several Arctic hares in typical pose (clearly not many hunters around here), (right) mid-morning break - quite likely to be scene of phone damage... 

Fun fact: there are no large mammals around Camp Eqi as the area is effectively a nunatak, almost like a peninsular, cut off from other areas of land by ice cap and water.

The final ascent to the ice sheet is a steep slope where Victor had built a pulley system to get his vehicles and supplies onto the ice sheet. I was particularly grateful for the walking poles up the steep slope, which before long opened out onto a plain or plateau of moraine which we soon discovered was underlaid by ice: we were on the ice sheet.

(Left), at the top of the steep ascent, 9km in. (Right) the edge of the ice sheet.

(Centre) meanders forming in the moraines on the surface of the ice sheet

And some general views as we made our way a short distance across the ice sheet, looking out for patches of snow (which might hide crevasses underneath) on the otherwise sturdy ice surface.

As I'd remembered from my trip to Iceland in 1985, during the day rivers will flow across the ice,  suddenly disappearing vertically downwards in huge moulins often plunging to the base of the ice sheet. I always found these a bit spooky... This was the closest that my courage allowed me to get.  At night, when it gets cold, these often freeze leaving crystal, clear, still glass-like pools on the surface. 

Coming down from the ice sheet surface, the extent of the moraine fields became clear. Although not as picturesque as the ice, these huge expanses of material transported for hundreds of miles by nature's bulldozer, ice, were more surprising to me, particularly since they appeared so high up. However in fact, the ice sheet climbs another 2,000 metres before it's summit near the centre of the island. 

The moraine fields are littered with rocks of every shape, size and colour that you can think of. Unlike rivers which 'grade' their material by size and can rarely transport large boulders any significant distance, glaciers can pick up and move all sizes of rocks far from where they were found. In English, these erratics (rocks that do not match the geology of the area they are found in) are used as evidence of glacial activity. Catharina, who is a teacher trainer with some specialism in geology (amongst a huge variety of other subjects) told me that the German word for erratic is 'findlinge' i.e. foundling or orphan. Rocks that can't find their parents. I loved that!

(Left) a huge terminal moraine left by a retreating glacier, (centre and right) a couple of examples of the multi-coloured findlinger that we found metres apart in the moraine field. 

Another fun fact: underneath the island, Greenland has almost a circle of coastal mountains. When the ice melts, it's likely that a huge lake or canyon will develop in the centre of the island.

Making our way back, we came across Paul-Emile Victor's pulley system that we'd missed on the way up. The position also gave us magnificent views back across our route. 

We took a slightly different route on the 10km back to the lodge.

And all thought we deserved a cool Greenlandic beer on our return as did the insects and this (fully grown) Arctic Fox. Eqi foxes are as brazen as London foxes! This picture from Catharina as I wasn't so excited at seeing foxes.. after all I see one at least every day on my cycle in to work in London....

If anyone's reading this and contemplating a trip to Eqi, make sure you stay the two nights and do the ice sheet hike. A real highlight of the stay!

Wednesday 3rd August - Eqi: new friends and final day

Frank and Catharina kindly invited me to join them for dinner which made it a far more enjoyable experience. Travelling solo is fun and liberating however every now and then it's nice to chat. Greenland (slightly surprisingly) is not really a destination for independent travellers with everyone I came across travelling either as couples or families and less inclined to welcome random strangers such as myself. It was wonderful to have an opportunity to practice my German as well as find out about life in the former East Germany, their travels across the world as well as some good tips on how to improve balance in old age (apparently more elderly people die from falling down than cancer...).  Wonderful people!

Frank and Catharina also invited me to join them on a trek to the moraine at the edge of the glacier on our final morning. This was a fantastic opportunity as the alternative was to join the crowd of about 20 people that was going with the guide from the Lodge. Leaving about 20 minutes before the main group, we hot-footed it the 5km or so across to the moraines and spent a good hour in the sunshine, just 750 metres from the front of the glacier watching and listening as it continued to calve away.

(Left) final selfie with Eqi Glacier, (centre) listening to the glacier (having taken off my net to be more photogenic and immediately having to swat away the little blighters) and (right) Frank and Catharina get their final shots of Eqi.

