Arctic Voice Expedition Blog Number 1: June 17 2007
Expedition Leader Glenn Morris at Inuvik, North West Territories, Arctic Canada:
"We have just arrived at Inuvik, a small town north of the Arctic Circle. Inuvik lies on the mouth of Canada's longest river, the Mackenzie and is the starting point for our journey.
Vancouver is only a short flight away and it was here that we spent time buying the remaining food and equipment for the trip.
I have to admit I am beginning to have some doubts as to whether we will get such a vast amount of supplies into the kayaks, let alone paddle them 900 miles to Kugluktuk, which is to be our destination this year.
We have been advised by our contact in Inuvik to take a box of mothballs to act as a bear repellent - we asked how many we would need for three months, there was a pregnant pause and then our contact replied: "I don't know I've only been away for a weekend." We bought two boxes!
In Vancouver we met Doug and Theresa. Doug Simpson is the designer and mastermind behind the Feathercraft folding kayaks that we will be using on our trip.
We were able to spend time in the workshops seeing how the kayaks are made, so we are hoping if there is a problem with them, we'll be able to fix it.
In the evening we met for a meal and as the sun set behind the masts of the dozens of yachts in the Granville Island Marina we learnt from Doug that Canada is experiencing an economic boom as the tar sands of Alberta give up their oil to quench America's insatiable desire for energy.
The oil is extracted from the tar sands using natural gas - a relatively clean fuel. I am no scientist, but I would be surprised if there was not a very high environmental price to pay for the oil of Alberta.
A short distance north west of Inuvik lies Herschel Island. This is the island where the Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen, completed the first navigation of the Northwest Passage here in 1906.
Now, with warming temperatures, the houses of the Inuit inhabitants lean at crooked angles as they sink into the melting permafrost.
For some, this is good news as it will be easier to drill for more oil.
I can't help but wonder if houses in the UK were sinking into the ground and their occupants were on the verge of becoming homeless, would we still be so desperate to open even more oil fields and treat climate change with such complacency."
Listen to Glenn Morris' audio clips
Arctic Voice Expedition Blog Number 2: June 21 2007
Expedition Leader Glenn Morris from The Mackenzie Delta:
"Hello this is Glenn and this is the Arctic Voice report on 21 June. Local time in the Arctic is 8pm. Our position is 68 degrees 57 minutes north, 134 degrees 36 minutes west.
We're currently camped on the north side of the Mackenzie Delta and we're on route to Tuktoyaktuk. There's very hot sun at the moment and millions of mosquitoes around.
We've just had something to eat and we're making reasonable progress. We're not as fit as we should be but we're getting there!
The GPS (Global Positioning System) says we've done 30 km today. It's dead calm no wind at all. We've avoided two campsites so far because of fresh bear prints, but this evening we're on quite a nice campsite.
A couple of days ago we saw the video link-up between Tonbridge Grammar School in Kent and Samuel Hearne Secondary School in Inuvik. There were a few teething problems but once it got underway it was fantastic fun and all the students enjoyed themselves. I understand now that some are linked by email too, which is great.
We've made contact with the Inuvik coastguard today and they're monitoring our position, so that's fine.
We're finding a problem in locating water. We've only found one spot so far for water so that's tricky. We're travelling through very barren tundra at the moment and water is hard to come by. Anyway, I'll sign off for now."
Listen to Glenn Morris' audio clips
Arctic Voice Expedition Blog Number 3: June 25 2007
Expedition Leader Glenn Morris from Tuktoyaktuk:
"Hi! This is Glenn on 25 June, local time 7pm. We've arrived at Tuktoyaktuk and it's been very heavy going getting here.
We've had force 4 or 5 winds with waves about 4-foot high. We've been paddling straight into the wind so it's taken us a long time.
We've covered about 90 to 100 miles or so from Inuvik. Stephen has had major problems with his kayak. The skin of the frame has ripped off and so he nearly sank! This has created a problem for us and so we're going to have to do some sort of repair today.
We've spoken to Audrey Walker at the Mangilaluk school in Tuktoyaktuk and we're going to go along to the school and link-up (by Skype) with its twin school, Chiddingstone Primary School in the UK on Wednesday, all being well.
There's no salt water in the sea because there is so much water that pours out of the Mackenzie river that the sea water here is not even salty!
Other than that we're all pretty well - although all of us have raw and split fingers because of the wind and the cold water. We're hoping to get a shower tonight and a change of clothes."
Hello to all the children at Chiddingstone Primary - we hope to "see" you shortly!"
Listen to Glenn Morris' audio clips
Arctic Voice Expedition Blog Number 4: June 28 2007
Expedition Leader Glenn Morris from Tuktoyaktuk:
"This is Glenn with the Arctic Voice report. The date is 28 June, local time in Arctic Canada is 8pm. Our position is 69 38 north, 132 55 west.
