Took a walk up a local hill – 500 m – its stark an stony up there, and just amazing, huge landscape, this place is so BIG, our guide said its as big as the whole of southern Norway. All mountains and sea and glaciers. The place is full of bright young things here to do guiding – hiking, kyaking, etc etc. You aren’t allowed to leave town without an official guide who carries a rifle in case you meet a truculent polar bear, which has happened, with tragic results. But rather mixed feelings about that aspect of things.

As ever in these wild and lonely and exposed places I marvel at what grows and how tenacious nature is. Here is the only sort of tree you find in Svalbard, they can’t grow up so they creep across the ground, this is a willow, in its autumn colours and is what gives the hills their slightly golden hue.

Off into the blue tomorrow………no idea whether there will be any sort of connection…..see you at some stage!

climbed the one on the right above.

and this is Longyearbyen, looking the other way…..