We had not expected such a sleepless night after our long arduous and eventful drive through Estonia. We had a group discussion and the outcome was one without decent! as Joe and Dan had only slept for less than 2 full hours we would find a hotel that was clean safe and less than 10k away to recover and eat well, soft beds and hot clean showers was the order of the day.

We were in luck I managed to access the Internet from our less than glamorous Hotel/hostel and that is being kind to the dear old place! The other guys were bust refilling the washer bottle cleaning the lights and doing the daily vehicle checks, I had found a nice looking Hotel and not too far, looked a world of difference from the smelly tatty place we were in just now.

I made some quick calls as I did not want to raise expectations only to be disappointed later some nice honest reviews and after a call to a well spoken lady I booked a twin accessible room and a large triple with a huge bath!! Or so they assured me!!

We did a wee bit of sight seeing in the old town as getting to the other side of the tram lines in the old part of the city, not made any easer in Latvia due to our very poor local dialect and the fact the free map we pinched from a very grotty reception however that proved to be older than the trams.

A huge lunch and some pamper time was in order for the guys. Robbie and Dave were off to view the historical sights and culture, Joe and Dan however went off to shoot some Big Guns and weapons at a nearby ex KGB Bunker and all for less than 50 euro’s. We had arranged to meet the Latvian National Volleyball Coach and some of her players to discuss classification and their Beijing exploits, this was me trying to understand minimum levels of impairment to assist me in my day job back in Wales.  Yet again Robbie’s charm and smile paid dividends as our hoists invited us to a very nice restaurant however it was a little weird! we ended up eating off a Mortuary slab in a bizarre place done out like an old fashioned hospital fabulous food not expensive and served by a waitress dressed like a nurse, just had to be done.

We planned to depart around 9am after a long sleep and everything we could consume from the breakfast buffet and be close to the Lithuanian boarder by midday on route to Kanus the second largest city in Lithuanian some 600k’s drive away.

I don’t think our heads had hit the pillows before big Dave had the first floor rocking with his

Jamie and Lisa were charming and put us at ease straight away, I think Jenks was a bit nervous, or does he always babble like that?

Looking forward to the newly announced dog sled challenge next spring and the Kilimanjaro ! I think I’ll stick to managing the blogs though…

Here’s our fleeting glimpse of fame and thanks to the ever helpful Thorlief at the Ashgrove Inn, here’s a link and directions on listening

Anybody want to hear the programme? If you follow the link underneath, and move the “timebar” under the picture on the link to 1.08.40, you get straight to the part of the programme where the boys took part. I think you can only listen to this link until Tuesday next week, but my step-son Chris is working on an edited version, that will be there FOREVER. So, keep an eye on this , and I will put in the new link. The link now, and for a few days is: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00jjvmh/Jamie_Owen_and_Louise_Elliott_02_04_2009/

We all have great faces for Radio

It hadn’t seemed like 10 mins when the alarm was going off for us to start getting showered and dressed etc for our journey to Estonia.   I turned and spoke to my room mates and brothers and asked them how they were feeling.  They said the long drive and concentration levels required had taken their toll and they were both absolutely shattered.   They asked me why don’e we sleep an extra couple and hours and go to the last breakfast serving at 10 am.   I phoned through to where Robbie and Dan were sleeping, I certainly didn’t get any grumbles about being able to sleep in for an extra 2 hours.  In fact, I think Robbie was back asleep before I actually put the phone down!

Again the hotel extended their hospitality beyond the norm and allowed us a banquet feast way after 11 am as it had been the first time I had been able to get into a shower, for too many days to mention, assisted by my two brothers.  Clean socks and underwear, shave and a full stomach we set off in high spirits for the ferry port.   Our enthusiasm was somewhat crushed as we arrived at several booking agents, made lots of additional phone calls, only to be told they were either booked up til late afternoon or there was no wheelchair access to get us from the car deck to the passenger lounges on board for the 2 hours journey to Estonia.    After an hour of frantic discussions we managed to get aboard the 5.30pm ferry after speaking to some very kind people in Estonia itself, however, my phonetic alphabet needed some work and their level of English was not good but the one thing that certainly had a common denominator was using the first letter of a country or a famous pop star or football team.   

