A long walk in the arctic silence sounded ideal. It was what I wanted. Needed.
A Zodiac ride to a nearby pebbly beach at the foot of a glacier with 20 or so other, hopefully like minded travellers. Followed by a hiking protocol in polar bear country briefing. Stay between the friendly guys with the guns. Easy enough and preferred to possibly becoming lunch.
As for the arctic silence, well, there was a lot of inane chatter. There was a part of me that hoped for a fraction of our group to slip outside of our security cordon. Briefly anyway.
After a couple of hours of traversing the Mars like landscape with the odd flower, grass and clumps of moss we arrived at the Texas bar. An unusual name for a simple one room hut built by Norwegians in 1939. But it has a top shelf with appropriate beverages.
Conditions are fabulous for 79 degrees North. Blue skies, mild winds and above freezing. Just.
No polar bears.
