Day 4

Had slightly more sleep but was still awake by 4am, then couldn’t get back to sleep due to the cold and support act from the howling wind. Took delight in waking everyone else at 7…dog feeding was at 7.30 followed by breakfast at 8. Our Sami host produced some caviar paste to go with the boiled eggs, yuk! Still felt I had to force food down, but reckoned it would help the fatigue. Rebecca managed a slice of bread but nothing else, Lorna could hardly move due to putting her hip out, but everyone else seemed fine. Lorna & I had another round of setting each other off crying, anticipating the horrors of the day ahead!
We harnessed the dogs up but left on their overnight chains until we had a quick look at the Sami museum and the nearby reindeer herd. So off we went on a downhill, and off i fell within seconds! Seeing my sled was on its side, i thought it was safe enough, but no. Those clever huskies pulled the sled back upright and legged it. I had to run through knee deep powdery snow to try to catch them up but only got about 1/3 of the distance before collapsing. I should have felt embarrassment, but just felt relief when Alex rescued me with a lift on his sled. my dogs had come to a halt in line so i just needed to hop on again. It took me probably 10 mins to get my breath back, but fortunately the rest of the day was incident free. Finally I was able to relax a little and enjoy myself…in complete contrast to yesterday. It helped that we didn’t have the biting wind, we still finished in the dark, but all i felt on this route was admiration for the landscape and the power in the 16 paws pulling me. Yesterday was probably when we hit the sledding equivalent of the wall in marathon terms, today we were through and out the other side.
I got the answer to my unasked question of what happens if you meet husky teams coming the other way…it was a complicated manoevre!
We also saw a wonderful blanket of mist rising on the horizon as night fell..very eerie in total silence.
The lights have been visible again, but we’ve been rather blase about them when it came to choosing between going to bed, or getting all the gear & slightly damp boots on again.
It was -21c tonight, that’s -5F for those still counting in "old money". The water we pulled from the well and left outside was frozen in less than 1/2 hour. We all had frozen eyelashes, and the dogs and harnesses are covered in chunks of ice. Great fun!
Still concern over Rebecca’s lack of eating properly – Alex is getting very close to getting her transferred back to Mushers lodge since she was freezing cold but still taking in no fuel to keep her body working. The situation will be reviewed again in the morning, so we’re all nagging/counselling/being pitas to get her to do what she needs.
Tomorrow, we’re up at the same time, but taking a more leisurely morning and shorter route to the next lodge. We’ve covered over 100km since yesterday and we’re feeling it in all our muscles. Hurrah!

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