Under strict instructions to be back at the Lodge by 2:30pm in order to catch the boat back to Ilulissat, we arrived back at about 2:00pm in time to eat our packed lunch and then muster down below at the safety point (with tsunami lookouts in place) in order to embark on our ride back to Ilulissat. Watch the short video and see if you can spot the boat.. It really never seemed to be that far away when we were on it!

Back in Ilulissat, a minibus deposited us back at the Disko Line office that we'd left just two days earlier, and I made my way back to the Hotel Hvide Falk, ready for a relaxing evening before a leisurely breakfast before my 8:45am transfer to the airport for my 10:00am flight back to Kangerlussuaq... 

As I checked in, the young man mentioned about my transfer and I said (being pleased that they had it on record), "Yes, yes that's fine."  He remonstrated apologetically with me and handed me a scrap of paper which informed me that my civilised 10am flight had been brought forward THREE hours to 7:00am meaning a 5:30am transfer and no breakfast... However if that's the worst that Air Greenland was going to throw at me, I was very lucky!

Thursday 4th August - Back at Kangerlussuaq and trip to Point 660

So instead of arriving at 11:00am with only an hour to wait until my pre-booked 1pm tour to Point 660, at the edge to the ice sheet, I arrived at 8:00am with a good four hours to kill. I must confess that, having spent a fantastic day up on the ice just two days previously, there was a temptation to let this trip slide. However by the time 1pm arrived, I had already spent a few hours at the airport/hotel where the main excitement is waiting for the Copenhagen flight to land.. which it finally did... on the 3rd attempt.

I say airport/hotel as Hotel Kangerlussuaq is IN the airport. The reception is upstairs from the check-in area, and the hotel cafeteria provides the only refreshment for the airport. You'd be hard pressed to distinguish between a view from a hotel room and the departure lounge (see below). Although I wasn't able to check-in immediately, as a paying guest of the hotel I was able to use the exclusive hotel bar as I waited, which it turned out was not long, as my room was ready before 11:00am. Having settled in (and watched a farmer pull the guts out of a recently slaughtered cow on DR1's daytime TV slot - Denmark's equivalent of BBC1), I had a quick nap in the very comfortable room, before heading downstairs to meet the tour.

(Left) Every resource in the airport is lined up to meet the Copenhagen flight.. which we hear pass over not once, but twice before a (centre) successful landing on the 3rd attempt in the fog. If the planes can't land at Kangerlussuaq, the only choice is Rekjavik (Iceland) or, more commonly, four hours all the way back to Copenhagen as there are no other suitable airports in Greenland. Now THAT would be a painful start to the holiday.

The first two photos are from the hotel bar. The third (right) is from my hotel room (no zoom).

Muster point for the Point 660 tour is 'outside the airport' and I was slightly dismayed to see not one but two large vehicles, which were best described as lorries with boxes on the back, pull up and load up about 60 passengers. We boarded (with no apparent check on who'd paid or not... ) and our driver introduced himself over the intercom. Soren had been a bus driver in Denmark but still needed to earn money so decided to become a bus driver in Greenland.

We stopped at a couple of points along the way to see the most northerly golf course in the world (Sondie Golf Course - this NY Times review is somewhat overrated; the course is described in the tour guide as 'makeshift' which would be more accurate), a miniature forest planted by an enthusiastic Dane who failed to understand the extremely short Greenlandic growing season, and a lake where it was hoped musk-ox might be spotted. No such luck. I was more interested in the grading machines used to sort the sediment of the glacial outwash river for use on the roads either repairing (larger gravel) or ice-treating (fine sand - it's too cold for salt to work).

(Left) Grading machines close to the Sondie Golf Course, (centre) a stop for tea by the lake and (right) views from the nearby hill)

The buses reached Point 660 after about 90 minutes and all passengers disembarked. Hiding amongst the moraines was an old digger, left in 2001 when VW was building an Audi test track on the ice sheet. Puts the earth-moving capabilities of JCBs compared to glaciers into nice contrast, I thought!  A small pond also heralded a surprising proliferation of wildflowers, just next to the ice sheet.