We had to be at the ferry port for loading at 4 pm before departure.   We decided to drive back into Helsinki as some of the guys were feeling hungry again and after 2 weeks away David was dying for a Chinese.

As we boarded the ferry for Estonia some comments were made as to the number of years this dear old vessel had been in service, or in fact, when it was serviced last.   We sat at the back of the ferry where we believe there was internet access and a viewing deck but only to be deafened by he engine noises and the breaking ice as we moved away from the dock.   I have to say, several references were made to the Titanic being unsinkable and I certainly didn’t fancy our chances in the icy cold deep blue seas below.

Knowing that plans had changed and we were not going to be staying in Estonia that night and needed to move onto Latvia to try and make up the lost day I phoned our able assistant back in the UK, Chip, to try and find us a hotel.   He texted me through the name of the hotel which seemed reasonably priced and did have an accessible bedroom.   However, we lost all phone contact as we were 45 mins out of port and heading for Estonia.   Robbie and I, however, had managed to unlock the laptop and some of our information but it seemed we had picked up a virus in Helsinki and were finding it practically impossible to access our plans and back up info regarding Eastern Europe and the Baltic states.   However, we managed to find the hotel Chip had told us about and from the pictures on their website and info provided it seemed a reasonable hotel and good value. This is always difficult to judge from a website and as none of us had been to Latvia before we could not really work out the value of their currency.  Time was pressing on and we would soon lose internet access so we had to make a decision.  

On arriving in Estonia we drove off the ferry and pulled over to make the phone call ahead to the hotel in Latvia.   We then discovered that the time in Estonia was, in fact, 2 hours ahead of the UK and when we thought we would be arriving at 7.30pm it was now 8.30 pm.   We would need to fuel up our vehicles before the drive to Latvia as we had run them down to almost empty, with the exception of our reserve tanks, as we had heard fuel of cheap in eastern europe and we wanted to make good use of the low costs.    We filled the vehicles, bought a local map, as we had failed to update the sat nav, only to find that my credit card was not being accepted due to the bank stopping it for security reasons as it was being used in Estonia.    We then had to find a way of getting local currency from our remaining Finish and some Norwegian currency.   Not an easy task when hardly anybody speaks any english.

This now meant that we were leaving Tallin at around 9.15 pm with a 4 hr journey to our hotel in Latvia.   They were long straight roads and good driving conditions and almost completely clear of snow, however, the huge numbers of trucks heading south again hampered our progress and passing them was not easy in the dark in totally unchartered terratory.   We arrived in the Parnu district knowing we still had over an hour to travel out of Estonia, the roads had slowed down considerably, it was approaching 12.30 am and our 4 hours looked more like a 7 hour journey at this stage.   Little did we know that 10 mins further up the road we drove into a alledged police road and speed check area where our lead vehicle drove through and we were stopped by police waving light batons and told to pull over where I found a not so pleasant looking sargeant tapping on my window showing me a speed camera gun.   He pointed at the digital set and said “you were speeding – 76 in a 50 klm zone”.   I tried to explain we were unaware of any signs saying 50 klm ph and as far as we were concerned it was an 80 klm stretch of road.   I asked him if I could see the gun again and pointed out to him that there was no date or registration number evident on the screen.   He then agrilly pointed out that I was not driving and told to shut up and ordered Joe out of the vehicle as he was the driver.   Joe was told to bring the paperwork along with him immediately to the police car sitting some 30 m behind us.    They held him there for over 1.5 hrs explaining that he would have to pay a fine and that if we paid him now it would speed things up and we could be on our way, however, we only had £30 worth of Estonian currency and had also used what little we had to make up the money to buy the fuel from the petrol station.  The 1.5 hrs seemed like days as we sat waiting and wondering how he was getting on in the police car.   We had waited and waited at which point I made some calls back to the UK.   I spoke to Gill regarding our insurance and legal cover as I couldn’t reach them on the numbers I had or even the out of hours number.   With both windows open in the vehicle and the temperatures at -5 we were getting colder, more anxious and wouldn’t dare to turn the ignition key in case they thought we would try to go off and leave the scene.   We had contacted our support vehicle and told them to wait around the corner in case they tried to pull them over also and demand on the spot fines to.   As Joe arrived back with paperwork in hand there was a deadly silence as Joe climbed in with the 2 stoney faced policeman stood behind.   As we set off Joe turned and gave us a reasurring wink and said after 1.5 hrs of trying to wear him down they let him go and demanded he pay a fine of 1,800 local currency.   He was expected to be grateful for this as they had reduced it from 3,800 as they thought we were good men by doing this charity challenge for disabled children.   This will have to be taken up with our AA legal advisors as it was blatently obvious and from Joe’s reactions they purely wanted money to let us proceed on our way to Latvia.   It clearly shook Joe and we kept below 50 klms ph and we still had 140 klms to go still.

