Arctic 4x4 Rally - Day 4

Today was a relatively easy day, only 400 miles driving and a 4km walk in the woods.  Today is the aniversary of the birth of Ernest Shackleton, one of Britain;s greatest ever explorers and it is strange that the thought that was going through my head all day was that we may be the last generation who can exploit the technical achievements of the 20th century to travel relatively easily to remote places and experience their beauty and harshness in relative comfort.  That is a sad thought because to do the trip we have done today has been an amazing experience.

N Norway in winter is a wild rugged place, but one that is almost painfully beautiful.  Vista after vista drew gasps of amazement at what nature could produce, all topped off with a perfect icing sugar finish.

I've not gone all poetic, don't worry, but if you get the chance, come up here and experience it yourself.  The cold is a force on it's own, today we experienced -38C and with a 10mph breeze it was so penetrating in a way that is difficult to explain.

We passed through an area still inhabited by the Sami people who herd the Reindeer.  To say they are a tough, resourceful group is understatement on a grand scale.  How they survived without the modern additions of electrcity, vehicles and oil is beyond my understanding.

Morning mist rising over a Fjord

The Geo-point must be here somewhere and we've
walked 2km so we will jolly well find it!

How about that for the open (and icy) road - 600km like this!

Tomorrow the rally gets tough and technical again so we shall have to see haw it pans out.  Thanks to Stein for his help today.

Little house by the Fjord

Don't forget we are still collecting funds for the Up and under foundation, you can donate at www.justgiving.com/upandunderfoundation.  and I am on http://www.redshiftradio.co.uk/ at 8.00pm uk time, really I am tonight.

Where are we?  http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0SauyE7BAsX1dRyq8q7qchfjI9CdKcaci