Once out, the second bus driver, a long haired, chain-smoking chap, then corralled the visitors onto the, by now pretty wet and bitingly cold, moraine for the briefing about the ice sheet. The briefing seemed to run to: follow me and don't wander out of sight. Not what I would have expected for a tour on a slippery ice sheet potentially littered with crevasses. The path there was quite steep and very well used so I was pleased I had brought my walking poles with me. Many of the visitors looked more like cruise ship passengers, and not well equipped for such terrain. 

Between the weather, the size of the group, the nonchalant attitude of the 'guide' and the difficulty with which several people were attempting to negotiate the moraine and ice sheet, I made my way quickly back to the bus and kept myself warm with my Audible book and a stashed energy bar. It was quite disappointing. 

The nadir was having seen a fresh fag-end dropped onto the pristine ice. There was only one person that I could see smoking on the two buses. 

I never did know how much I paid for each part of my adventure (but it was A LOT), however I can't imagine this particular trip was really worth it. There are much better ways to experience the ice sheet.

Friday 5th August - Adventure in the wilderness with Jens-Pavia - Day 1

In May 2022 I received the disappointing news that my 3 day, 2 night wilderness camping and kayaking tour, the final hurrah of the holiday, had been cancelled, possibly due to lack of numbers (minimum 6, maximum 12). The immediate alternative was a day tour from Kangerlussuaq, meaning an extra two nights in Kangerlussuaq. As you will have picked up from previous pictures, Kangerlussuaq is a little short in the entertainment stakes and I simply couldn't bear the thought of ending my holiday there. However the wonderful Charlotte at Travelbee came up with an alternative:

"So I’ve spoken with my favourite guide in the area and he can offer you a private hiking tour into the wilderness with camping.  Jens-Pavia is an incredible guide and you would learn more about his life as a wilderness guide and hunter and stay with him in simple camp (outside toilets and cooking). It is true wilderness and one of the highlights from when I went on my Greenland trip."

This sounded incredible and I leapt at the chance. There was a small extra added to the bill, but when the total bill is this big (whatever you are thinking, double or triple it), there was no way that I was going to compromise on a relatively small extra. 

BEST. DECISION. EVER.

I was due to meet Jen-Pavia at the hotel reception at 8:00am, and, bang on 8:00am, as I approached from the rooms corridor, a tall bearded man carrying a huge rucksack walked up the stairs from the airport.  "Jens?" I asked. "Jens-Pavia," (he corrected me - Jens is a common name, particularly it appears, amongst Greenlandic guides). "Are you Cicely?".

The best picture I could find on the internet of Jens-Pavia. Although his former company, Greenland Outdoors, has a website, the outdoors is clearly far more important to Jens-Pavia than the internet and social media. He's only just acquired a smartphone (like my previous one - donated second hand by a friend that couldn't believe the stone-age technology he was using).

After some brief introductions and discussions about what I needed to bring, we went to meet our transport outside the hotel. Jens-Pavia's main mode of transport is foot (or dog-sleigh in the winter) so he outsources vehicle transfers to Albatros Arctic Circle, which arrived 100% punctually both for the departure and our return 2 days' later. 

We were a little surprised that our transport for the two of us was one of the huge lorries used to for the previous day's icecap tour (on return we were picked up by the chief executive of the company in his SUV - whoever's available!), however 30 minutes later or so we said goodbye at the end of a dirt road in the middle of the tundra.

The 'before' photo at the drop-off point .. but you could use it for the 'after' photo as well

From there, we started on our our 14km hike to the campsite which Jens-Pavia had prepared the previous day. Although not living up to Kangerlussuaq's 'Miami of the North' nickname, the weather was perfectly fine for trekking. A very light rain, quite a stiff breeze and not too cold.

Jens-Pavia is the ideal guide and companion, walking at a speed which seems perfect (without having to ask) and easy to chat to, whether about his childhood in Nuuk or how to sex a musk ox skull (it's all to do with the head-butt padding!) and everything in between including our shared lactose intolerance and the politics of hunting and colonialism. We quickly settled into a comfortable rhythm, chatting or simply walking, stopping to look at animal remains and working out if they had died from hunting or natural causes (all depends on the distribution of the bones), learning (in my case) to distinguish musk oxen from rocks (not that easy...), with short breaks for a snack or to ditch clothing as it got warmer.