Since my last report Richard has had a problem with his back and has decided to return to the UK. As we've had a problem with Stephen's kayak he will be using Richard's. Stephen and I are continuing with the expedition.
The coast here is very flat and there is still a lot of snow about. We've seen a lot of animals such as beavers and some lovely coast eagles and Arctic terns have been swooping over the kayaks as we've been going along.
It's been absolutely wonderful. There is a huge amount of driftwood that looks like dinosaur bones lining the coastline - there are hundreds or even thousands of trees all the way down the coastline.
We had a fantastic time in Tuktoyaktuk. We stayed with Maureen and James and visited the Mangilaluk school in Tuktoyaktuk and listened to the audio link up with one of its partner schools, Chiddingstone Primary in Kent. It was very successful. The children here had a great time.
In the Tuk area there are a lot of Pingos which are quite distinctive to this region to the Arctic. Pingos are formed by lakes freezing underneath the ground and as the ice expands it pushes the land up and it splits, so it looks a bit like a rock cake except that it's green and has all the ice underneath.
There are about 1400 Pingos in this area and we've seen a lot as we've been kayaking along. When we were in the school there was a poster saying: "Help Save Our Pingos!" There's a lot of damage being caused to them by quad bikes and skidoos tearing about all over them. That's quite sad.
When we were in Tuk we looked at an ice house which was very interesting. It was about 30 foot down a vertical ladder under the ground and went right under the permafrost so we were able to see right underneath the permafrost and literally stand right amongst it.
The icehouse has little rooms where the local people keep their food and meat in the summer as it stays frozen. Ironically in the winter it doesn't stay frozen as the snow cover insulates the ground and the earth's warmth starts to defrost the food. So strangely enough in the winter the food is taken out.
We spoke to an Invuialuit man here in Tuk who said it cost around $1500 (around £750) a month to heat the houses here. They meet this cost by taking American hunting parties out to hunt polar bears.
So these American trophy hunters come over here and spend between $15-$25,000 to kill a polar bear and that helps to pay for the heating fuel and oil to heat the houses here.
Of course in the past they wouldn't have done that as they would have hunted for their subsistence. One of these visitors was apparently so rich that when he ran out of cigarettes he chartered a plane for $2,000 just to go and get one packet of cigarettes for him.
In terms of kayaking we're not making very good progress as we're currently only around 15 miles north of Tuktoyaktuk because the wind is about force 5 and constantly in our faces.
It's incredibly hard going with heavy kayaks nose diving into the waves and getting soaked with freezing water every other wave.
We came out today and it was very, very cold and we've ground to a halt where we are now as there is ice everywhere. We can't move any further.
The day, however, was cheered up by the presence of beautiful white Beluga whales all around the kayaks and ivory gold coloured swans flying over the top of us as we paddled along.
Stephen and I are in quite good spirits although it seems as though there is still an awful lot of the trip ahead. But we're getting on with it and we're just eroding it a little bit at a time."
Listen to Glenn Morris' audio clips
Arctic Voice Expedition Blog Number 5: July 2 2007
Expedition Leader Glenn Morris:
"Hi this is Glenn on Monday 2 July. Local time is 10.40 pm. Our position is 69 degrees 45 minutes north, 131degrees 55 minutes west.
We have just got in after a hard slog. Douglas Moreton wrote a book called 'The Home of the Blizzard', this is 'The Home of the Force Five Wind in your Face- All the Time'! We've had ten days of this now.We're constantly paddling into winds, and there is quite a swell.
Today, when we left it seemed quite calm to start with but after about four or five miles the fog descended on us and we couldn't see where we were going at all and it was a bit disorientating.
It is very cold at the moment, just a few degrees above freezing and every now and again we get soaked as the water comes over the front of the kayaks. But anyway we are in good spirits.
We are camped now near a big Pingo, on what looks like a pre-historic landscape. Lots of turf and driftwood lying around and very, very flat.
We had a job getting in because there's a huge expanse of mud flats and the tide was going out and as fast as we could get in we were losing depth very, very quickly. We had to carry the kayaks in a long, long way.
We saw a Beluga whale this morning, right near the kayaks. A big white Beluga and we've seen a couple of harp seals and lots of birds. The ivory gulls have a really interesting call - they go 'Ha ha' as if to mock our progress! But anyway, I'll sign off, all is well."
Listen to Glenn Morris' audio clips
Arctic Voice Expedition Blog Number 6: July 6 2007
Expedition member Stephen Doughty:
"Hi, it's Stephen here with the latest Arctic Voice blog entry. Here we are at 70 degrees 7 minutes north, 130 degrees forty minutes west.
