Greenland 2003

Day 1

Saturday 26th July

As we reached the East coast of Greenland the pilot announced we were approaching Narsarsuaq. Strange since the airport was on the West coast. We descended over the inland ice, and then followed a glacier in a valley between two mountain ranges. What an amazing approach - with cliffs just beyond the wings of the aircraft (so it seems). Then over the top of the airport, handbrake turn above the fjord and back to land.

We landed in Narsarsuaq at about 0945 local time (early!). The airport was a strange experience. We walked to the terminal then waited for ages for the bags to be brought off. And when they were they were thrown through a hole in the wall on to a conveyor that carried them along the length of the room. None of this baggage coming from the dark dungeons of an airport - in fact some of the passengers chatted to the baggage staff through the hole in the wall. Well - everybody knew everybody - and that was one of the impressions you were left with of Greenland. With a population of only 56,000 it's not surprising that many people know each other.

I was very impressed with the tour guides from the Arctic Discovery team. They seemed very friendly, very willing to help, had a reasonable knowledge of the area and more than that - they seemed to listen to what their customers wanted. Not that I travelled with them - I just met them at the airport, and on boats, and on hikes, and at the hotel... By the time I'd got my bag the bus was ready to do it's second trip to the hotel. Yes, they only have about 10km of road in Narsarsuaq but the hotel has two buses. Every flight is met by a bus to carry passengers to the hotel (all of about 500m away!). When I got to the hotel I found that the room wasn't available. Well - you can understand their problem. Most of the departing guests were catching the return of the flight that we had just landed on - so there was bound to be an overlap.

The local shop closed at 1300, and only opened four Sundays in the year (August). So I took the chance to go shopping. The shop was well stocked with most of the provisions you might want for a hiking trip. There were plenty of dried foods, (oats, potato, soup, milk etc). Fresh fruit and veg. A good selection of bread and biscuits. There were also a good range of other goods that could be handy, paraffin, white spirit (or gas as Americans call it), wax proofing, luxury hair dryer - you name it - it seemed to stock it. I was particularly impressed with the range of bread - I bought some dark rye bread in small packets of about ten thin slices - ideal for me.

In the time I had left before the hotel room was ready I went to the Blue Ice Cafe. The Blue Ice is one of the most important places in Narsarsuaq for solo hiking. Jackie Simoud (a Frenchman who has made Narsarsuaq his home) runs his business from there - which includes arranging boat transfers around the fjord. Trips seem to be arranged based on how many people want to travel to specific areas on any one day. Cruise ships and tours have fixed schedules that take priority over the casual travellers. So it can be possible that a trip will be uncertain even the day before you want to travel. I had tried to book shuttles by telephone before I got there - but it was just too far in advance. So I booked my travel on arrival. While there I also booked a trip over the fjord to Qassiarsuk for the evening to get to know the area.

That afternoon I walked part way up Signal Hill along a relatively easy track (although the pebbles that make up most of these tracks are hard to walk on there are usually good tracks to the side). I went back and crossed the fjord for a look at the original Viking settlement in Greenland. Very interesting - especially seeing some of the ruins from over 1000 years ago. There are some interesting reconstructions of the first church and an early house (both closed on this visit because of a Canadian film crew shooting in the area). I met a Danish family who were on the same trip, and who were also planning a hike to see the glacier the next day.

On return I ate in the hotel. There are two places to eat, the restaurant and the cafeteria. The cafeteria had a daily special and about ten fixed menus including fish and chips, pizza and other similar food. All of the fixed menu items were cooked to order. The prices were reasonable and the staff were very friendly. A good meal including drinks and desert cost under ten pounds. I settled on the cafeteria while I was in Narsarsuaq.

Day 2

Sunday 27th July

I woke very early (jet advance), as did many others, about 0500, so I went for breakfast in the cafeteria. I met up with the Danish family and we agreed we would try to scrounge use of the hotel bus to take us to the end of the made up road on the way to the glacier. We left about 0800, there was an organised tour from the hotel which left an hour later, but we really didn't want to get mixed up with a tour group.

The route was fairly easy to start with, taking us down into the 'flower valley'. There were some flowers in bloom, but not as many as the guide books promised. At that point it started to get harder to see the 'proper' route. We had a mixture of English and Danish guide books between us. I was using the Greenland 1:100,000 hiking maps (although these are supposed to be taken from the 1:250,000 maps - so the detail is not fantastic). Before leaving the UK I had blown up sections of these maps to 1:25,000 and had them laminated including this area. This proved to be a really good idea - it was much easier to read than the normal maps. This route was on a 'recommended route' which followed a 'trail' which meant there was a path to follow but it wasn't marked. Not all of the trails are on the map - so when it came to a fork in the road it wasn't obvious which one was recommended. This wasn't a problem here because we were on a green route (the easiest grade), but it was a warning that route finding would need careful thought. We did choose the correct route in the end.

The green routes are the easiest routes - and in areas there were marks. But the route was certainly not a simple flat path - and in places was reasonably tough walking - particularly when walking over a rock spur that stuck out into the valley. At the end of the valley the route changed to a red route for about one km. It was a scramble up a steep rocky face of the valley. There were clear marks to show the route (red arrows), so it was almost impossible to get lost. Combine this with the thick blue rope that was attached to the rock to allow you to haul yourself up and it wasn't too difficult with a day sack. However - I would have found this hard work with a full week supply in a backpack - even with the ropes. As a result of this I changed my plans for the coming weeks to avoid red routes with full pack.