(Left) a mature female musk ox skull, (centre) a young male skull. The head padding was insufficiently developed to protect from the violent head-butting that would be required for a mature animal. (Right) With the full skeleton in place, the male musk-ox would have died in this position and not from hunters who would have selected the meatiest parts to transport. Moving a 1 tonne whole musk ox is not an easy task.

 Views of the wilderness we trekked across, with our first sighting of musk oxen (right) and Jens-Pavia describing the geography on one of our breaks, with an intimate knowledge of every hill, lake and river.

After about 4 hours, the tents came into view, with Jens-Pavia admitting some relief that they hadn't been blown away in the night. He'd discovered just days earlier, that his usual camping spot was being used by a group training about 10 of tomorrow's Greenlandic wilderness guides so he had had to search for an alternative. Finding a dry and flat patch, with a view and access to a good water source takes some doing, so we were camped at the top of a ridge about 3km further than the original site, which was a little breezy but nonetheless very toasty once inside the tent.

Once we'd dropped off our rucksacks, we took a quick walk to the top of nearby hill to survey our surroundings before a welcome pre-dinner nap.

(Left) a view of my tent looking back towards Kangerlussuaq with the lake that would be our source of water on the left, which (like most of my accommodations in Greenland), had a great view of the ice, in this case the ice sheet. (Right) Jens-Pavia preparing our delicious dinner of fresh musk-ox stewed with dried vegetables and coconut in a sheltered hollow a little distance from the tents.

From his spot in a lee a little way from the tents, Jens-Pavia rustled up a delicious stew of fresh, and extremely tender, musk-ox in a creamy coconut sauce using firewood from the dwarf willow that we'd picked up along the way in a very efficient wood burning camping stove. Some years ago Jens-Pavia discovered Maggi's coconut milk powder in a store close to his in-laws in Denmark., An extremely versatile ingredient, particularly given the increasing incidence of lactose-intolerance, he returns to the store every time he's in Denmark to stock up as it's difficult to find in Greenland or (his current residence) of Norway. I've discovered that it's in UK supermarkets (in the 'World Foods section) and will be adding it to the weekly shopping list! 

I popped down to the lake to fill the water bottles, and we finished dinner off with a cup of freshly brewed tea and energy bars, hordes of which I'd brought from the UK and not yet used, before Jens-Pavia did the washing up sparingly using the remaining hot water.

Knowing that it was pretty chilly that night, I snuggled into the beautifully warm and cocoon-line sleeping bag provided in the tint dressed up in my thermal long underwear and T-shirt, only to have to discard the leggings due to being too hot. It's amazing how a lightweight tent and sleeping bag can provide so much warmth.. I soon drifted off to sleep lulled this time not by the calving glacier, but the wind against the tent.

 

Saturday 6th August - Musk oxen, caribou, eagles and geese with Jens-Pavia - Day 2

The wind had died down to a whisper during the night, and when nature called early the next morning, I unfolded myself from the tent and was greeted by clear blue skies reflecting into the lake and illuminating the ice sheet in the distance. Perfect!

We had an early breakfast of tea and (for me) hot muesli served with the ever-versatile coconut milk powder, and discussed the plans for the day which involved a hike with the main objectives of seeing wildlife and views (spoiler alert: tick! tick!).  

(Left) Early morning view from the tent across to the ice cap.

Jens-Pavia packed his 'day sack' (actually still his main ruck sack) with lunch, waterproofs (unlikely though the morning's weather made them), two First Aid kits and his Polar Bear Spray. Like pepper spray.. but for polar bears, which are extremely rare in this part of Greenland. Jens-Pavia had never seen one in his life. I was pleased to hear this given that you need to be about 2 metres away to effectively deploy the spray (which is then however, highly effective).  

Jens-Pavia showed me where the key items were in his rucksack, including a satellite phone, in case I needed to find them. He explained how he sends a daily midday message to someone at base with plans and location. If the message doesn't come through, he carries a location tracker. Precautions which were not at all necessary in our circumstances but certainly makes one feel confident.