We're just to the west of Novak point at the top end of the Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula just about to go into Russell Inlet, and it is 2310 local time.
A lot has happened since we last reported in. We've come through Atkinson, the old DEWline station, where we encountered quite a lot of interesting activity. (Note: The DEWline -- Distant Early Warning line -- was a series of radar stations built above the Arctic Circle during the early years of the Cold War.)
They are refurbishing the land, removing all the contaminated soil and asbestos. The soil actually is boxed up and taken by barge all the way down the Mackenzie River to be burnt in Edmonton. It's got a lot of diesel oil in it and the DEWline station will be razed to the ground, nothing more to be seen.
In the deep water harbour that's there we saw the drilling rig which is being serviced and brought ready for drilling in the Mackenzie Delta for gas, which will happen in the not too distant future.
There's a lot of activity round there, an awful lot of air activity. We met a chap called Obe on the beach, an Inuit man, and he said it's been terribly windy for the last three seasons, and we've certainly experienced very strong Northerly winds.
It's an amazing landscape. The sky and the sea seem to merge into each other, and the land sort of mirages in between the two. You're never quite certain what you're looking at until you're almost upon it.
The light bends everything.
We met a very large ice margin, which actually looks almost like a polar ice cap, but managed to pick our way through the pack ice to our present position, which is a delightful spot just up from a sandy beach, arctic meadow and caribou - there's a huge great big herd of caribou about a mile away... (telephone signal ends at this point)"
Listen to Stephen Doughty's audio clips
Arctic Voice Expedition Blog Number 7: July 11 2007
Expedition leader Glenn Morris:
"Hi this is Glenn's Arctic Voice report on 11 July - local time in Tuktoyaktuk is 7pm. The last couple of days have proved very problematic for us.
We got about 100 miles or so from Tuktoyaktuk and then turned south around Cape Dalhousie, down into Liverpool Bay. We had some rough seas part of the time but the Feathercraft K1 Kayaks were just fantastic.
We were heavily loaded but they seemed to cope with everything that came at us. We got down into Liverpool Bay and then planned the crossing, which is only 12 miles and we could see the coast quite easily the other side.
The problem was after about 4 miles we got into some ice and the conditions were such that first of all we thought we would get through the ice, but it was like a massive maze and we started going from straight forwards to sideways to backwards and then we ended up realising that there were these huge lumps of pack ice were closing around us.
And little entrances that we went through we couldn't return back out of them. So we decided to err on the side of safety and we managed to get back out, we then realised that we weren't going to be able to cross Liverpool Bay, it was going to be a problem.
We then spent a day or so on the coast there, wondering what to do because it meant pretty much that our forward journey was thwarted.
We could have taken a detour of around 100 miles down into Liverpool Bay but it would have eaten into our food supplies to the extent where we possibly wouldn't have made it to Paulatuk.
We then radioed in and got some ice checks and we spoke to a very kind guy called Jim Guthrie from Kulluk Arctic Services and he said that due to climatic change and everything else they'd had some really bizarre winds this year, massive, massive winds that had pushed the ice onto the east facing coastline.
This effectively made our journey to Paulatuk impossible really unless there was a massive wind change. So, Jim very kindly agreed, along with Jackie Jacobson, to fly us back.
Ironically we were in one of the Kulluk Arctic Services helicopters owned by Shell International! And we were flown back to Tuk with all our equipment and kayaks and they fed us well.
We stopped at the oil rig on the way - it was a bit like a scene from the film "Apocalypse Now" because it was all so strange and surreal landing on this big oil rig, with parties going and these huge guys with their bandanas and tattoos - all big huge oil workers and there we were - all emaciated! They gave us loads of food anyway!
So we're back in Tuktoyaktuk and our plan now is to go to Paulatuk and our transport there is booked. What we're going to do is continue the journey from Paulatuk to Coppermine or Kugluktuk and hopefully finish off the bit we've missed out if you like next year or the year after.
But we're still going onwards and still with the plan. I'd like to say hello to all the friends in Powys - they asked me to say hello so hope all is well and the weather is good down there.
The next blog should be next Monday by which time we'll be in Paulatuk and we'll know what the ice conditions are there. The only concern we've got is that Kugluktuk itself at the moment is ice-bound and we're hoping it's all going to break up by the time we get there. We think it will. Anyway love to everyone and all the families at home."
Listen to Glenn Morris' audio clips
Arctic Voice Expedition Blog Number 8: July 16 2007
Expedition leader Glenn Morris:
"Hot sun in Paulatuk!
