10. Sitting on the cross tree and spying out the route.


11. Robin now took the helm as we worked our way through the ice. It seems to be closing up behind us!!


12. View from top of the mast.


13. We are now about five miles from the anchorage in Kangerdlugssuaq but the ice is solid and there is no chance of getting through it. We've been on the go for about twelve hours and have about thirty five miles of ice flows behind us. Robin decides to turn back.


14. Our route on the GPS - so near but so far!!!


15. This was the one fine day we had. There was open water at first but soon the ice began to close in.


16. The sun set was magnificent but the high cirrus is a sign of a change in the weather.


17. We seemed trapped by the ice as all the leads closed up.


17b. Had the wind built up we could have been in a precarious position.

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Unfinished Business - Back to Greenland by boat.

It all started in 1991, when Jim Lowther and I joined Robin Knox Johnston at Whitehaven on the Cumbrian Coast to sail to the East coast of Greenland in the Suhaili and then climb The Cathedral, the highest peak of the Lemon Mountains. One of the challenges is the ice that often guards the coast line but we managed to get through it, sledged up into the Lemon Mountains but unfortunately attempted the wrong mountain (my excuse is that the map was wrong).

Robin phoned me earlier this year to suggest we have another try since one of his big 60ft racing yachts would be in the area. This time we were going to fly into Kelavik and sail from there. The team comprised Bob Barton, Charlie Clarke, Robin and myself. The boat was skippered by Keith Harris, with a crew of four.


1. The team Left to right. Angus Cowan (crew), in front - Bob Barton (climber), behind him - Mike Preedy (mate), Keith Harris (skipper), standing behind - Robin Knox Johnston (owner and climbing team), sitting - Siggi's Dad, Chris Bonington (climber), Jason Smith (crew), Charlie Clarke (climber and team doctor), Michael Brownlow (crew and climber)


2. It started well with the Iceland Air Express being twelve hours late. Bob barton enjoying our first bivouac on a bench at Stanstead.


3. We joined the Antiope at midday on 24 July.


4. Bob(left), Charlie (centre) and Robin checking out the gear we had sent in advance to Portsmouth to be carried out by the Antiope.


5. We set sail just after lunch. I'm trying to get my hand in again at the helm, but it didn't last long. We were heading into Force 7 gale and I spent the next twelve hours being sea sick, praying for release even death!!!!


6.Robin consulting the GPS and other navigational aids.


7. I came to on the morning of the 25th when the sea had calmed down and I was able to eat.


8. First glimpse of the superb Greenland coast line on the morning of the 26th.


9. We could see there was a lot of ice between us and the coast - much more than there had been in 1991. Being hauled up the mast to spy out a route through the leads.