We had timed the walk well. Near the top of the scramble we were able to turn round and watch the Sunday international flight pass almost level with us. Once at the top of the scramble it was a fairly easy walk to the view point to overlooking the glacier. At this point we stopped to have lunch. We decided not to walk all the way down to the glacier. Seeing it was enough. After lunch we decided to return along the blue route which ran along the 'middle land' on the southern side of the valley. The guides say it is a tough climb in places up the terraced hill, but it was reasonably simple - although there were no obvious paths. From here it was reasonably simple to stay roughly on the right route - there is a tall mountain near Narsaq which was a perfect point to aim for.

The route followed valleys in general, marked to either the left or right of streams. I realised this was simply indicating 'follow the stream' and the side of the stream marked was simply to do with clarity on the map. The day was exceptional - the sun was beating down. As a result we decided to avoid the valley route marked and followed ridges instead. The ridges were much easier to hike than the valleys, they had firmer footing and (obviously) better views which helped us to stay on the correct route. The valley we were returning to was glacial, so there were lots of cliffs. Some were only a few tens of metres, but they were still impossible without ropes. There was one path marked on the map which led back to the valley near signal hill. I had spotted people on it the day before - so I was reasonably certain there was a good path there. .

I used a mixture of compass and map and GPS and map to make sure we didn't miss the stream that we were supposed to follow into the valley. Part way down the stream the path bends to the left. Unfortunately we missed this. Speaking to another hiker later who had climbed the path and then returned by it I was pleased to hear that he had trouble finding the cut off (I had not been stupid - it really was hard to find the route). The stream was in a steep valley with small Greenlandic trees on either side. The trees were just above head height and formed incredibly dense thickets. It was impossible to use walking poles when pushing through them - and this was a problem because the ground occasionally dropped up to half a metre below the grass surface and it would have been really good to be able to test the ground with a walking pole before standing on it. Trying to push through the trees also made it easy to get lost. After 15m or so of walking in the trees it was almost impossible to find the return route to where you had come from. As we followed the stream down we reached a point where there was a sheer cliff of only 25m or so to the valley below. However - we could find no way round this (on later inspection we had only to move about 20m to our left and we could have made it down, but the dense undergrowth stopped us seeing this).

The only solution was to retrace our steps up the stream until we found a place to cut over to the path. Once back on the path it was very clear and easy to walk back to the valley. However this one missing turn cost us about 3 hours of struggle down, up and across. The total trip took us about 12 hours. The views of the glacier on this route were fantastic, including views of the lake at the foot of the glacier. I would suggest this route to everybody, but perhaps the reverse of our route. From signal hill walk on the path toward the hills, and there is a clear path which heads roughly south. About 100-200m up this path there is what looks like a sheep path to the left - this is the path to take. But double check for yourself - a simple mistake can waste a lot of time and energy!

I had used a hat and factor 25 sunscreen - however I still ended up with tender skin at the end of this hike. The weather was so amazing. I also had mistakenly worn some light hiking shoes on the walk. The grass seeds filled them in no time and I almost ended up with blisters. It took ages to clean them after - and to get all of the seeds out of my socks. For the rest of my time there I was in proper hiking boots with two pairs of socks - one turned down over the boots to protect the gore lining of the boots from the sharp seeds, the other over my trousers to protect me - this seemed to work really well. At the end of the evening meal I sat down for a while, when I stood up again my legs said no and I ended flopping back in the chair. Although I thought the day was nothing incredible as far as walking was concerned my body told me it this wasn't the case. The grass and bracken obviously took a lot out of me. It was a relatively short walk by my normal standards, but my body was telling me it was as tough as I had ever walked.

Day 3

Monday 28th July

I packed my rucksack for a weeks trip and put my second weeks provisions and gear in a bag. The hotel were good enough to store this for me. It was a reasonably early start, the boat left at 0900. An organised tour was going on the same boat, so I was able to take the same bus as them to the harbour. Narsarsuaq harbour was fairly busy with about 30 small boats on two spurs from the quay. It wasn't easy to find the correct boat, there is a lot of passing on of hiring takes place, so just because you book with one person it doesn't mean you will travel on their boat. But people are fairly helpful - and if in doubt grab Jackie Simoud - he seems to know about everything. The trip was fairly short, about 15km, south to Itilleq (double l pronounced in the same way as it is in Wales). Itilleq harbour was very different to Narsarsuaq - there was just a small hut there and no permanent boats tied up. Getting off the boat with a rucksack was not easy - and would have been hard at low tide. People on the quay were a great help by grabbing the rucksack and hauling it up. The hut at the quay is a waiting room for boats - and it has a toilet!

There are some very good roads in the area. The 'King's Way' leads over the hill to the small town of Igaliku. It's the traditional tourist route - it climbs to a ridge which overlooks the village. This was the route I took - trying to stay away from the tourist group that was there on the day visit. In retrospect it would have been easier to take the left turn (not on the map) about two thirds of the way to the ridge (this skirts the end of the ridge and is easier and shorter). However, the view over the village is a must so it has to be done once. One of the things I noticed was that there was no water in any of the streams I crossed on the way over. Greenland had experienced six weeks of dry weather at this point - which was almost unheard of. The low lying area between Itilleq and Igaliku was suffering particularly badly. There were two lakes in the area though - and both had small streams running out of them.