Hi this is Glenn with the Arctic Voice report. It's Monday and we're still in Paulatuk! We've got a few things to mention; we haven't moved from Paulatuk, we're waiting for our equipment to arrive. We hope to head out on the 18 and head off to Kugluktuk then.
We've been talking to a scientist in Tuktoyaktuk and he's telling us that in that area a lot of the issues of climate change are being masked or disguised by some of the other environmental impacts and things that are happening particularly things like the Mackenzie pipeline that is meant to be going in and some of the stuff that is going on there.
I think the Inuvialuit are very concerned about jobs and I think they believe that the jobs will be good and some of these considerations are outweighing the environmental impacts that are likely to be brought on the area.
What seems to be happening is that he's suggesting that the effect on the area caused by planes and motors and everything else on the environment is sort of masking what one might see as being the effects of climate change.
We've spoken to a lot of people and it appears that as one travels east towards the eastern Arctic, people there are much more conscious of climate change and we're not finding that so much here. We're hearing about a loss of self esteem of a lot of the people of the Arctic, we'll deal with that in a bit more detail in our next reports.
Paulatuk itself is a beautiful little bay. We saw some boats leave a few days ago, they're off whaling and hunting for Beluga whales out in the camps.
We've been talking to a lot of people here and we're hearing about a lot of social and economic issues that are leading us to some much more interesting insights about the Arctic than perhaps we thought when we left to come. More about that later.
Sleep is difficult, it's quite late now, I think it's about half past 10 at night. Twenty four hour sunlight here so sleep is a bit difficult and it's quite hot. The sun is hot, in fact most of the Inuvialuit we've just been talking to particularly some of the elders have told us this is the hottest year they ever remember.
They told us that usually 8-10 degrees was quite common and this year we've had 35 degrees so I can understand why they are concerned! A lot of them are very concerned about this.
The wind has been very unusual, we've got a very strong wind now as I look out to sea, force 4 or 5 and that in itself was the thing that stopped our progress a few weeks ago when we hit the ice. Because the wind is unusual at this time of year it had pushed the ice back into Liverpool Bay.
Anyway, I'll sign off and our next report hopefully will be this coming Thursday. Hello to everyone and love to all the families."
Listen to Glenn Morris' audio clips
Arctic Voice Expedition Blog Number 9: July 23 2007
Expedition leader Glenn Morris:
"This is Glenn, and this is the Arctic Voice report on Monday 23 July. Local time up here is about seven o'clock in the evening.
Stephen and I left Paulatuk some days ago now. We had a superb first run. We made about 30 or so nautical miles on the first day but we've been hit by a storm, and we've been basically tent bound now for about seventy-two hours or so.
The wind picked up, when we came out we landed on a surf beach, I suppose it was about force four and the waves were about two feet. Not too bad but you have to be careful in the heavily loaded kayaks. The kayaks have been brilliant.
We got the kayaks out and put them on the usual position on the beach above the upper tide lines. As the night progressed the winds increased, and probably increased to something like force eight.
I went out to check the kayaks in the middle of the night and they seemed okay, and then in the morning Stephen woke up and did the same thing and went out to check them and they weren't okay. The waves by that time had reached about 7 or 8 feet high and the wind was really howling and one of the kayaks got washed down the beach by about 20 yards, one paddle was missing and the other kayak was bobbing around, so it was all panic.
We got the kayaks out safely, the food was all stashed up on a cliff anyway so we were okay with that. I walked about half a mile down the coast and found my Lendal paddle, and that was undamaged so all's well that ends well.
Nature always has a lesson to teach you and we're learning all the time. In future I think we're going to take the kayaks even further up!
I don't know if I mentioned this in the previous blog, but we've talked to more than one Inuvialuit person who's told us that they're seeing birds and plants that they've never seen before up in this part of the Arctic, and I think that as the conditions change certain birds are finding that they can live further north and plants are beginning to migrate further north as well.
We didn't find out what type of birds and plants these are, but it would be interesting to know. We'll make some more enquiries and perhaps we'll also talk to certain botanists and scientists when we get back.
All is well at the moment. We've had a report from the coastguard and we're in Darnley Bay at the moment, hoping to go right round one of the big points tomorrow, but it's quite a committing paddle, there are a lot of cliffs there, and for 15 miles we can't get out, so we've got to be safe and make sure that when we leave, the sea state is such that we can cope with it.
It's calming down now, so we were thinking of leaving tonight, but we've decided to leave tomorrow morning. We're feeling in pretty good spirits, we've been held up in the tent for about seventy hours.
We both have the luxury of an I-pod and I'm listening to Harry Christophers and the Sixteen, with music from the Sistine chapel, which is beautiful music, and the purity of the human voice for me encapsulates the Arctic, which has a sort of purity and beauty about it.