The thought of those big warm beds that we had seen on the internet with large russian style bathrooms certainly seemed inviting. As we pulled up at the hotel at 3 am and told to park round the back through a large underpass our hearts sunk as we entered the hotel via the back door.   Its amazing what good photograph and lighting can do as they had certainly done a good job on this place.   It seemed to take for ever to register our passports and details and be allocated our 3 twin bedded rooms.  They were very proud of the fact they had a wheelchair accessible room with all the grab things in the bathroom etc only to find there was a 12 inch step to the room before I could get to any of the handicapped facilities that he had pointed out.   At that time in the morning when you are tired and spent the only thing you can do is check the sheets for cleanliness, spray yourself with deodorant and the bed linen and was much of the room as you can, dive under the covers and try and go to sleep as fast as you can.   Martin, however, was flying out at 7 am in the morning and so it was left to Joe and Daniel to drive him to the airport at 4.50 am where he left on an Air Brussels flight bound for Manchester.

They arrived back at the hotel at around 6 am so I extended our stay until around 12 noon so we could get some good rest.   It would be unfair of me to name the hotel, however, you certainly didn’t see any drunks, people using substances and ladies of the night in the glossy brochure available on the reception desk.  We needed to sleep and around 6 hours time decide what we were to do next as were all physically and emotionally shattered.

We had an early start at 07.30, Joe being the early riser.   We made our way from breakfast which you could have fed an army on.   I personally along with David had porridge topped up with fresh fruit, toast and several cups of strong black coffee.   It was an amazing sight to watch Joe devour 10 or more sausages, scrambled eggs, bacon, toast with melted cheese topped up with a bowl of cornflakes and every sort of  topping from chopped almonds, bananas and apricots etc. In his defence he said, with a deep bellied laugh, “its hard work driving those Land Rovers when your not allowed to touch the brakes, eh brother”.  He was, in fact, making reference to his first day’s driving from Kirkenes down to Rovaniemi where I had told him in no uncertain terms he was not to use the brakes, he had to use the low gearing system on the Land Rover to bring the vehicle to a stop.   My dear brother and I had this conversation many times over the 530 klm drive where it finally sunk in but to my dismay the lead vehicle, driven by David, had pulled over in a layby to drink some hot coffee, we sailed past and as it was pointed out to him they were sitting in a lay-by to have a rest break, he said “I’m not stopping til we get to —— Helsinki as you’ve told me for the past 7 hours I am not allowed to use the brakes. 

David, Robbie, Dan and Joe went to collect the bags from the rooms only to find that Martin had already assisted me into the vehicle and we were warming up the deisel for the long drive to Helsinki.   I knew this was going to be a challenging day as we had over 830 klms to drive as we wanted to make the last ferry to Estonia at 8pm on Sunday evening.