The village of Igaliku is fenced in to protect the fields in the village from sheep. This also restricts the camping area inside the fence. The youth hostel also has a cafeteria. I called in on the way through the village. I asked about camping in the village (there is supposed to be camping beside the hostel), and was told only outside the fence. The cafeteria was closed, so I asked when it would be open. The answer was a very Greenlandic 'Sometimes'. There was a reasonable shop in Igaliku, not as well stocked as the shop in Narsarsuaq, but it carried most things you would need.

I decided to head to the small lake to the North of Igaliku, where the map showed a camping area. There was good camping next to the lake as the map suggested. However the lake is also used by locals as a swimming pool, and some seem to have little respect for the environment. There was an amazing amount of clothing, food wrappers and other less savoury items lying around on one part of the shore. I noticed that the ground I was camping on was covered in berries, the bushes had only managed to grow a few cm tall. They made a very soft mat under the tent. I was a little concerned about the quality of the water near the lake because of the signs of less than careful human activity in the area. This area was the only place I used both a water filter and a chemical treatment. I used a Katadyn filter, but found it hard work. Because of the silt in the water it clogged very quickly (about every 2 litres). If I had thought about it before hand I would have tied my Buff round the end of the inlet tube to act as a pre-filter.

I walked North from the camping area to look at the alternative camping area near the river. This looked like a much better option than the area I was camped in. Even better ground and ample fresh water. I returned to the tent and checked the temperature inside (with the door open), it was 27 degrees (C). As the sun set the temperature dropped fairly rapidly. Within about an hour the temperature had dropped about 10 degrees. This seemed to be fairly normal. I got in to the practice of getting in to the tent and shutting it up before sunset, it helped to retain some heat for when I wanted to sleep. Since the sun was setting after 2200 and rising before 0500 it didn't mean going to bed early. I normally sleep through anything, but I did have some problems sleeping with so little proper darkness.

Day 4

Tuesday 29th July

This was not a day for following plans. I had intended to leave my tent where it was and go walking with a light pack. But that was not going to happen. I woke up at about 0800 and found myself a good spot to cook breakfast. If I am not moving on straight after cooking I like to find a spot a little way from my tent to help avoid unwelcome visitors. In this case there was a very nice rock table and bench that I cooked and ate on. Simple breakfast. As I was cooking a very wet and tired looking dog turned up. It seemed to be very intelligent, but was so hungry it was eating anything it could find around the lake. It saw me cooking and decided that I was the source of it's next meal. This was then a problem. From it's behaviour I knew that if I left my gear there it would be asking for trouble (the dog was clever enough to always approach me from blind spots to try to get close to my food). I had heard that Arctic foxes were used to scavenging from hikers tents, so in one way I had thought through what to do. I packed everything away, took down the tent and walked in to Igaliku (dog at heel). Once there the dog found it's owner and I walked back the route I had come the day before.

I had lunch when I got to the shore on the other side of the hill. The route on the map shows an unmarked blue grade path hugging the coast going south to where a path climbs up to the hills. I decided to follow this path and walked in to the farm area where the path starts. The guide books talk about following the paths made by the sure footed sheep. Well, sheep are sure footed, but just a few problems. Their feet are a bit smaller than that of humans. They are sure four footed, so they tend to make tough paths look really simple. And most of all - they are shorter than most humans and don't carry dirty great rucksacks on their back. As I was walking along this path there was a light mizzle that was just enough to make the grass treacherous. And then you find places where there are rocks forming arches about 1.5m high that these sure footed creatures have no problem walking through. Not rucksack territory. Not only that - but the views are not all that fantastic either.

I had been hoping to find clean water coming out of the hills, but the farmed area made the streams a bit dubious (the roll of fibreglass in the stream was a bit disturbing). The path along the coast became a lot easier - and a lot more open. Eventually I passed a dried up marsh area with a good stream at each side. As I was deciding that the far side was a good place to camp the rain started. The marsh area was fed from the hills, and I was going to have to walk back over it at some point the next day. Rather than put up my tent and get shelter I decided it would be best to retrace my steps to the north side of the marsh in case it became impossible to walk over after the rain. So - a very wet camp that night. But at least there was plenty of clean water.

I chose an area on a high spur (50m) out into the fjord which had shelter from direct wind by some ridges of rock. I got into bed early, and by about 1800 the rain had started to ease a little. However the temperature had dropped significantly - it was about ten degrees colder than the night before. This was the only night on the entire trip that I ended up putting clothes on during the night to stay warm. The local Greenlandic weather forecast had been for two days rain coming in at some point, so I started preparing for a tough day in the morning.

Oh - and just to add insult to injury I discovered I had left two tent pegs behind in my haste to pack up while being studied carefully by a very hungry dog. I decided that the next day I would ignore the paths on the map and see what cutting over the hills would do. After a close study of the map it seemed that it would be possible - and would certainly be much better than the coast road in the rain. As I lay in the tent in the early evening I became aware of just how much noise icebergs make as they melt and turn.

