Day 70, 20 March 2016

Postscript

So here we sit at 6 in the morning waiting for the plane to be de-iced at Trondheim. We should be home in time for Sunday dinner - can we smell the Yorkshire puddings? We were extremely fortunate yesterday; it could have taken us days to get out of our remote location. But Steiner from Gaundalen took us and all our gear on his snow mobile 15km across the mountains to a road head. It wasn't an easy trip, we got stuck in metre deep soft, wet snow and had to dig and winch ourselves out. Thank you again Steiner. We were met by his friend, Magne Anton, and his grandson, Herman. They drove us to their home and fed us. Then drove us on to Trondheim. What a kind family; thank you to them both and Mrs Hojem. We rearranged our flights and spent a very short night in a hotel by the airport. This brief blog is just so all of you who have been so kind and supportive and following our progress know how this story (or is it a chapter!?) ends. Anyway it seemed right to draw a proper line under it. You will probably appreciate that neither of us feels good right now. Reaching our decision that it wasn't possible to achieve our goal has hurt heads and hearts. But the fact is that the weather conditions have beaten us and a safe exit was the only option. There will be other correspondence about sponsorship and donations but we would like to thank you all for your donations to Northumberland Wildlife Trust. To close can we just say a huge thank you to all of you who have provided support through your words, both written and spoken. It meant a lot. Conrad and IanConrad: "As an addition; as well as thanking Ian privately, I would like to thank him publicly for at 24 hours notice, dropping everything, and helping keep the journey going. It is a testimony to his true friendship that he gave so much to try and help."