Greenland. Day 13: In Which I Get Slightly Lost.

So I took notice of my own advice and remembered to make sure there was a battery in the camera and that I had gloves. I also had extra layers of clothing, food, drink and the absolute confidence I could manage a stroll round a lake for a few hours and come back tired and self-satisfied. Why would it be any different to Virginia Water? Or the Serpentine? 

What I didn't bank on was that the map shown here isn't quite detailed enough. Or that I might end up climbing up and down rocks, through soaking-wet, mossy, heathery stuff and across deep (up to my knees) snow for a couple of hours, in an increasingly haphazard way, trying to follow the instructions of the local woman who'd told me to 'keep left and look out for paths'... It's incredible really, having grown up in a mountainous region of North London and with my history of Fiennes-like adventuring, but it turns out I'm not exactly a Sherpa. It also turns out I was wrong to think you automatically get a compass on an iPhone. And that having Springsteen's The River (no idea) going through your mind constantly can get really, really annoying. And that, after a while lost in Greenland, you do start wondering how far south polar bears wander. Oh, and that I actually swear out loud, even when there isn't another human being for miles. (Apparently, Greenlandic has no swearwords).

So. I do feel a bit smug. Making it back here as sane as I was when I left was quite an achievement. And I've discovered I know every bloody word of The River. 

Qaqortoq, Tasersuaq.