Once we had passed Aanekoski some 500 klms further south the snow and ice on the roads was starting to diminish.  This made for faster driving and allowed us to make up some valuable lost time. Over the many years I have known David he has never yielded at a challenge so when a couple of Russian trucks tried to intimidate him I knew we would make safe passage through a convoy of what seemed to be at least 12 trucks all travelling south.   We discussed later the fact that they probably get their entertainment by trying to close the gaps between the trucks as you try to overtake.   However, us boy from Britain are made of stern stuff and we had an 8pm deadline for a ferry to catch only to be foiled at the very last 10 klms arriving in Helsinki where we were diverted several times off our route by ongoing traffic and roadworks etc.   This caused havoc with our sat nav.   We finally arrived at the dockside only to find we were, in fact, on the wrong side of the bay and after driving 830 klms we were left with just 2 klm to the check-in point.  To our massive disappointment the gates were closed and with some of the best grovelling you could hear we were unable to persuade them to let us board.   As we sat drinking strong black coffee we had the difficult task of trying to find somewhere in Helsinki at a budget rate where 6 of us could sleep safely and with some food inside us only to return tomorrow to hopefully gain access to a ferry that would transport us to Estonia.   After several phone calls back to Chip in the UK and the sat nav unit trying to find local hotels and hostels we had 3 places to go and visit that seemed to meet our needs of budget and kitchen availability so we could eat well.   Martin, Robbie and Joe led the assault on the local hostels, which in reality were nothing more than low priced doss houses.   Again with our fear for safety of the vehicle and all our gear and the fact that there were some loud music, dingy lights and dubious smelling tobacco we decided this was not the place for us to rest ourselves this night.   Back in the UK Chip had come up with one last hotel that was offering last minute deals, I got quite excited as he said it was a very well known hotel chain and looked like the only place that could sleep 6 and have a secure car park.   He told me it was the Hilton Hotel on the north side of Helsinki.  Probably couldn’t repeat my words but “Hilton, 6 people with food including breakfast – you have got to be joking me” however, it was now getting near 10 pm so I had no alternative but to ring the hotel and ask to speak to the night manager to see if I could try and charm a better deal out of them with some stories of our epic journey and as the old saying goes “you don’t get if you don’t ask”.   The hotel management and staff were wonderful, they offered us 3 rooms including breakfast for £25.00 per head, which has to be said is a fantastic deal in such a lavish establishment and certainly in Scandinavia.  They even kept the restaurant open til 11.30 pm so we could all eat well.  Thank you all at the Hilton Hotel in Helsinki it was certainly an honour to stay with you.

Anthony, Robbie and Dave would like to thank everyone who turned up at Tiger Tiger to welcome them home last night.    The guys had banners in the street and Helen and Barrie had made large photo momentums for everyone that went plus Chip who was the 11th member of the group giving support, information and advice from back home. 

It was a great evening with food, drink and a disc of photos playing for everyone to see.    Dave then made the long journey back home with is family and myself, Robbie, Joe and Dan were glad to see our beds.

After the guys unpacked the vehicles this morning and Gill dropped Robbie and Joe to the train station to make a further journey home she spent the rest of the day finding homes for all the equipment that we brought back.  Bless her still working hard.

It has been a fantastic amazing 3 weeks with immense highs and huge lows.    My next job is to crack on and update all the blogs to share as much of this experience with yourselves and future travellers over the Arctic Circle.  This, I feel, will be a tremendous legacy for other people with impairments, or not!   Its an extreme country with extreme conditions and it requires extreme efforts in return and it reminds me and the support team of the efforts young people with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy face every day.   For each of them and their families, loved ones and support networks I would like to pay a huge mark of respect from all of us.   Our only goal now is to raise as much money as possible to reward their efforts and allow them something nice in return for all our efforts and your support.

Blogs to follow:

Finland - The Santa Claus Hotel & -12 driving conditions

Helsinki – The nightmare ferry crossing to Estonia

Estonia – Midnight police road block

Latvia – The scary hotel

Lithuania – The beautiful people yet extreme poverty

Poland – Travel to Warsaw

Germany – The Berlin Wall

Holland – Our last night, Eindhoven

Cardiff – The journey home

The guys are currently between Warsaw and Berlin.  They had an absolute nightmare in Helsinki, missed the ferry to Estonia, the laptop was corrupted and couldn’t get into website, e-mails and important information.   Arrived in Estonia at 5.30 pm and got stopped by police for 1 hr 30 mins for allegedly speeding where they wanted our money.   Arrived in Latvia at 2 am in the morning and moved onto Lithuania where finding a hotel with clean sheets was a real challenge.

Will add some picturs and further stories as we are now in between Warsaw and Berlin.   Hopefully tonight we will be able to get some decent internet loading speed.

The guys are really looking forward to seeing people after their 3 week epic journey.     Come and join us at Tiger Tiger on Sunday 29th March at 7 pm when hopefully the guys will be back from France.