Some news. Updates with the school. I made contact with some staff from the Angik school in Paulatuk. Russell Hancock (the school principal) I know is away at the moment, but when he's back all the guys in Paulatuk know what's going on so hopefully they'll be able to link up with their (twin school) Llanelwedd Primary School near Builth Wells (Wales). That's all happening, we did expect them to be on holiday so we hope they'll make that link sometime in September."
Listen to Glenn Morris' audio clips
Arctic Voice Expedition Blog 10: July 27 2007
Expedition member Stephen Doughty:
"Encounters of a Bear kind!
Hi, it's Stephen with the latest Arctic Voice report from the far north. We are five miles east of the Deas Thompson point in the Amundsen Gulf. Our position is 69 degrees, 43 minutes and 17 seconds north, 121 degrees 15 minutes and 57 seconds west.
It's the second night at this location of a wide, sweeping sandy beach with expansive tundra rolling away behind into the landscape.
It looks very much like parts of mid-Wales or the Scottish lowlands with that rolling countryside but without any sign of human life whatsoever! The wind is blowing force 5 to 6 from the northwest, the sea state is moderate to rough.
Since the last report we've had two bear encounters...... The first of which was in our camp - we saw a bear coming into our camp area, probably around 300-400 metres off. As soon as it saw us of course it legged it into the mist!
We went out and tracked it and it looked like it had run at considerable speed up into the hills again. So that was a bit of a non-event.
The second bear encounter was little bit more interesting in that we were checking for a source of water and I got out of the boat and was looking at what turned out to be a very brackish pond and I saw this very large fur rug wandering along the beach.
At that point he saw me and started running...... towards me! So I ran back to my kayak and we leapt into action and got off the beach and the bear arrived at the point where we'd been and stood up on its hind legs and it must have been around 7 foot tall - it was huge!
It then decided that it would swim after us, so we started paddling like crazy. Anyway, within a short space of time it decided that we were people - I think it must have smelt us. And then it started swimming frantically in the opposite direction!
From a distance it must have looked quite funny with the two kayaks and the bear disappearing in opposite directions very quickly. So that was over but it taught us that we always need to get the guns off the boat as soon as we hit dry land.
Since then of course every time we've landed on a beach we've checked for bear prints and very often there have been bear prints so we're being especially cautious at the moment.
We've covered over 50 miles in the last two days. We've had the wind behind us. Yesterday we used a lot of sail. We feel we've covered a great distance and have almost made up for the time lost for the previous 3 days in the tents.
We've passed lots of settlements, old hut sites and the old Dewline station at Pierce point which has been totally landscaped away. It's really quite nice to see that they've taken away any sign of this old military radar station.
The territory here is very, very different from anything we've encountered in the past. We've got real cliffs here, huge basalt cliffs with columns and stacks and backlit with the midnight sun - absolutely fabulous colours.
And caves and arches in various hues of orange. Also huge turquoise bays with sandy beaches stretching away for miles. In one location when we pulled in for lunch we found beautiful flowers all over the sand - Mountain Aven and Moss Campion.
Yesterday we had a big following sea, which is especially difficult when sailing with these big, heavy boats as they do tend to wallow around a bit. But the Feathercraft boat is a really excellent boat for this kind of expedition. I don't know how we would have carried so much equipment and food with us safely.
The Vango tent is also holding up incredibly well in what are quite high winds. In our last three days stuck ashore we think we had a force 8 through, we're pretty certain and the tent hardly moved. Now we're sitting in a force 5 to 6 and you'd hardly notice it inside.
The other thing that we are immensely grateful for are the Lomo bags which are keeping all our foodstuffs perfectly dry. We had a little water in one of the boats yesterday and everything was bone dry inside, so for that we are immensely grateful.
All in all we're doing well. We're well fed, we've found fresh water when we needed it. We're resting up today and we're looking forward to the next stage of the journey. We've nearly done our first 100 miles and so when Glenn or I next speak to you we'll have done well over the 100 miles, which means we'll be a third of the way there."
Listen to Stephen Doughty's audio clips
Arctic Voice Expedition Blog Number 11: July 31 2007
Expedition Leader Glenn Morris:
Hi! This is Glenn with the Arctic Voice report on 31st July. We didn't leave a report yesterday as we got into camp very late.
Our position at the moment is just short of halfway through the first stage of the journey. We're camped at the moment about two miles west of Clifton Point and that's just next to the entrance to the Dolphin Union Strait.
I've just come in from thoroughly washing out my kayak. We were inside the tent and Stephen looked out of the tent and saw a mother bear and two cubs within about 3 yards of the tent and they caught a smell of us and disappeared up onto the tundra.