Day 5

Wednesday 30th July

I slept well that night, but woke up with wet feet. I'm not sure if it was kicking the side of the tent because I was on a slope, or whether the rain was heavy enough to find a way in to the tent. Most likely the former - although the wet area was under a mosi-net ventilation patch in the inner. The weather wasn't too bad - it was dry but cool and threatening more rain. It felt like I had very little energy, but that was partly down to an early supper the night before. I took my time making a big breakfast to let the tent dry out. As soon as some of the rocks were dry enough I stretched my sleeping bag and wet clothes out on them to dry out. I took time to look at the red route that climbed up the stream valley next to me to the tops of the hills. Compared to the blue route along the coast it looked easy. The grading of routes didn't just relate to the difficulty of the walk - it also seems to relate to the ease with which the path can be followed (the coast being difficult to miss makes for an easy route).

The weather was difficult to predict, and the forecast had been for two days rain. They say the weather can change in minutes in Greenland, and to an extent that is understandable, however I would say that the geography is the main reason behind that impression. Because of the steep hills around you cannot see the weather approaching - there could have been heavy rain just a few km away and I wouldn't have seen it. The valleys also had a big effect on things like wind direction - and that had a surprisingly big effect on things like temperature. Air coming from one fjord could be significantly warmer than from the neighbouring one. For example - the ice fjords are significantly colder than the others. I decided to be reasonably quick at packing once everything had dried out just in case the rain jumped over the hills and landed on me.

Looking at my options for the return route I could have gone back along the coast, but there also looked like there could be an off-route path over the hills to the Kings Way. I decided on this as the way I would try first. It looked a little hard to start with, but seemed to offer better views and a much easier path (at least from the map). The path up was a tough (with a full backpack) 100m scramble over various ledges. Each ledge was a 5-10m climb, and the route took a natural zig zag from one side of the ledges to the other. I made a note to self - avoid a tough stretch at the start of the day - I needed a little bit of walking in before doing this. But once on top of the ledge it was really easy - and the views were so much better than on the coast. I headed in what I thought was the natural direction - and ended up on the King's Way. This path makes a very easy walk in to the highlands. Speaking to some regular visitors on another day they confirmed that it was the way they would choose. From the boat landing follow the King's Way up through the first gate, past the cross roads. Continue straight ahead through a second gate and turn right along the fence. If you follow the fence it will lead you to a bridge over the stream (in fact the fence bends - so you can cut the corner if you want). From the bridge it's an easy climb up on to the plateau - and there is easy walking toward the hills.

I walked down to the boat landing and climbed on to the hill behind. There are two ridges with a flat area between - and I pitched tent here. I had a quick snack then walked back toward Igaliku to look for a good water source. I only carried the rocket pack (the detachable side pockets from my rucksack), so the walking was really easy. It was on this walk that I found the side road to Igaliku (turn left 2/3 way along the King's Way). This took me past my earlier camp site - where I retrieved my missing tent pegs. I then climbed the ridge to the larger lake between Igaliku and Itilleq. The path round this lake was marked as easy on the map, but again this was probably more to do with the ease of finding the route rather than the ease of walking. Most of the streams in to the lake were dry, despite the rain on the previous night. I walked to the outlet to see if the stream there was still flowing. There was a reasonable stream at the exit, and plenty of places to pick up water. However, the area is rich in farming and the natural groundwater flow from the fields is in to the lake. Still, this was the best water anywhere near my camp site - and I had to use it. I walked back from there along the coast track, which was a narrow sheep path perched on the edge of the hill.

On my return I drank a lot of fluid (including soups) over the rest of the evening to make sure I made up for the lack of water on previous days. I discovered that my telephone worked at the peak of the hill behind the boat landing (near the pile of rocks that marks the summit). This made a big difference to me - it meant I would not need to walk about 6km to the nearest phone if I had problems with my return boat. Four other hikers arrived and set up camp next to the landing and I was able to form a welcome party and point out where the nearest water was. It struck me that had I not been there and been able to point out the quick coastal route to the stream that it would have been a tough night for them. As it was it was more than an hour round trip to collect water - and that was knowing where to go - and they arrived about an hour before sunset. It just served as a reminder of how hard a country it could be, don't expect to turn up and find a perfect camping area in the first 30 minutes. The good news was that the temperature had climbed back to the mid 20's by the end of the day.

Day 6

Thursday 31st July

I woke up reasonably early, and feeling reasonably refreshed. I had a good breakfast and took time packing ready to leave. I put my tent in the waiting room, and hiked with the rest of my gear north toward the ice fjord. The path is reasonably easy if you follow the prepared road. It leads to a small farm. From there you can walk through the farm(yard) to a climbing point over a fence. This allows you to climb the hills beyond to some really pleasant view points. I was only really limited by the time available as far as exploration was concerned - the area seemed to offer fairly open walking from one hill to the next. But I had to return fairly soon ready for my trip back to Narsarsuaq. I sat on the quay and watched the salmon jumping as I waited for the boat.

In the end a small boat turned up - not the one I was expecting. This was Harry who had been given the sub-contract to pick me up along with two others that were walking along the coast road as he arrived. Because he had a small boat and the tide was low he carried a rope that I had to use to lower my gear to him. As we sat and waited for the other two to arrive he described the rifles he carried for hunting, and the areas he went searching for rocks. It turned out that looking for gemstones and odd rocks was his passion. And he also carried tourists and hunted as well. He had arrived about 30 minutes early and just sat out in the deeper water fishing. I think he had caught two salmon. He seemed to have a really wild lifestyle.

