Longyearbyen

A few more days in Oslo to enjoy the warm weather and a bit of sightseeing before I headed into the unknown and was once again at the mercy of the weather.

Flying in from Oslo, landing at the northern most airport in the world, 118 intrepid travellers alighted at the town of Longyearbyen on the island of Spitsbergen – the staging point for our adventure.

Named after John Munro Longyear, who co-founded the Arctic Coal Company, this is the settlement where you can’t walk past the town limits without someone with a flare gun and rifle to protect you. No polar bear sightings - all we encountered were beautiful migratory barnacle geese and their chicks.

It was once a bustling mining town as well as a staging point for expeditions by people such as Willem Barentsz trying to find the North West Passage. Apparently it has some of the best coal in the world so mining here was very successful.

Of course there is also the seed vault – the protector of all the seeds for food crops from around the world in case any country needs to restock supplies. The only withdrawal in recent times has been from Syria after the war to replace their crops. The seed bank still gets deposits – sadly entry is restricted – no tourists allowed just pictures outside.

In the early evening we boarded our ship under sunny skies and sailed into the sunset - well, there is no real sunset at this time of year but we headed north eager for adventure.Read more