We set off for the long 750k drive south and we had set off late trying to send the blogs and pics back to the UK.  Never criticise the UK internet system and download speeds again guys, we are blessed back home believe me.  It was easier to get permission to enter Nordkapp than get a great fast connection here in the very outreaches of the Norwegian Russian border.

It was lunch time, around 13.00 hours, before we stopped to fill up the Land Rovers and yet we had only covered 200k with 550 to cover before we slept in a camp site in Oulu.  Filled up we drove on through thick fog freezing icy roads and drifting snow but still we were falling behind hour by hour.  It was a risk to break in Joe to the driving, yet he coped very well with me speaking ever so sweetly to him !! hmm you make up your own mind.

7 hours after we left Kirkenes we had 350k to drive and it was -8 and thick driving snow, in my heart I wanted to continue and not fail our daily target yet common sense told us to pull off the road phone my brother back in the UK and ask him to find us a local hotel.  He did just that and we ended up in the !! Santa Claws Hotel ! in a town I cannot pronounce !!

Needed to eat soon, sleep and refuel the vehicles and start off early in the morning.

Day 14 Part 2 – 3 support staff left in Kirkenes.

It was an early start to the day in order for us to get breakfast, make sandwiches for the guy’s journey and help pack the vehicles.  

Gill, Barrie and Helen wished all the guy’s well and to carry on the good work and stood watching as the two vehicles, which we had basically lived in for the last week or two, drove off into the distance.  It was a strange feeling seeing them drive off without us but our trip had come to an end and our flights were booked for Sunday ready to take us home and back to work.

We decided to go for a walk towards the Russian border, to have a look, and noticing there were some people taking huskie rides on the frozen lake we decided to stop and have a look.   As we were there the Norwegian border patrol came and took details and photos of these people and on enquiring what was happening we learnt that they had crossed the border into Russia and this, without any doubt, was not permitted and they would have to be fined.    This border business we felt was very strange as from the time we set off from Cardiff two weeks earlier we had crossed many border and had never even shown our passports to anybody but  the border with Russia is completely different.   Between our accommodation and Russia there was a frozen lake and in the middle of the lake were poles along a line at varying distances, this was the border between Norway and Russia, and nobody could pass over this point in any direction without being caught and fined.  This poor young girl in question had taken some friends out on her huskie sleigh and the lead dog and disobeyed her and decided to run straight across the border line.   By the time she had come back to shore the Norwegian border patrol were there taking details.   We decided to carry on with our walk and by the time we had reached the road border crossing there were two Russian border patrol on the ice taking pictures of the tracks the girl and her dogs had made.    The amount of time and man power this had taken seemed really extreme for a mistake which probably lasted about 2 minutes!!   But then, we suppose, rules are rules!!

We had arranged, with the owners of Sollia Camping, to have a meal in their restaurant, which was sat on the side of the frozen lake overlooking the Russian border.   We arrived on time and all we can say is the restaurant, the service and the food, which was prepared, cooked and served directly in front of us, was outstanding.    All three of us had reindeer fillet with seasonal veg in red wine sauce.    Cooked and presented to perfection.    All we could think was we were sat in perfect surroundings eating fabulous food and the rest of the guy’s were still driving, somewhere in Finland!!

All we can say is good luck guys and this was a perfect end to a great trip.    See you all soon x.

I would also like to say a big thank you to Corey of Blacks, Cardiff on the expert advice he gave us on clothing and weather conditions.   I must say, Corey, you were right I was warm and the trip was fantastic!!   Also thanks to the Manager of Blacks, sorry forgotten your name.  Gill

It has been a very, very long but jubilant day indeed. I can only say a huge thank you to my fellow paralympians and fantastic support crew, they have shared a very special moment in my and I hope their own lives.