The return trip was fairly quick in Harry's speedboat. On return the hotel had found a really cheap room for me. I retrieved my stored bag and got on with the business of repacking my rucksack ready for the next trip.

Day 7

Friday 1st August

A cruise ship arrived in town today. The first I knew about it was that there were loads of Brits everywhere. Most of them were around retirement age, so I guess the cruise idea was ideal for them. However, it was hard to see what they were stopping to look at - there is very little in the way of tours of the town that you could stretch to a day length.

I walked to point 174, the hill above hospital valley. I was accompanied most of the way by some of the cruise ship passengers, who made good company. One couple tried to talk me in to marrying their daughter. The walk to point 174 is fairly simple. You start by following the road toward hospital valley. You reach a point where the road has been cut through the rocks - and a clear path leads off from the left just before this. Much of the path has been reinforced by metal grids to make it passable to vehicles, although much of this is in poor repair (and makes a good trip hazard in places). Eventually you come to an old wooden bridge which is rotting away. This leads to the back of an old reservoir on the crest of the ridge. It is no longer used, but it looked as though the water had been used to separate out gold on the long troughs covered with rough paper.

From here the path is no longer vehicle friendly, and there were no more cruise ship passengers. It seemed to be a natural barrier to the less enthusiastic. The climb is fairly easy - nothing difficult, and the route is fairly clear. At one point you reach a flat area with a 10m ridge in front of you. The path at this point gets a little vague. However, once you climb the 10m ridge you are on the flat area on top of the hill. The ridge makes a ninety degree turn, and I found the corner made an easy way up.

From the top the view is quite good. The walk is suitable where you have limited time, or limited fitness. However, if you have a good part of a day and you are relatively fit I would suggest the views from the middle lands, and the route behind signal hill makes a much better trip.

After the walk I wandered to the Blue Ice Cafe - the recreation capital of Narsarsuaq. The coffee was very much to my liking, and I sat and relaxed, writing postcards. After this I dropped in to the airport to post them. The airport contains the post office (along a corridor off the departure hall). It also has a small kiosk that sells snacks and gifts.

I wandered around the perimeter of the airport on the inland side, walking round to a point where I overlooked the river. The ground in this area was pretty much gravel everywhere and I was surprised to see some people had set up camp in this area. However, there were few places in the area of the town that had good camping.

Day 8

Saturday 2nd August

I got up fairly early. The entire place was covered in a really heavy fog. I sat and watched as it slowly lifted up the hillside behind the hotel. After about 2 hours it had risen over the middle lands. It was amazing how quick it left. I had an early trip to the other side of the fjord. It was fairly difficult finding the boat because another cruise ship had arrived in the morning. The quay was full of lost tourists trying to find their group for their tours. The big problem is that the cruise ships take up all of the local charter boats - and this includes the boats used to ferry independent travellers around. So when a cruise ship is in town you need to try to fit in with their schedule. On the boat over there were three of us, and I was surprised to find that one of them worked quite literally round the corner from my office. It really is a small world at times.

Once in Qassiarsuk I went to the Youth Hostel in the village (there is another one to the South on the outskirts of the village). It seemed a clean and pleasant place, and I had a very friendly welcome. The hostel was looked after by a young woman with her daughter. Her partner ran tours, and was just setting off on a two week kayak tour. The hostel was the starting point, so the place was emptying. It turned out that there were two of us staying there that night, along with three camping outside. The kitchen was clean and food was offered at a reasonable price. Most people seemed to choose to cook themselves.

I dropped off most of my equipment and walked North along the coast road to the river that runs out of Paradise Valley. The path is very high quality - it takes vehicles. So the walk was very easy. The inland hills were more like rolling green lowland hills than hills on the edge of mountains, and were very inviting. There was plenty of good water in this area, and I spotted a few people camping near the coast. I think this would make an excellent place to camp.

On returning to Qassiarsuk I joined a tour of the village led by the local guide. The tour group was made up of a group of English speaking tourists on an organised hiking tour and myself. The tour was very interesting - and gave you the real sense that the locals were pioneers setting up a town on the edge of nowhere, and the town was still developing, getting water and power. It is strange to see street lights when water had not yet been supplied to all the houses. But then - when you consider the length of the winter nights I guess street lights come high on the priority list. The tour group I went round with were very pleasant, however I couldn't help but notice a lot of very new equipment (including boots that looked like they were out of a box). I discovered the group were travelling on a route that was graded red in most places, and black in others. I was surprised that the guide was prepared to take them - even though most of the gear was going to be carried for them - and I asked him about it. He was very reassuring. Later I learned from another guide that the group had problems with people collapsing from heat and exhaustion. He explained that it was hard to turn round once somebody had arrived and tell them they were unsuitable for the holiday they had already paid for. So if you are thinking of going with a tour group it is probably worth finding one that has a reasonable pre-holiday assessment.

The weather was fantastic. And the tour was very interesting, especially the visit to the reconstructed church and long house. I spotted a sign outside of the long house that said 'accommodation can be arranged'. I asked about it and it turns out that you can arrange to spend a night in the Viking long house for much the same price as the youth hostel. I booked a place for my return. I have no real dogma about staying under canvas - if there is reasonable accommodation available at a good price I'll use it in place of the tent. My aim is to have good days - and good nights help to achieve that.