But it's been so windy that we've been holed up today that we didn't hear them and one of them ripped his way into my kayak and one of the cubs actually got into the kayak and crawled right into the other end and chewed its way into our spares kit and made a right mess in the process!
So we've spent most of the afternoon tidying the kayak. Fortunately for us there's only one real problem in that it bit into our mosquito repellent which sprayed out all over the inside of the kayak. I was concerned because it's quite a corrosive substance so I've had to wash it out very, very thoroughly. But I think I've caught it in time.
Fortunately as well it didn't damage anything - it tore the spraydeck off and generally ripped into it but all it did was leave lots of fur and so on for us to clear up afterwards.
So a lesson to be learned there - leave the kayaks in view, although we just didn't hear what was going on.
The other day we were sitting on the tundra having some lunch and were musing together about the complete wilderness and the awesome size of this place.
There is absolutely no sign of human beings at all and we were looking around and wondering who the last people to pass by might have been - they might have been even the early migrants many thousands of years ago.
It's such a wilderness and absolutely astounding from that point of view but it suddenly occurred to us that in the half an hour or so we've been sitting and looking over the tundra that about five plane loads of people have passed overhead so perhaps we weren't quite as alone as we thought!
The silence here is amazing. I've experienced effects on the senses before in the Arctic but this is incredible. Sometimes we sit down and can't hear a thing.
The other morning I was lying down and had my eyes closed and could hear church bells - I think it was trick my mind was playing on me. I could almost imagine someone wandering across the village green and getting their Sunday paper and the trees around the church.
It was as real as it could be and then I opened my eyes and it was all the sound was lost in the window on the tundra.
The wildlife encounters for us have been amazing in these last few days. We wondered whether we would see any bears and you probably understood from Stephen's report that we saw about two by that time. We're now seeing bears every day!
We've seen two huge male Grizzlies - obviously today we've had a very close encounter with bears. And a short while ago, a few days ago we had all the kayaks loaded and ready to leave and we suddenly realised that there was a bear coming down the beach straight towards us.
The last thing we load onto the kayaks is our rifles and we took the rifles off and the bear started running towards us and being from the UK I'm not really accustomed to being charged by a huge, rabid bear. So I must stay I started to perspire freely at that point!
I've always prided myself on the fact that I'm a bit of a coward and I thought well now is the time to prove it! But in fact I didn't need to - rather than run away and leave Stephen to face the bear - what actually happened was the bear smelt us and loped off up into the hill away from us. Stephen fired a warning shot above its head and I think that probably did the trick.
Otherwise our encounters have been with a Caribou with its young which was great. It sort of followed us along as we kayaked along the coast.
And the most amazing one, I have to say, was when we were out in a very calm, flat sea and an enormous seal had been following us for a while. We had just stopped and were chatting and this thing came right up out of the water next to my kayak at a fortuitous moment because Stephen had a camera ready. It was almost as if it had risen up for a chat and Stephen took a picture so we're hoping it will come out.
We had another close encounter with a Beluga (whale) which came up right near us, about ten yards or so away. With its white smiling face looking at us. All in all things are going well. However, the only downside is that there's a lot of stop, starting.
We kayaked about 60 kilometres yesterday but we've been lumbered again with some very bad weather. We're on time, but we tend to do a lot of mileage then have days when we can't do anything.
And that's the case today - the wind is about force 5 with some great big breakers crashing down on the shore which makes it very difficult for us to get in and out.
Listen to Glenn Morris' audio clips
Arctic Voice Expedition Blog Number 12: August 3 2007
Expedition Leader Glenn Morris:
Hi! This is Glenn with the Arctic Voice report on August 3rd. Our position is a few miles east of Cape Young in the Dolphin and Union Strait.
We're hoping to leave camp today and head further east eventually towards Bernard harbour after two or three days into the Coronation Gulf. A lot to report.
Last night we didn't leave a blog because we got in very, very late into camp, about 3 o'clock in the morning. We paddled through the night although the night was a constant sunset-it was absolutely beautiful paddling on a fairly calm sea that looked like liquid mercury with pinks and violets and cerise colours all over it - It was just absolutely stunning.
But we were very, very tired.
Yesterday morning when we left our camp, we had two bear encounters. We're now into a point when we are seeing at least two or three a day.
Two bears came right into our camp area and we had to fire blanks to try and scare them off which we successfully did. But this morning was a bit more serious.
This is probably our most important report yet. We actually had the tent with us in it attacked by a bear this morning. It ripped the tent and snapped one of the tent poles. Both of us were asleep and I woke up and fired at it and it seemed to scare it off.
We've got some repair work to do now. So I have to say that was a fairly frightening experience as far as I'm concerned.
