Update

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Hi all, we are at present in the small town of Harstad, we arrived here yesterday and have been guests of the local kayak club. The journey from Havnomaden has been very special, remarkable scenery and ever changing weather conditions and a constant accompaniment of bird life heading north, as well as resident Sea Eagles.

The Lavvu we have chosen to use for this section of the journey is fantastic, I don't know why we never considered using one of these before, it's a shame there is no-one producing a slightly smaller version, if there were any less than three of us it would get quite cold at night as temperatures are falling well south of freezing..

We have finally had news of Petr's camera system, we ordered and paid for it in England through a company run by Google called 'Simply Electronics' although they said they had 12 in stock and guaranteed 48 hours delivery it took over two weeks to get to Lizzie in England. This meant she had to then forward it on to Norway, customs in Oslo held on to it for a while in search of tax payments and it took a couple of days to get it released there and then it was forwarded to Bodo, by the time it arrived we had left! Luckily in Bodo Erlings good friend Dagrun instantly forwarded it on to us in Harstad and we can now, finally, half way through the journey start the filming! Moral of the story, don't buy on line I suppose!

We shall continue northwards tomorrow, leaving Harstad at around midday, after Pete has picked up and charged the camera from the local post Office, we hope to make Tromso within about 4 days of paddling, there we hope to be able to meet up with a Proffessor of Sami History at the Sami Museum, we shall then be able to decide upon our overland route for next year.

After Tromso, very much dependant on weather, we hope we are just 16 days or so paddling from Nordkap and beyond. Petr, Jim and myself would like to say a big thank you to all the guys who are supporting us through out the journey, love to family and friends back home

Jeff, Jim and Pete

Check there current position click here

Expedition Update 20.04.10

Intrepid Trio cross The Arctic Circle

At last the team from Sea Kayaking Cornwall have crossed The Arctic Circle as they proceed to North Cape. Jeff, Jim and Peter were filmed by Norwegian television as they ventured north on their impressive expedition to explore and circumnavigate Scandinavia. Daily gale force winds, snow blizzards, sleet, rain, snow and ice have tested the team of kayakers as they paddle the isolated, stunning coastline of Norway. Frequently accompanied by sea eagles on route to Bodo; on their next section of their journey, as they travel northwards to Kirkeness, they are likely to encounter frequent sightings of killer whales.

norwegian TV coverage 14:45 minutes into the programme. click here

Western morning news coverage click here

Their 1000 mile epic journey continues.

Update

Find out where they are now click here

Jeff, Jim & Petr have arrived in Havnomaden and are just about ready to set off paddling north. Jeff contracted a throat virus just before he left and this has held them up so far. Today Jim & Petr had the chance to get out for a short paddle amongst the 6000 or so islands which adorn this region, although the weather was damp and windy to say the least the guys were enthralled to see several Sea Eagles on the neighboring peaks.

Upon arriving at Havnomaden, Bent presented Jeff with a Greenland Stick which he had hand crafted for him during the winter months to use throughout the remainder of the journey.

The Greenland Paddle which is laminated from Spruce, is a fantastic piece of craftsmanship and Jeff, having tried it out yesterday said that it was the finest Greenland Paddle he had seen, or used. Thank you Bent & Inge.

Hopefully, weather and health depending, the guys will be setting off tomorrow morning, they are stocked up and eager to heading off soon.

Jim, Jeff and Pete would like to say a special thankyou to their wives, families and friends back home for all the support and encouragement they've recieved and shall keep in touch

Sea kayak Scandinavia

The journey continues.............

jeffarticle.pdf

The next leg of Sea kayak Scandinavia has now begun, Jeff, Jim and Petr are on their way, heading off from Falmouth yesterday to Stanstead airport, flying into south west Norway to meet up with Erling Brox and members of the Stavangar Kayak club.

The team will spend several days here, training with local paddlers before catching a train North to meet up once more with Bent and Inge of Havnomaden Kajak Centre, based on the small island of Husvaer in the Vega Archipelago.

Their start point for this next leg lies just 30 miles south of the Arctic Circle and the journey, which is almost 1000 nautical miles of wilderness travel will be taking them through the stunningly dramatic Lofoten Islands, home to one of the worlds greatest tidal anomalies, the unique Maelstrom whirlpool!

From here they will continue North, destination Nordkap (North Cape). The team will stop here to toast Jim's Grandfather, 'Freddie Frampton' who was a Bofars gunner, serving on the Arctic convoys which delivered support to the Russian forces during the second world war. He was unique in that despite the several cold and harsh conditions he regularly volunteered for night watch duties, which Jim believes was because of the added incentive of an extra Rum ration to see him through the night!

From Nordkap the team will continue on through the Barent Sea, hopefully ending this section at the Russian border town of Kirkenes.

The team has been training hard throughout the winter months, so the recent cold spell has been an added bonus to their preparations. Jim and Petr started their kayaking with SKC, Jim is a dentist by profession and is now the expedition medic.

Petr, now into his third year of sea kayaking, it was only after a short period of paddling that he was taking on journeys of his own, a 2000 kilometre journey along the south and west coasts of Britain was his first major trip and now Sea Kayak Scandinavia is his second. Petr shall be both filming and photographing the expedition.

Sea kayak Scandinavia is an expedition to not only circumnavigate the Scandinavian continent, but also to explore the country, its people and its customs and to that end the team would like to establish as much contact as possible with any locals who may wish to meet up with them along the way, after reaching the northern section the guys will be looking for an overland route south to the Gulf of Bothnia, hopefully following Sami migration routes south and using cross country ski's to cover the 500 or so kilometres next spring, they will then be picking up their Paddles to continue on in their kayaks and close the gap back to Gothenburg once more.

Jeff, Jim and Petr are looking forward to the adventure and send their love to friends and family back home:)