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Published: June 26th 2017
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Geo: 69.6493, 18.9618
0658: UP AD EAGER! TODAY WE GO DOG SLEDDING!!!
A 7 hour adventure into the VASS VALLEY,,,,,,,We will be driving an 5 dog team for 15km between us..........
This is bound to be full of incidents!...............more to follow this evening.....
UPDATE: Monday 5th January 2015:
UGGGH! The day has arrived! We fly home!
DOG SLEDDING DAY - YESTERDAY!
Wow what an adventure. Only a bruised arm and knee.........
Recap:
0900: The bus to "CAMP TAMOK" quickly fills with the usual medley of tourists! There must be a central production factory.......a group of chirpy and underdressed Indonesians, a token French couple, usual Antipodeans and a smattering of Brits including us.......44 in total.............are there enough dogs me thinks???? An irritating woman holds us up by returning to the hotel to find her friends who are late!! They are already on board!
Finally we head off through the deserted snow encrusted strees of Tromso heading due east and inland on the E8 via to the remote Sami Camp of Tomok arriving at 1030. The Sami are the only indigenous people of Scandinavia recognized and protected under the international conventions. The camp is a mix of small pine cabins and traditional sold circular tepee like structures each with a wooden fire
inside.
TELLY TUBBIES: We are directed a pine chalet to collect our sledding clobber. A thick thermal onesie - huge HELLS ANGLES BOOTS and GAUNTLETS.....topped off with a Davy Crocket style hat with fur implants! We look like a pair of extras from the Lapland edition of the Teletubbies!
Woof wooof woooooof!!!!!!.......we then meet the 60 or so dogs. Woofing and howling in anticipation..... each is the size of a labrador but very husky like....friendly and eager to get going. We have a rather worrying briefing about hanging on and breaking.........there are two types of break.....the "soft" break (a flat board you stand on) and the "hard" break........a metal bar with two spikes (again you stand on).....that's it!!!!
I am driving and Cathy sitting on the sled.......off we go.....our team of dogs at once gets over excited and each "blot their copy books" in turn within seconds of pulling away at high speed!!!!!!
We are the back markers and there are 3 sleds in front. The immediate sled in front is being driven by a complete NUMPTY CHINESE GIRL. She stops all the time and to be frank, is hopeless. We press on climbing through wooded tracks........It's hard work, breaking and helping the dogs
up hills.....off we rush again down hill....bumping and whooshing fast!........NUMPTY"S back pack falls off........EMERGENCY STOP......I stand on the emergency break and the dogs pull up just behind her sled in the nick of time......
Half way round we stop for 10 minutes.......my glasses steam up.......dogs roll in the snow......OFF WE GO AGAIN..........so far so good!!!!!!!.......We have to make a sharp right hand turn down a hill.....I am ready for it and off we go....NUMPTY's sled suddenly stops just over the crest of the hill.......TO LATE TO BREAK!!!!!!!!!!............our dogs break right up a steep bank to avoid NUMPTY.......our sled follows and is suddenly at 45 degrees!!!!!!!!..........gravity takes over and we are both pitched off sideways into the air and the sled and dogs fast disappear without us!!!!
I see the ground approaching fast and land on my left shoulder. A sharp cracking noise.........I get up dazzed with a numb top arm.....OH GOD......is the bone sticking out!!!!?????........The guide checks me over and apart from a really bruised arm and pride I am OK......Cathy at once complains to the guide about NUMPTY and takes over the driving. Still dazed, I sit on the sled and hang on for dear life.....the final 3km passes without
further incident.......UNTIL......our dogs get the "whiff" of the home run back to the camp........faster and faster.........I suddenly realise that Cathy has "BALED OUT" unexpectedly about 50 yards behind..........leaving me on the sled with no means of control and rapidly heading towards the trees. A guide jumps on the back of the sled and stops it just in time!!!!!
We head off to a lunch of Reindeer stew and coffee.........we have survived.....JUST!
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You awesome people! For a couple of non-sportifs, you two are really taking it to the next level. Driving dog sleds is something most of us will never encounter in our life time and here you are Cathy, taking the reins of a pack of mad hu
skies in the Arctic circle, ever so nonchalantly, when you don't even drive a mini around Epsom! Bring it on....