Emily Thornberry MP's Blog

Slow dogs

Wednesday was a really long day. We went to the top of the world on a mountain range. We got to the a plateau and had a 360 degree view of mountains glowing in the sunshine. We had lunch there.

Norwegian Mountains

Lunch on top of the world

I have five dogs rather than four,  but they've turned out to be slower that the four dog teams. King dog wants to be leader, but is rubbish at mushing.  He had to be put at the back, but he finds that too degrading and so can be a bit troublesome. I end up having to help push the sled up the hill, and also the flat. Tobias Ellwood, who is two sleighs behind me, even accepts that I have to work harder than everyone else. Since I'm keeping up with everyone it seems unlikely that I'll get faster dogs.

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.

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!

Yappy wild west

When the sleds came into camp we have to ride in a circle like wagons in a wild west film - just more yappy!

More howling huskies

Howling huskies

Arctic wisdom - day 2

After a much needed warming breakfast we meet the guides for the expedition and learn how to harness and care for the dogs; our ‘engine power’ for the week!  Once the sleds are packed up we'll be ready to go…but with a gentle start to warm our muscles up and get used to the dogs, and for the dogs to get used to us.

The route for the first day takes us over wide hard-packed trails, west across fairly flat terrain, with a landscape of trees, frozen rivers and lakes.  The trek passes through two tiny Sámi villages, Saivomuotka and Sudjavaara.  The second has no more than ten houses.  From here the landscape will begin to change, becoming more wild and rugged, with small lakes and swamps to avoid, and spectacular views of Mount Nunasvara to enjoy, as well as the possibility of catching a glimpse of eagles in the area. 

The rest of the day will be a challenge, but ends in the town of Övre Soppero with the promise of an evening spent eating dinner in the home of a local Sápmi family.  One of the expedition participants, TV chef Merrilees Parker, may even get the chance to throw a hand in and help prepare some traditional Sámi foods - possibly reindeer heart!

Husky training with Victoria Riches

I certainly hope that the navigator on our trip has a better sense of direction than my researcher. Omar took me from Islington to Epping forest via Stansted airport!

We were going to Epping so that I could practice sledding with dogs. All seemed a bit surreal I must say.

After we had been careering up and down the M11 for some time- well as much as a Prius ever careers- Omar was finally persuaded to ring for directions. He spoke to Richard, who with the others, had been waiting for us for some time.

“I can hear an awful lot of barking dogs in the background Emily. Are you really sure about this?”

Too late for second thoughts, I am committed to doing it and there is no backing out. So better just get on with it.

I have to confess to have had similar feelings of apprehension about the RAF training – and that was OK in the end.

As for the husky sledding – it was fantastic. You get the impression, quite falsely that you are going really fast. Maybe its because you are close to the ground. And when the sledge goes in the direction you want, or the dogs stop when asked, its quite astonishing.

The dogs are rather beautiful with thick thick fur and strange blue eyes. You are definitely aware of them being pack animals. When one barks, they all do. Equally when one runs, they all want to.

The other memorable thing about the afternoon was we met Victoria Riches. She is a deeply impressive woman who was part of the first all woman trek to the North Pole. No dogs. No back up vehicles. She is brave, single minded and positive. Her approach is pretty matter of fact and she was unfazed by even the most personal questions. And she is funny. I think being able to laugh at ourselves is going to be pretty important.