We saw a helicopter land later and I talked to Alan and Lou from Kugluktuk (Coppermine) Wildlife Service and they made a very interesting point. They said the wind up here has been stronger than they remember for a very long time.
There are very strong winds. We're of the opinion that this is linked with climate change with increasing energy in the atmosphere.
This has made our journey very difficult because (phone line cuts out at this point) Hi it's Glenn again, just to recap as I realise the phone went down. We're a day ahead of schedule. We've got plenty of food and fuel.
We're heading east from Cape Young if the weather holds. We met Alan and Lou from the Kugluktuk Wildlife Service and they were telling us about the migratory patterns of the bears and this is why we're encountering so many of them.
I also explained about the bear this morning ripping the tent and breaking one of the poles. We've got spare poles and stuff to repair the tent so all's well. I think the remainder of my information has already been received. We're both safe and well and looking forward to reaching Coppermine.
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Arctic Voice Expedition Blog Number 13: August 7 Part 1 2007
Expedition Leader Glenn Morris:
Hi! This is Glenn with the latest Arctic Voice report. Our present position is at Bernard Harbour. We've done very well over the last few days. We've probably done over 100 kilometres in a couple of days.
We had some interesting times with the sea a few days ago. We left and there was a lot of limestone about. We came across these wave cut platforms and the surf lifted up and got quite big at times.
But the Feathercraft boats were fantastic and got us through it all and we're both safe and well at the moment and we've got a lovely campsite in Bernard Harbour.
We were hoping to meet some Inuit here. We were told there would be people here but there isn't anyone around. We thought we would come across a summer camp but we haven't yet.
But all's well. No more to report at the moment. Our battery is getting low on the 'phone now so we're cautious about how long we spend on it. But we've got plenty of food and we're on schedule.
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Arctic Voice Expedition Blog Number 14: August 7 Part 2 2007
Expedition Leader Glenn Morris:
Hello! This is Glenn with the Arctic Voice report on 7th August. I'm sending in this report because I suspect that the other two may not have been that clear.
I suspect there was a possible problem with the telephone. Our position is 10 miles southeast of Bernard Harbour. We think that about two days' paddling should see us reach the Coronation Gulf and at that point we begin to turn south towards Kugluktuk.
A recap on the last two reports which may have been slightly fraught and not terribly coherent. After the attack on the tent with us in it by the bear we managed to repair the tent and we've got a replacement pole so that's now been sorted.
Shortly after that I mentioned that we met a chap called Alan who is from the Kugluktuk Wildlife Department and he told us that there had been a lot more bears up in the area where we paddled through and he believes this is to do with the changes in migratory patterns, possibly linked with the caribou changes.
He also said there's been a great deal more wind this year - indeed we've experienced this ourselves. Very few days go by when we haven't got very, very strong winds and we're certainly at the limit of kayaking with the equipment we've got.
We've been into some very big seas occasionally and today the same thing happened and we had to pull off as the waves got a bit too high for us and one thing we both want is to come home safely, so we're erring on the side of caution.
Earlier on I may have mentioned that we came through wave cut platforms in the limestone and the ocean swell comes in and it tends to throw up some very big seas, so once again we have to be quite cautious.
The topography and landscape has changed now. We're into a much more sort of Lunar, almost bouldery, rubble landscape with very small flowers that continue to cling onto life in the most inhospitable conditions. It's quite astounding!
Our present camp is quite beautiful. It's in a little inlet, we have fresh water with a little stream running down and lovely emerald coloured moss everywhere and flowers. It's very comfortable. We walked around and we're amongst some old Inuit settlements.
There's evidence of the old house circles and the rocks around us. Both of us feel extremely insignificant in this vast and timeless landscape and I suppose it's true to say that it's had its effect on us emotionally to see this just vast landscape and us in these tiny kayaks trying to find our way through it.
You do really feel that you are just a speck, that's for sure, in an enormous great bit place.
We had a real lift the other day, two days ago as we rounded Cape Hope shortly after passing through Stapleton Bay, (we made an open crossing of Stapleton Bay), we caught our first sight of Victoria Island.
We could see the distant hills and coastlines bathed in sunlight. So that was quite something. When we looked at the map we realised just how enormous Victoria Island is.
We were hoping to meet some hunters at Bernard Harbour - we had been told that there were people there. We camped there last night -again that was another beautiful site - but alas there was no one there.
But as we near Kugluktuk we hope that we will be meeting hunters and we'll be able to talk with them about what's going on up here and perhaps embellish our work with some of their conversations.
That's all really. We're both comfortable and the food is lasting well. We're getting very, very strong and fit now and to kayak 30 miles a day doesn't seem too bad anymore. So things are going well.
We still seem to be on and off in terms of our progress - we'll have a very good day and then we'll be knocked back by winds or heavy seas. But all in all our averages are keeping up and it's just fantastic landscape here and we're enjoying it as well.
