Emily Thornberry MP's Blog

All done

Woke very tired on Thursday. Our last trip was to the Trinations border where Norway, Sweden and Finland meet. We had wonderful views.

I climbed onto the border monument with the other MPs and had my photo taken with Martin Field, the fund-raising director of The Children's Society.   

There was a great sense of achievement. It has been hard work, but worth it. The journey back was very hard. It was very cold and all my adrenaline went. I could hardly hold onto the sled.

My final sled ride of the trek

I eventually back onto the coach for the trip back to Jukkasjärvi. On the way, we stopped at the Ice Hotel that was used by James Bond. It looked too much like an igloo for me!

It's strange being back with people outside the group I've been travelling with for the last week. We met the local journos and politicians. I have a copy of the local paper, but have no idea what it says!

Valentine's eve in a spermaladeco

Valentine's eve was a hard day. It was cold with grey snow ladened sky.

The pulled muscle was quite undermining as it affects so much of what I wanted to do. I couldn't walk in deep snow or push on the sled very easily. I couldn't even get on the snow mobile for a lift because my leg just didn't work. Tobias said as I hobbled to the sled "How's morale Emily?". I said "awful Tobias, awful".

Having said that though, when we were due to leave, I was trying to get the anchor/grapple thing out of the ground and not doing all that well. I couldn't pull it out. In fact, I couldn't even get down to pull it out. It had also frozen into the ground. In the gym, Serbo was making me do dead-lifts of 80 kilos and now I couldn't even lift an anchor! Hugo, who is the guy in charge of the dogs, started shouting at me. Whilst I was shouting back at him that I was trying, Tobias came over and pulled the anchor out for me, which was really sweet of him.

Things really started going down hill when I couldn't find Margaret's St. Christopher. I realised that I had dropped it. I was either somewhere in the snow or in my suit. I managed to find it eventually and felt much better having done so. After lunch, I fell again when the slender lady dogs were up to their tricks. They kept stopping to file their nails and have a chat. The snow got very deep and I couldn't scoot to help them. It was hopeless.

The best part of the day was the fishing. Tiasto, a man who wears nothing but seal fur, was in charge of teaching us how to fish. He was very polite but clearly convinced that we weren't going to catch anything. We all gamely dangled our rods into holes in the ice. The fishing rods looked like toys, which underlined our attitude that it was all a bit of a laugh.

Tiasto looking for fish

But my line twitched. I told the man with me, who's name I don't know. He is referred to as "Marcus's sidekick" or "the Norwegian". He didn't believe me but the line twitched again and he was less sure. I started to reel it up anyway and blow me there was a fish on the end. I screamed. Fish and line and hook plunged back into the hole, but the Norwegian shoved his arm into the water and caught. It was a huge freshwater burbot. It was gutted and the fish liver and roe left out to freeze. The rest of the guts were about to be discarded and Nick Clegg said this would surely cement my reputation as a woman not to be messed with.

I felt enormously proud of myself. I had never been fishing like that ever before and had managed to catch a fish in ten minutes. My morale, Tobias, was pretty good by that stage.

I was exhausted when we got to the hut. No water or electricity. But we did have a fire, cooker, beds and a spermaldeco (Sami for "sperm box").

That evening, It turned out to be cooler inside Meerilees' sleeping bag than it is outside. This was because her bag has been in the sled all day and although we got to the hut at 4pm it still hasn't fully frozen.

We managed to get the fire going as we cooked for everyone. Everyone crowded in for supper and it was really warm. In fact, it was -26 C outside the hut and +26.5C inside! We had to cook with melted snow, by candlelight. We couldn't cook the fish because it had frozen, so we left it to thaw and had it for breakfast.

Frozen

My hair, eyelashes and eyebrows froze. Even the inside of my nose froze.

Two horse race?

Monday's trek was cold. Hair, eyelashes, eyebrows and even the inside of my nose froze.

On the upside, I had a new turbo powered team of huskies for the morning. On the downside, my team got changed in the afternoon for one that wasn't quite so turbo charged. They didn't like hills. After a while they decided that they didn't like flat either. By the end of the afternoon, I felt like I had been carrying the poor dears, and the sled, most of the way.

I also got a groin injury. I thought you had to be a footballer to get one of those. It seems not though.

Towards the end of the day we had a bit of a Ben Hur moment. I was having problems with the dogs on the hills, and Jenny Willott's dogs kept trying to pass me. I had a flash of "it's a two horse race" pass before my eyes. Lucky for both of us that we were in the Arctic and not a Roman circus!

Back to the 1970s

A rather lovely looking hut is where we are staying tonight. We have been given our extreme suits. They have a distinct 70s look with platform boots and flared trousers - actually with balaclavas and hats it is more 70s Ningas.

You can't recognise people as everyone has the same uniform - the only difference is the hats. However, we really need the suits! I was stuck outside the cabin tonight (bum key) with just three layers on. It definitely wasn't enough. Even with the suit on it is cold unless you keep moving. The story is that it was -37C last week and has warmed up. It is now -10 to -14 during the day.

I'm told they don't bother saying minus here.

Yes, I am obsessed with the temperature. Maybe I'll feel better if I survive tomorrow.

Arctic wisdom - day 1

Our team of Arctic adventurers fly from London to Kittila via Helsinki, arriving in the late afternoon, and then a minibus transports us to lodgings at Katkasuvanto on the Finland/ Sweden border, and into the heart of Sápmi Land. 

This land is home to one of the largest indigenous groups in Europe; the Sámi people.  They have a population estimated to be between 75,000 to 100,000 people. They have inhabited the northern regions of Scandinavia for thousands of years, with some evidence suggesting they have been there from as early as 8100BC. 

At its peak this land spanned across an area the size of Sweden alone, however, settlers drove the Sámi progressively north, and nowadays their land encompasses parts of northern Sweden, Norway, Finland and the Kola Peninsular of Russia.  Whilst we may not be used to the freezing climate, it is part of the Sámi’s every day life that they have learnt to build their activities around. 

More of the Sámi people’s lifestyles will be explored over the coming days of the expedition.

The day before

Woke up to find the world had turned white. There was a thick layer of snow everywhere. Does this mean I don't have to go? I am sure I have a sore throat anyway.

I tried this line out on various people. No one seemed the slightest bit impressed.

Definitely feeling anxious about the whole venture today.

It helps to remember the touching notes I have received from some of my pensioners enclosing small sums of sponsorship which they can hardly afford.

And today I have sewn a St Christopher into my jacket which has been lent me by one of my constituents. It belonged to her mother and is well thumbed. Such acts of kindness give me a real lift.

Last minute sleeping bag

I rushed into Blacks on Upper Street this morning for even more last minute and somewhat essential shopping: 4 seasons sleeping bag and windproof jacket (5th layer!). I met a mother from kids school. "Ahha" she calls across the shop "last minute shopping for the artic then".  Islington is a village.