As we started on our walk, Jens-Pavia talked about his experiences hunting in the area, in summer and winter and his experience with his Greenland Dogs (a pure bred dog, not to be confused with huskies). An extremely hardy breed, he talked about the temperaments of the different dogs which affected their position in the harness, and how young dogs are introduced to the team. Clearly a great lover of dogs, he also explained the need to punish animals when they went off track: on one occasion, two of his less mature dogs decided to go off chasing hares, putting the sleigh and the team in danger. Returning to Jens-Pavia looking pleased with themselves, he was clearly sad when he talked about the lesson that the dogs needed to learn that this was NOT something they should be proud of. However the dogs are fast learners, and when hares were spotted a couple of weeks later, neither dog flinched but continued with their work pulling the sled.  

A beautiful blue sky greets the start of our walk (centre) as does a small herd of musk oxen.

Very soon we spotted our first musk oxen of the day - and took a break to sit down and watch them in the distance. I haven't included any pictures because my phone's zoom is poor however more importantly, we ended up seeing so many musk oxen during the day (we estimated 50-100) I can focus on the better ones. Here are a couple of photos and videos.

Jens-Pavia was concerned about the winter survival prospects the tiny musk ox calf in the centre that had clearly been born late in the season (video below). The bumps at the top of the hill on the right are a herd of musk oxen which hot-footed it up there when they saw us coming. Their strategy is to go to higher ground when they sense danger and it's really surprising how nimble these huge animals can be when they want to be!

We also spotted several caribou / reindeer (same thing), one of which kindly posed for me (centre) and another which had lost an antler (right). Jens-Pavia explained that they lose their antlers every year after the rutting season, if they hadn't already lost them in fights. Given the size of some antlers, its amazing how quickly they can grow.

Whilst easily spooked, the wildlife does not appear to be particularly wary of people. The caribou seem to stand still for quite some time and look at you to work out if you're a threat or not, before gracefully trotting off, making them fairly easy prey for hunters. 

Hunting is a livelihood for many in the area and although rifles are easily bought (without any checks) in a local supermarket, there are quotas and hunters must have licenses. There are regulations against motorised hunting, in particular using 4WD vehicles, due to the volumes of animals that can be killed and the damage that the vehicles cause to the environment, however it appears that enforcement is pretty lax which is clear from the numerous websites of organisations that offer trophy-hunting in Greenland advertising 4WD transfers of hunters and their bounty to and from their campsites.

This is frustrating for traditional hunters who rely on musk oxen for food and income: both musk oxen and caribou are extremely heavy animals. Jens-Pavia described how the numbers of animals killed should be limited to what a hunter can carry, although this means something else in Greenland where it's not uncommon for (even!) women to carry caribou carcasses distances of several kilometres on their back. I haven't found a single picture on Google where a trophy hunter is carrying (rather than sitting proudly over) an animal.  Still, at over $10,000 - $15,000 a pop for trophy hunting, I can see that it could bring an important source of income to an otherwise struggling community. During our 3 days, we didn't see any other people (hunters or otherwise) but we did see a lot of wildlife.

Towards lunchtime, we made our way to the top of one of the highest hills in the area and were greeted with a stunning view of lakes and rivers coming from the ice sheet on one side and flowing down through the tundra on the other.  Here's a link to a 360 video that I took. 

We were having a large, and leisurely lunch and chatting about his former career as a navigator for the Royal Arctic Line (exclusive sea freight operator in Greenland) and subsequently as an officer in Greenland's Ice Patrol, when Jens-Pavia spotted two Greenland Eagles riding the thermals and circling above us. I lay back and just watched the pair soaring for about five minutes - a magnificent sight. This picture is from the internet but imagine two of these, gliding through a crystal blue sky above your head.

Shortly afterwards, we started our way back and were walking past a lake when we saw a sudden flurry of activity at the lakeside and noticed a flock of tiny ducklings fleeing into the water. Behind us we heard an agitated squawking as the mother duck, flapping her wings wildly, wheelbarrowed her way behind us in a most peculiar fashion, quacking loudly. This continued in the opposite direction to where her ducklings were as she made her way into the lake and then took a zig-zag course out to her ducklings, still wildly rotating her wings, like one of those toy ducks, instead of flying. Jens-Pavia explained that this was a display to distract us (the threat) from her ducklings and the odd flapping was to appear as though she was injured, making her a better target for a predator than her ducklings. I found this video on line which shows what I mean, something I've never seen before in the UK. That's mothering for you!