Oh, one more thing, Stephen has just reminded me that we saw a Canadian patrol aircraft this morning and Stephen radioed them and gave them our position, so one good thing is that occasionally we'll manage to radio a helicopter or a plane and so everyone knows where we are - which I must say is quite a good feeling!
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Arctic Voice Expedition latest blog: August 14 2007
Expedition Leader Glenn Morris:
Hello this is Glenn with the Arctic Voice report of 14th August 2007. We're camping in an Inuit summer camp on the north side of Richardson Bay and that's approximately 8 miles north, north west of Kugluktuk.
So we're elated with this and the end is now in sight. In fact last night we could see the lights of Kugluktuk in the distance just twinkling across the bay about 8 miles away.
Sea conditions at the moment are pretty good - we've got a slight breeze but it looks calm and we're going to leave as soon as we can and probably cross the bay straight over to Kugluktuk.
The last few days have been fantastic. We crossed Basil Bay and Klegenberg Bay. Klegenburg Bay was near calm - it was almost a spiritual experience crossing it. It was absolutely fantastic. The sea was absolutely clear, we could see the bottom, it was just a wonderful experience.
Basil Bay was a slightly different story. It cut up a bit rough for us there. Fortunately the fetch was not great but it was a Force 5 and we had a more or less a beam sea largely off our starboard quarter.
It was a bit interesting at times but we dug in and got across as soon as we could. It's not actually a big crossing in terms of the crossings we've made but it was big enough in the wind we had.
My personal thanks to Gordon Brown and Skyak Adventures with the training because I don't suppose I could have coped with it without him. We would also like to thank Gordon for his advice on the kayaks and some of the equipment because it was very helpful advice and proved sound.
We rounded Cape Kendall and in the distance we saw two people on the peninsula fishing and it turned out it was Jack and Joanne and we met them as we stopped on the peninsula. Jack is President of the Hunters and Trappers Association and an extremely interesting man.
They very kindly invited us to dinner, which for two hungry guys like us was a bit of a mistake -- we almost ate them out of house and home!
They had just caught an enormous Arctic Char when we met them and that's what we had for dinner last night and so we are indebted to them for that. They made us very welcome. They actually gave us breakfast this morning.
I had a conversation with Jack. He is a hunter from Kugluktuk and a mine of very interesting information. We wondered why the seas seemed very barren in terms of life. He told us that the fish are tending to move further north.
In fact all the indications we are getting from most of the people we are meeting, hunters and otherwise are that new insects are appearing, new flowers are appearing and animals that previously lived in the lower environs are now moving north.
There are big, big changes going on. He was also telling us that the ice rink - ice hockey is of course very popular in these parts, and all over Canada - they have a covered ice rink in Kugluktuk and in recent years it is no longer freezing over.
So there are marked rises in the temperature and they're impacting on people's lives here really quite dramatically - actually changing their lifestyles.
Stephen's been in charge of navigation on this journey and we've referred originally to the Admiralty pilot, which wasn't printed that long ago, about 2001 or something like that. And it gave the expected temperature, the upper temperature that we were likely to experience at this time of year at 21 C.
We've experienced temperatures not far short of 35 C. Certainly 33 C on a few evenings and days. This is a marked increase. Once again this has been noticeable in talking to the Inuvialuit and Inuit people - these temperatures are increasing and in a big way.
The other rather sad thing that Jack mentioned to us is that the elders are really noticing the changes. They are people who've gone through a huge life change. They've seen living in snow houses and sod houses and they've gone through in their lives experiencing that to now computers, helicopters and quad bikes.
In the past the elders were respected very much for their hunting skills and now it seems people are respected here for how much money they've got, which seems to me at least a very sad reflection of the times. In a way it's a microcosm of how society in general seems to be viewing people at the moment.
The beauty of this landscape is indescribable. The hospitality of the Inuit people as usual is fantastic. Last night as we rounded Cape Kendall and headed towards where Jack has his camp here the evening sun was lighting these towering, deep red and black cliffs.
It was absolutely stunning - it looked like the battlements of a huge, giant castle. It was indescribable and something that we would never be able to get in photographic form. The whole experience was amazing.
We've still got work to do in Kugluktuk and we've got to liase with the school and we want to talk to some people while we're there.
I must say I'm looking forward to a pint at the Seven Stars in Aberedw back in Wales and I'm missing the hills of Wales as well. It's been a fantastic journey. It's not over yet but we think we're going to get there today - if the weather cuts up rough it will be tomorrow possibly.
It's been a fantastic journey no doubt about that and we've got a lot of stories to tell and we're looking forward to seeing everyone.
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