It had taken us 12 hours to drive to Kirkenes after our victory with bureaucracy and the severe weather conditions in Nordkapp, the deep snow, blizzards and that 546k drive had taken its toll, we needed to sleep,eat and rest !!, Oh and my two brothers Joseph and Martin were due to fly into Kirkenes airport at 11.30 this morning, having set off from the Peak district in the UK on Thursday afternoon to fly to Oslo, those of you that know me well, will know I am not the worlds best as I operate on “”Anthony Time most of my life””

Robbie and Daniel were up first looking for food and clean towels! This means a lot when you have been on the road and in 8 different venues in 13 days. They would go pick up the new support guys from the Airport. It was nice to see my little brothers all 6,3” and the collective 36 stone of fresh strong muscle, we were losing Gill, Barrie and Helen on Saturday as there were flying back to the UK, their efforts and support had been invaluable to me personally and the other guys also. Not sure my brothers would be as cool, kind or calm as you three !! Oh well I have 16 hours in the Land Rovers to whip em into shape Hahah ! Gill Helen and Barrie were staying an extra night in Norway and flying on Sunday back to Heathrow, we hopefully would be 1450k away in Helsinki by the time they landed on UK soil again.

We still had the dog sleigh night ride to do across a frozen 1 meter thick fiord in -7 condition and yet we could not wait. We had some calorie killing hot food, everyone kitted up for the cold, in the vehicles and on our way. As we arrive at the Husky compound to meet and bond with the dogs my heart was pounding !! “”No back balance and poor hand grip and at the speeds they can travel over every bump and hump? must be mad hmmm we will see!!

I met a huge white mountain dog the was used to scare the Brown bears away at night as they would often visit the compound to try to kill and eat the younger dogs !! I was told he was harmless yet if he was off his chain and smelling a big brow bear was a killer !! glad I had shaved and had some deodorant on hey.

We were all delighted and excited as we had our dogs harnessed to our sleighs. The sound of the huskies was deafening as they increased their own adrenalin and testosterone levels before we set off. They sure love their work and just want to run and run. Heart pumping I was lowered into my sleigh by Martin and Joe as Dan and Gill tool care of my chair. Robbie was going to do the driving as always the full on action guy ! he must be nuts, you should see these things go. Barrie and Helen were a team, Joe and Gill, Robbie and Martin, Dan and Dave would, like me, be assisted by the local experts. Has to be said they all had a six dog team and me, well, I had an eight dog team and a delightful local guide. She told me she had been driving and leading dogs for eight years and was hoping to race them in Alaska when she is 20 or more and can afford the huge cost involved in this wonderful sport.

As the lead dogs led off into the darkness the other teams barked and howled louder and louder as they wanted to go and go fast. In seconds all the guys had sped off into the darkness. I saw Robbie standing on the back and smiling as he disappeared into the snowy night sky. My turn, oh my god we were off, at breath taking pace ! No help from my support team just me, the dogs my mussher and a strong bungee strap to help keep my balance ! ouch as we hit the first of many steep drops and turns leading onto the frozen Ice, we had a very bumpy fast 10k ride ahead of us, It felt like freedom and yet quietly, I was fighting the mind games in my head ! I was going to stay in this sleigh and enjoy every meter of it !! My thick wheelchair cushion helped ease the fast head on frozen snow mounds we hit at speed, boy could this powerful team run, please see the fantastic pictures to get a better feel for this wonderful experience.

In no time we were heading back to the compound across the frozen ice the temperatures had dropped to -8 and with the wind chill I was glad I had my red life saver on ! haha

While we were chatting just outside the dog pound, while the dogs were being unleashed and returned to their kennels, Gill noticed a light mist in the sky. Within minutes this had turned green and was making a fabulous shape in the sky. We were stunned, not only had we just had a fantastic experience with the dogs but the Northern Lights had graced us with their presence. Could this day get any better!! We had seen them briefly the night before whilst driving to Kirkenes but this was just outstanding. The sky was perfectly clear and the aura was so vibrant. As we all proved not many cameras will pick up the lights but Barrie, after lots of investigation, set his camera up on its tripod, pressed the button and waited. Would these camera settings work or had the hours of scouring the internet been wasted. 30 seconds later a fantastic picture appeared on Barrie’s camera screen. He had done it!! He got the perfect picture of the Northern Lights, which he was obviously very proud of. Well done!!

We had booked a hot meal of Reindeer stew and local Ice-cream with cloudberrys for desert in the Viking Long House behind the main building for supper. The food was as fabulous as the dog ride in a smokey wooden hut with huge open log burning fire, again see the picture to do it justice.