In the evening a few of us sat around and chatted in the Youth Hostel. I was told that I was the first British traveller to stay there this year - surprising since it is one of the gateway youth hostels, I can only imagine there were very few British solo travellers. I explained my proposed trip to a Danish couple who were fairly experienced in walking in the area. I had been intending to camp at Nunataaq on the other side of the hills, but they suggested I should look at the Youth Hostel there - they were sure that I would stay in it.

Day 9

Sunday 3rd August

The weather forecast had been for poor weather today. It was wrong. The weather was really fantastic. The clouds were a little low - but this was ideal for me - climbing hills with a full rucksack is hot enough work without direct sunshine. The route to Nunataaq runs South out of the village and then turns inland. Part way along you come to a junction - the road to the left leads South to Sillisit and the other road leads to Nunataaq. At least that's what the map says. There are actually four roads at the junction (one to the left and then a triple fork). The three on the left join up at the other side of the hill and head toward Sillisit. I took the road straight ahead. In places the road is fairly steep, and with the dry weather it was very dusty. I found it fairly slippy in places, almost like walking on small marbles. A lot of the time I walked on the edges of the road - but in places this was impossible.

The view as you reach the other side was impressive. All of the effort from the climb just disappeared! Piles of icebergs crashing over each other and a large glacier on the other side of the fjord. It was amazing - I just stood there watching it. As I walked on I saw sheep running away on each side of the path. I kept hearing a strange sound at the same time - like sneezing. I wondered if it was some sort of predator chasing the sheep. It was only later that I discovered that the sneezing sound is a natural noise made by sheep. The ravens also seem strange - they seem to speak a different language to British ravens (almost like a turkey type noise). I think the noises are actually natural in both sheep and ravens - but in Greenland they seem to use them much more often.

I arrived at the farm in Nunataaq (after a 9km hike), and the youth hostel turned out to be a spare house in the farm (previously owned by the father of the current farmer). The family spoke no English (only Greenlandic). However, I managed to work out that they were leaving really soon - in fact they were late. They were going to a wedding on the other side of the peninsula (I decided at one point that peninsula didn't describe the geography very well. I decided to call it a drojf - reverse of a fjord - unless I could find a better word - I'm still looking). They pointed me to the house/hostel and let me know I was on my own that night. I was surprised at how much you could communicate when you didn't understand each others language. Before they left they shut off the generator, so the house had no power that night.

I dropped off my gear and headed off on a path toward a narrow inlet from the ice fjord. The geography is that there is an enormous bay next to the ice fjord, Nunataaq is on the South East corner of this. At this point there is a narrow bridge to a large island in the bay. This island creates two sets of narrows where the tidal flow is very high. In effect I was walking clockwise on the semi-island to the Southern narrows. I walked to the view point just beyond the narrows that overlooks the ice fjord. The views are fantastic - and with the water flow being so fast you end up with icebergs piled on top of each other. The trip there and back was about another 10km, but the path was very easy.

The hostel was pretty much as the last owner (and a photograph of him showed him to be the double of Prince Charles) had left it except for having bunk beds. There were family mementos and trinkets scattered around. I decided to stay here a second night. A fantastic house with a balcony where you could sit and watch the ice in the fjord - what more could you ask?

Day 10

Monday 4th August

I had intended on walking counter clock-wise round the bay to a point I could see from the hostel. It looked a reasonably short walk. Then I looked at the map - and realised that the Greenland air was tricking me again - it was a 25km cross country route. It would have been reasonable if there was a sensible path - but I had learned that there was no assurance of that in Greenland - and just as well. I started off by walking up the hill behind the hostel. There was a note in the visitor book about some ruins just behind the hostel. It took me ages to fight my way through the undergrowth to see them. But it was worth it - it looked like there had been a really substantial settlement there in the past. You can understand why - the area looks superb for farming - and obviously hasn't reached the level of development it had in the time of the vikings. You can see areas where there were fields in the past that are wild now.

The path curves around the edge of the hill. And I must admit to being very surprised by the standard at the start. The road is obviously not in current repair, but the standard of the build reminded me of roman roads. I hadn't seen any other roads (including the modern ones) in Greenland with the same engineering built into them. I wondered if the road pre-dated the modern settlers, I guess it is likely. Still it didn't last long - I was soon in to the rough walking again. I walked to a really nice view point and there I made breakfast and sat and relaxed watching the sea under the cliffs. It may have been sea water, but at times it was smooth as glass.

After a short walk further round the bay I came to another really pleasant view point and settled there for the day. I had lunch there and simply enjoyed the silence looking at the light changing on the landscape. It was a remarkably relaxing day. I watched icebergs as they melted and changed shape - then toppled over with splashes bubbles and gurgles. I was later told that a large iceberg had toppled over one night and washed away some tents close to the beach, killing some of the occupants. Even small icebergs made a tremendous noise as they turned over.

The semi-island in the bay had a second semi-island leading off it. This was about 1-2 km wide and had a lake in the middle. The land looked flat and there was water nearby. This was one place I would consider coming back to and spending some time exploring - it would make a fantastic base for walking around the area. I think the scenery here was fabulous and I have nothing but envy for the people who have this in front of them every day of their lives. But their lives are tough - and I don't envy them that.

I walked part way back, sat down and cooked supper and then returned to the youth hostel. The family had returned and power was on. Because I had walked through the undergrowth I again had seeds in my socks. I sat on the balcony and spent a calm hour picking seeds out of my socks. It was amazing how many seeds had buried themselves so they couldn't be seen either from the inside or outside of the socks.

