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became ice-capped mountains plunging steeply into the sea . Despite the slow couple of hours getting through the ice , I was now making excellent progress , and instead of stopping at a cabin at the 50km mark , I decided to carry on .
I passed the cabin that marked 65km , and by that point , I only had 20km left to Upernavik . I saw my first ( and last ) walrus around this point . A great brown , domed head poked out of the water about 50 metres ahead , instantly making me take a rapid 90-degree turn towards land . Something I hadn ’ t been aware of before setting out , but luckily , the Greenlanders relished telling me was that walruses have been known to attack kayaks – especially red or orange ones ( mine is very orange ). Brilliant , I ’ d thought of adding another hazard
to the list . Luckily , this one decided I wasn ’ t interesting enough and didn ’ t surface again .
I ’ d been in constant touch with people in the northern settlements , and the more we spoke , the more apparent it became that the last few hundred km would be a challenge , if not impossible . Melville Bay lies between Kullorsuaq and Savissivik , the two settlements bookending the infamous bay – it ’ s 300km of unrelenting ice with only two cabins to offer respite . The sea ice was so thick I would have to paddle way out to sea to get past it , and I would need a support boat to shadow me .
The consensus was that if I waited another four weeks , it should be ok to pass by close to land – this was four weeks longer than I could afford ; unfortunately , I made the hard decision to end the expedition in Upernavik . At the time , I was pretty gutted , but it seemed apt and not a little ironic that an expedition trying to highlight climate change and the effects it was having on weather patterns and the environment was having to be cut short due to that exact reason .
Still , I thought I ’ d completed 2,200 km all by myself , living off the food that humans have survived and thrived on for thousands of years until modern Europeans got their claws into it and showed that a natural hunter-gatherer diet , effectively eating your environment was more than likely by far the best option for those attempting to live in it . I ’ d also proved to myself that , by dint of research and good planning , I could achieve something I ’ d previously thought only pro paddlers would have a go at .
So I guess if there ’ s a message to be gained from this , it ’ s that you should never let your insecurities make you give up on something you want to do – there ’ s always a way , and you don ’ t have to be the world ’ s best to make it happen .
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