Thursday, September 27, 2012

A Greenland Summer

As readers of this blog will be aware I consider the west coast of Greenland to be one of the finest sea kayaking destinations anywhere.  The stunning scenery, rich historical landscape, diverse wild life and wilderness combine to create a truly memorable environment.We were fortunate this year to be able to head further north than in the past, flying into Uummannaq and then paddling south,  nearly 300 nautical miles back to Ilulissat.

The northern waters of Disko Bay seen from the helicopter, it would be over two week before returned through this area in our kayaks and there would be significantly more ice.
Nicky collecting our hand luggage from the Bell 212 we flew to Uummannaq in.  What a great experience.
The kayaks had been left at the side of the road by Yann and the other French sea kayakers.  The backdrop was simple stunning and that was were we would be heading tomorrow.
The village of Uummannaq has a population of about 1,300 but it is dwarfed by the mountain which rises dramatically to a height of 1170 metres straight out of the sea.  Any ascent would be challenging day out!
Exploring the village in the evening we came across the local kayak club, with a variety of craft.
The following morning as we packed the kayaks the cloud base obscured what we assumed was pretty dramatic scenery.  Following a visit to the supermarket the skies had cleared revealing the surrounding mountains.

Andy and myself were the first afloat and eager to start the crossing the nearest islands.  As we sat in the harbour, absorbing the scale of the environment we had little idea just how dramatic our first days paddle would actually be.

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