Day 11

Tuesday 5th August

I decided to change round my meals today - I had my cold lunch for breakfast. I packed and was ready to leave - I heaved my rucksack out on to the balcony and got ready to pay for my stay. The owner came over and invited me over to his house. I discovered they normally invite people for a meal - and if you book in advance they will do things like go out and pick wild fruit to make some fresh food for you. They really seemed to know how to spoil their guests. I was treated to coffee and cakes in the house. We didn't speak much of each others language, but by the time I left about 45 minutes later I had learned a lot about them - and even some basic words in Greenlandic. I later mentioned this conversation to another local who said 'Oh, yes. He likes to talk, it doesn't really matter if you understand, does it?' So - this is a youth hostel I would recommend - but expect to learn Greenlandic!

The house was a simple wooden construction from the outside - and the ground floor was a sort of utility floor. Upstairs was the living room/kitchen area where we had coffee and cake. One thing I noticed was that although the water in the house was on tap they boiled it (and pour it from one pot to another several times to get some air into it) even for use as cold drinking water. I had come accross many people who had insisted that the Greenlandic streams were fantastic with no chance of any bugs in them. But here were locals with a good quality water supply (albeit from a stream somewhere up in the hills) who were suggesting this wasn't quite the case. Most of the youth hostels are in remote sheep farming areas - and I guess the precautions are worthwhile. A nasty stomach bug is unpleasant in city life - but with life as remote as it is here it could be life threatening - as I discovered later.

I walked back along the path toward Qassiarsuk and stopped just short of the peak in the path, found a nice calm location and set up camp. I then returned a short distance to find the blue marked trail that ran South from the East edge of Lake 120 and followed this. Heading West the main road drops down a steep slope with a wire rope on the edge to act as a sort of crash barrier. At the bottom, just where a steam flows under the road there is a path to the left. It isn't as well marked as the guide books would have you believe. I only knew it was the path by walking some way along it - it looked nothing special. It ran under an overhanging cliff around a lake. There was a sheep skull perched on a rock facing the trail.

After a short distance the path had no obvious direction, and there were no 'marks' to show you where it went. In reality it was obvious where you had to get to - and that you could take one of several routes to get there. But I guess the idea of marked paths means something different in Greenland to other countries. I hadn't been expecting a signpost, but I had been expecting a splodge of colour on a rock. The path was reasonably easy to walk - and I would accept that in terms of difficulty it was a blue path, possibly even green. I wandered around for a while looking at the different options to the way I could go. I did see a rock which may have had a mark on it - but if it was it had almost disappeared and you could not be sure.

I returned from the walk and found a suitable spot to cook my supper. It was a wonderful location to pitch - the views were great, it was sheltered - although with the drought the nearest fast flowing water was about 1500m away down hill. And the road was a bit close - but in some ways that made it a more relaxing pitch. I enjoyed sitting there eating the meal. The weather was quite cool - so I headed off to bed early. I woke a few times during the night, but managed a good sleep overall. I wasn't sure whether something was waking me - but on occasions when I woke I had an uneasy feeling.

On occasions I have slept in a tent sheep farming areas in Scotland, and I was aware of how much noise the sheep can make simply by eating grass near you tent. I remember one morning waking to a ripping noise - which was just a sheep pulling on grass right next to where my head was. So I put the possible unease down to the likelyhood of sheep wandering around the tent.

Day 12

Wednesday 6th August

I woke to find yet another day of glorious sunshine. I walked to my cooking area from the previous night and discovered it had been visited by a scavenger(s). It just served to reinforce my choice of cooking away from my sleeping area. Although the scavenger had probably been around my tent as well it hadn't made the same mess in that area. I had thought I was careful with my cooking - but obviously some milk powder or something had spread on the ground and attracted the visitor.

I packed up and started walking over the hill. As I did I was greeted by a four wheel drive loaded with rucksacks coming in the other direction - a group were obviously following behind. After a short time I met the group sitting by the side of the road obviously sweltering in the heat. I suppose one of the problems of having your gear carried for you is that your walking tends to speed up considerably - and you risk overheating. I never thought of my heavy rucksack as a regulator until then. But when I carry a full weeks supplies I tend to walk at a speed that doesn't cause such extreme overheating, partly because I know what my muscles would feel like at the end of the day if I did.

I took the right turn to Sillisit when I reached it. After walking a few hundred metres I then turned left up the hill (no path). This took me up several slopes one after another - but resulted in a fantastic view. This would be an easy walk from Qassiarsuk and is certainly something to try if you have a half day there. There are several different hills you can climb - some are quite hard going.

I walked back into the town and booked in to my accommodation (the Viking long house). I popped in to the Youth Hostel for a cup of tea and to chat to the people there, and then used the communal toilet block (there for the houses that don't have any - which is pretty much just the long house now). The long house kept a steady temperature day and night at about 15 degrees. I was invited to light a fire to keep myself warm - but this wasn't really needed. Still the sticks were placed there ready for me. I slept on a reindeer skin. One guide book had claimed it was as good as the thermal mats most of us carry. Well temperature wise this is correct - it was warm. But it certainly wasn't as soft as my mat, nor was it as light, nor was it as dry - and perhaps the most important - my mat doesn't have a hair loss problem. Since this was my last night out of the hotel I used up one of my 12 hour chemical light sticks to create enough light in the room to see a little (it was very dark even during the day). I had an excellent night sleep.