We returned at about 5pm, as the weather started getting noticeably cooler and cloudier however less windy than the previous night so we were able to bring the 'kitchen' closer to the tents. Jens-Pavia prepared another scrumptious dinner of musk oxen, whilst I headed to the lake for water for our evening drink of cocoa and for the washing up, as light rain started falling. By the time we'd made it into our tents, the wind had got up again. That night I was lulled to sleep by the pattering of rain on the tent. I made a short recording but I can't work out how to add it to the blog so you'll just have to imagine.

Monday 8th August - Final Greenland Days

 "When you are with a local guide knowing the hinterland like the back of his hand, everything becomes possible. It is like getting the keys to open a new bright world, getting the last piece of a puzzle and suddenly have the chance to see the whole scene for the first time. Clear and beautiful vision of a wild world.... We enter its secrets."  Emilie, France

This is a reference taken from Jens-Pavia's website, which expresses my feelings at the end of the expedition so much more eloquently than I could.  

As expected, we woke up to some of the worst weather of the trip so decided to shelve the hike to a local mountain, and instead start the 14km trek back to the road. Jens-Pavia was expecting another group in a few days, so packed up his tent and equipment and stowed it in my tent so that we didn't need to carry everything back down. 

After breakfast, we set off in the murk (left). I seriously couldn't tell you which direction we were going, but the fog was no problem whatsoever for Jens-Pavia. So much so that he was able to retrace our steps and find the glove that I had dropped on the way up. He'd mentioned that we should keep an eye out for it, but I never for a moment expected us to find it so I was delighted when he held it up in front of me, next to the female musk-ox head that we'd passed two days' earlier. 

During the night I'd picked up a bit of a cold and, about 5km later, my head was beginning to feel decidedly woozy so I suggested that we just carry on rather than stopping for lunch as I was concerned about getting started again. Having said that, I remembered that I had some aspirin and took three which cleared my head considerably so the final part of the journey became enjoyable again, rather than the focus on putting one foot in front of the other which it had threatened to become. 

We approached a long lake and Jens-Pavia showed me ruins of Inuit summer camps, many of which he himself had discovered during his expeditions. Residing by the sea during the winter where there's a good supply of whale, seals and fish, Inuit families would go inland over summer to hunt for musk ox and reindeer for meat and skins. A summer house would typically consist of a circle of large stones which, depending on the success of the hunts, would become covered by roofs of skin.  Feeling a bit under the weather, I didn't take a picture, but here's one (right) from Wikipedia in the same region. 

Missing the hill hike and lunch meant that we made good time and were at the meeting point next to some buildings at the end of the lake by 2pm. Looking like quite charming, but small summer houses, I learned that few people were able to get permission to stay in the buildings as the lake was Kangerlussuaq's source of water and authorities were keen to avoid any contamination by sewage. 

Mobile reception is actually not too bad in the area, particularly if you're on top of the hill, and Jens-Pavia had been keeping in touch with the Albatros team to bring our pick-up forward from 5pm to 2pm.  On our short wait for the vehicle to arrive, we ate our remaining energy bars and discussed the pros and cons of using Birds Custard as a camping ingredient, and the remarkable powers of Lemsip Max to overcome a fluey feeling. I promised I'd try and send some links. 

The transport arrived and we returned to the hotel via Jens-Pavia's container where I had stashed the items from my rucksack I hadn't needed. I invited Jens Pavia to a beer and for the first time, conversation became a bit stilted. Complete strangers only two days previously, we'd got to know each other quite well but were on winding back down to becoming complete strangers again.

As we said goodbye, I got the feeling that my wonderful adventure was finally over. It's true that I still had 2 days to get back to London via Copenhagen, however that was full of planes, airports and trains. I took advantage of the great Greenlandic showers to wash off the previous 3 days' toil and went down to a disappointing dinner in the cafeteria which had been cleaned out of food as several Nuuk planes had been cancelled. I overheard one couple who'd just arrived from Copenhagen being told that their onward flight to Ilulissat had been delayed from 3pm that afternoon to 9am the following day. I hoped that they didn't have any excursions planned and gave thanks for everything that had made my own trip so perfect.

So long Greenland - it's been wonderful knowing you!