Ski Sunday
Well, it's ten to midnight and we've just put the tent up. Our day wasn't quite as long as it sounds – there's 24-hour sunlight here at the moment and we tend to start later in the day and ski on into the evening, enjoying cooler temperatures and the glorious, low, evening sun.
We cranked out nigh on 20 miles today, with rucksacks rather than sledges, and Tony was back on fine form. The weather was perfect, but the ice was, for the latter half of the day at least, awful. We've had a couple of very windy nights recently, and the surface is worse than ever – crusty, crunchy sheets of wind-blown snow, whipped up into crazy jagged edges and deep ruts. We have to mark out an airstrip on Thursday, which could prove a bit of a challenge.
We were visited by an unexpected flight of a different kind last night; a pair of beautiful white birds (I've no idea what they were – they looked like small gulls) spent a few minutes wheeling gracefully around our tent, making excited whistling calls to each other. We threw some crumbs of energy bar out of the tent door, but they didn't seem particularly interested. I'm not sure if the photo will do it justice, but it was a fantastic moment.
If any more proof were needed that Tony is back to his usual self, I've just asked for his thoughts on how best to wrap up today's dispatch. His reply? 'I'm looking forward to seeing more beautiful birds in Reykjavik…'
— Filed under Greenland