Day 13

Thursday 7th August

Because the long house is a tourist attraction it opens with the first tourists. This is the down side - I had to be out early in the day. Still - I ended up getting to the harbour in time for the 0930 boat back. This was the boat dropping the first tourists on this side of the fjord. Since most tourists stay in Narsarsuaq and the boats tend to do return trips it can be easier to find space on the very early boats in the return direction. The skipper was Jackie Simmoud - somebody worth being able to recognise if you visit the area. I was the only person on the boat on the return trip.

I spent this day sorting out my gear - dumping the extras (found somebody who needed my white spirit/gas). And then wandering around the town seeing the sights. There are actually a few [places worth seeing - but probably not worth a bus tour...I walked around the back of signal hill via the Youth Hostel path (the Youth Hostel is to the East of signal hill - in the direction of flower valley from the airport). It also tried to make my arrangements for the following two days (while drinking ample of the Blue Ice coffee and eating the ice cream). I had some trouble getting the trips I wanted - but this seems to be the way of things - adapt and enjoy whatever is available to you.

Day 14

Friday 8th August

Today I went on a tour to the ice fjord. A tour group was also on the same boat (in fact it was a tour group plus myself). They also had lunch provided plus a guide to take care of them (but it's hard to know where they could get lost on the boat). Still - he did answer a lot of their questions - and he was able to pick up some advice from me since he was about to come to Britain on a hiking trip.

It was very misty most of the way - but just as we got as far as the boat could travel the mist lifted and we saw the glacier. It was amazing how a small iceberg nudged gently by the boat made the whole thing judder. The colours of the icebergs were fantastic - ranging from black through blue to white. And the shapes and sizes were incredible. The trip was very impressive - but very cold. It was quite noticeable how much colder the air was in the ice fjord.

I came back and had a mid afternoon sleep - so I could get up and watch the sky at night. I got up and wandered out at about midnight. I found a quiet place to stand where there were no lights. As I stood there I saw faint coloured curtains in the sky - the Northern Lights. They were faint, but I spent time taking photographs with lots of different exposures. Some of the results were quite pleasing.

One interesting thing I noticed was that the hotel bar was filled with half locals and half Europeans. as I walked away from the hotel I became aware that the only noise carrying was the European voices. I talked to one of the locals about it the next day and asked if they thought we (Europeans) were noisy - the reply was a laughed 'yes'.

Day 15

Saturday 9th August

My final day in Greenland. I packed a day sack and walked in to flower valley. I wandered off the track at various points to explore, but essentially stuck to the tourist route. The road makes a wide loop, from where the track heads off to the valley. As you walk along the track you soon come to a stream. If you turn right at the stream and follow the path along the bank you come to some of the best camping areas around. Flat, soft with water nearby (possibly a bit too close).

For the second part of the day I wandered down to the coast and watched icebergs. Not a very strenuous day - but very enjoyable as a last day. The Danish Navy had hit the town - so the hotel bar sounded a little noisy (even though there could only have been about six of them there). Still - I went up and braved it for a coffee - the Navy do know how to party! At midnight the bar closed and the music suddenly changed to a fairly sombre mood. I thought the barman had changed the music to encourage people to leave. I asked and he told me he had changed it in memory of a recent colleague. He was in his twenties and had suffered from epilepsy. He started fitting, but they were unable to get medicine for him, so he lay in his bedroom and died. It was a chilling reminder of how harsh the environment could be there, even in towns.

Day 16

Sunday 10th August

Leaving day. You need to check out of the hotel early. They then bus you to the airport where you check in two hours before the flight. There are no clear queues for specific flights - just line up for the desk. After this you have ample time to wander down to the shop or to the Blue Ice cafe for a farewell coffee.

There is a special door for international flights which takes you to the departure lounge. In fact the departure lounge is also the arrival lounge - so they need to clear arriving passengers from it before closing one set of doors and opening another set for you to get through. The barman from the hotel (who was also a waiter) was the barman in the departure lounge. And this seems to be the way with many people - they do several part time jobs.

Departure was fairly straightforward. No problems. And the trip was over all too soon. Overall I had experienced about 6 hours of rain during the two weeks - unbelievably good weather. I had stayed in a variety of accommodation, and checked out the quality of the maps and routes on them and in guide books.

My overall impression was that the maps were pretty rough quality. The scale of 1:100,000 suggests better accuracy than the maps actually have. If you remember that most of the hiking maps are drawn from 1:250,000 maps and the accuracy is in line with this you will save grief. Many clear details seem to be missing - which is probably to do with the scale. The other problem is that the 1:100,000 maps can be very compressed - expanding them to a larger scale helps to read them.

The guide books were very good when it came to things like details of amenities and telephone numbers. However the quality of the description of the hiking routes is very poor. They are pretty much just rough ideas of where you could walk - and on many occasions I found their suggestions were not to my liking. I guess if you take them as a personal view on walking in Greenland then it might save problems.

If I were to return I would travel with at least one other person and would be prepared to walk off the beaten track on a self discovery tour. I would pick a simple journey and explore the variety of paths along the route between the two places. I don't think I would choose any particular route, but would give myself ample time to get the wrong path several times over.