Now that's a fire to come home to

As we returned to our cabins for the night we all went to sleep on a huge high and well deserved emotional boost it had been 14 days since we left Cardiff and 3,500 mile later.

Up early to head for Oulu in Finland tomorrow morning on the return leg !

I fell ever increasingly sick and anxious as 9am came and went!!  This was not looking good, should I phone the British Embassy, it was now 9.20 and it felt like we had been waiting hour upon hour for the call we had been expecting.   I certainly knew from my friends in Wales and Norway with all their wonderful efforts that Mr. Johusen had been put under immense pressure after many phone calls and a stack of e-mails, some from as far away as Atlanta, USA in support of our cause.  I had spoken to Thorlief  back in Wales last night and he in turn had spoken to Mr. Johusen, I was hoping his sweet Norwegian tones from Wales would have helped us secure permission to go forward onto the plateau.   This Norwegian, now of Neath, certainly has the same characteristics as my fellow travellers.  We had laughed after Mr. Johusen had said “does this man have connections with President Putin, he must do after all the phone calls I have had today”.  At 9.30 am to the very second my mobile rang, it was the British Embassy, we were told in a delighted voice from Oslo that we had been given total and ultimate permission to drive behind the snow plough up to the plateau but only at 12.30pm today.   Excitement reigned; we packed our vehicles and sat outside the hostel for an hour waiting for the drive up to the Nordkapp gate.

The Snow Plough at the ready                                      Better light and ready for off !

David led up the hill in winds, that were reaching 80 mph, in roads that were covered by snowfall overnight.   The roads got worse as the snow got deeper, it went through my mind that this was a supple ploy to stop us getting to the main gate, however, true to their word a snow plough was waiting and we tucked in behind him ready for the 12.30 deadline.   No officials, no burocrocy as the gate was opened and the snow plough went up the hill we were allowed to follow unhindered.   After a couple of miles we hit a deep snow drift and we couldn’t recognise the road from the embankments, you must see the pics to realise the depth of the snow.   20 mins later we arrived at our destination, through a toll booth which again would have required money, however, we were allowed to go through unchecked, seconds later the snow plough pulled to one side and we were at the very top.  We could see the freezing ocean and the cliff falling into it either side of us.   The guys got out to some very icy conditions and icy very strong high winds.   Barrie did some investigation and told us we could drive around to the very back of the building nearer the Globe if we negotiated the ice.   It was happening; we were going to drive to the Globe!!  There wasn’t a lot of room to spare as we positioned our vehicles either side of the Globe and got out to take a team photograph with the Welsh and Norwegian flags.   I could see from the icy cold winds and the blowing snow that it was going to be freezing when I was assisted out of the vehicle, however, in my specially designed arctic suit, face mask and mitts I was going to stay warm.  I had my driving gloves on as we got out of the vehicle and my hands went cold in seconds.   We had lots of team pics (so please see the site).

We had lost a day and half with all the red tape and burocoacy but despite that we had achieved our goal as on Thursday 19th March at 1.05 pm the proof was in the picture, we were here we had done it.   The snow plough would descend at 2 pm sharp and it only seemed like minutes later we were climbing back into the vehicles with jubilant moods and then had a 340 mile drive to Kirkenes where we hoped some warm cabins and stunning views over the Russian border were waiting at the Sollia centre in Kirkenes.   The snow got increasingly worse, we had to change route several times as the sat nav kept telling us to go the shortest route, however, there was  9 to 11 inchs of snow on the E6 in places so we were certainly not going to risk taking b or even minor roads despite this adding 2 hours or more to our journey.

With 100 miles still to go to Kirkenes becoming ever increasingly tired and more frustrated at the road conditions a few shouts came up saying they could see the Northern Lights.   These had eluded us so far, surely we couldn’t be treated to two wonderful moments in one day.  Perhaps there is a god!!  All of a sudden there was a huge green light display going on to our left, windows open, icy cold winds, but who cared we could see the lights, unfortunately the drivers had to concentrate and we had no time to stop as it was midnight and we had at least an hours drive ahead.

We finally arrived at the cabins and true to form they were lovely and warm and it was 2am as we switched off the light for a well earned sleep.   What a fantastic day!!