30th of March – 1st of April – Prague, pre-race

The flight to Prague went almost without a hitch. “Almost”, as the first leg of the flight was app. 20 minutes delayed which meant I didn’t have much time to visit the lounge in Brussels – the horror! One hour after touching down on the runway in Prague at 1600 I was checking in at the hotel so all in all the trip ended up being a smooth experience.

Not a very inspiring view, but at least there won't be any traffic noise.

I realized that my 4 meals throughout the day (lounges and flights) had been completely filled up so in spite of nearing dinner time I decided to skip it and just, after a short break in the hotel room, have a walk around, figuring out where the start and finish lines would be and just taking in the nightly views. The planned short walk ended up being 3 hours and resulted in a handful of photos of a dark and wet Prague.

With the run being on Saturday I would be spending Thursday and Friday on relaxing and doing as little as possible. Having been here back in 2018 I had already visited the castle and the impressive cathedral there. I was tempted to return but with the grey overcast weather I doubted that the stained glass could live up to expectations so I decided to skip it. After picking up my race number and t-shirt at the runner’s expo I decided instead to head north across the river, ultimately ending up at the zoo. 

Tiger of the variant "cuddly".

I ended up wandering the zoo for 3-4 hours until closing and felt I hadn’t had enough time – even if I skipped the entire savannah section. The zoo was spread out over quite a large area which also meant they had room for quite a lot of species. They also had quite the selection of cats; two different fishing cats, leopard cats, Malayan and Sumatran tigers, lions, leopards and a clouded leopard. Especially the latter I was excited to see, but both times I passed by it was sleeping in its box with only the head visible. Apparently they also had cheetahs but the area where they belonged were closed so it’s anyone’s guess where they were being kept. They also had juguarundi cats (from Central and South America), some I had never seen before. There were a lot of aviaries, and in general it seemed like the animals had plenty of space considering it was a zoo – though the aviaries did seem slightly small-ish, especially for the birds of prey. In spite of the weather it was quite the enjoyable experience, and probably due to a combination of the weather and being outside the normal tourist season, according to the counter just inside the entrance less than 1050 people had visited throughout the day. For reference; the zoo is app. 55ha and has near 6000 animals (5 times the size and almost double that of Copenhagen’s zoo, respectively). 

Juguarundi.

At closing I left and walked the 5-6km back to the city center to have dinner and a walk around before returning to the hotel for the night. Apparently the AC at the hotel is set to winter mode which means it can only heat and not cool. For someone who normally sleeps with an open window all year round this is a bit of a disappointment, but not really something I can do anything about. Oh, well, things could have been worse. 

I think the map missed the point of its existence. 

Friday ended up being an intentionally relative short day as I wanted to rest before the run tomorrow. I did a bit of directionless wandering which ultimately ended me up west of the river and at the Petrin lookout tower. While the weather could have been nicer, walking to the top still gave a nice view of the castle which was near by and the city in general. Returning to the hotel I rested (again) for a few hours before going out for dinner and coming back for the rest of the night.

View of the citadel.

View of the city,

The weather hasn’t been quite as I had been looking forward to. I was happy when leaving home as we had had a few weeks with very nice weather and it was finally starting to feel like spring, and this week would have the weather souring again dropping temps back down to near freezing and no more clear skies. So flying out I felt that the timing was perfect – unfortunately it seemed like Prague has gotten the exact same idea. These days it has been breezy, 5°C at most and the occasional drizzle. Friday evening it was 2°C and feeling like -3°C, and tomorrow at the start of the race at 1000 we are facing 0°C feeling like -6°C, with a bit of precipitation mixed in. Yay.

New and old.

For someone who has never visited the hotel before the floor layout is so weird. The floors consist of a big square and two arcs lining one side of the square. There were two hallways going to the two outer sides of the arcs, and then one hallway going down the center to both arcs’ inner sides. And that middle section only had a door to the square hallway in one end. It was so confusing in the beginning but it definitely helped when seeing a floor plan. And I didn’t have to worry about street noise despite only being on third floor as my view is pretty much roofs and walls. And as my door is at the end of the hallway there aren’t much heard from other guests either, which is pretty nice.

16th – 18th – Dogs and flying home

Breakfast at 0800 meant that we could get an extra hour of sleep which apparently was much needed as I woke up at 3 with all the lights on and my phone lying on my chest. I managed to sort myself out quickly before passing out again and swearing at my alarm that went off 4 hours later. The beds in the lodge were nice but apparently my body preferred an actual soft bed. 

We left at 0845 and first point on today’s schedule was dog sleighing. The owner of the place we were visiting – who himself is a creator and main coordinator of one the rougher dog sleigh races – introduced himself and family, who are also involved in the business, background and the art of dog sleighing. We were sent out on a course on 2-passenger sleighs with a driver in the rear. The weather was crisp clear with light clouds and the run – though short, less than 10 minutes – was a fresh and beautiful ride. The course is called Ididamile, and the owner pointed out that some people take scarily long to figure out why it’s called that. I honestly didn’t have much expectations of the experience but I honestly had great fun the entire time. And despite the dogs being working animals the were very social and never shied away from getting a bit of extra petting.

Probably the best weather on the tour.

Those eyes....

From there we went and picked up a bear guard (who was naturally armed) and an extra lookout which let us go drive out of town and go for short walks. We got to see a few historical locations and multiple murals. In between this we got to visit a local artist and have lunch.

A fox was hiding in the grass and keeping a close eye on us while we were taking in the sights.

A 4 hour old foot print from a decently sized bear, compared to my (size EU 45) foot.

Having driven around in the afternoon we both managed to see a silver fox in the distance and a few more bears. What a great end to the trip. Though a snowy owl or two would have been a great bonus. At around 1700-ish we were back at the airport and got a flight back to Winnipeg. As opposed to coming north this time the flight was almost full. 

More murals.

Silver fox.

Back in Winnipeg we checked in at the airport hotel we started at and had dinner before saying goodbye. After a very good night’s sleep a few of us had breakfast before I left for the airport and got my uneventful flight back home.

A light breakfast before departing.

Huge thanks to Maggie and Rick for letting me stay at their place and showing me Winnipeg for a few days before meeting up with the group - I don't think I ever managed to fully express my happiness for seeing you again since my first trips north and south. Big thanks to our guide Mike Gere and buggy driver “Buggy” Bob – you two were a great team and knew exactly where to be to get the shots. Thanks to the team at the lodge – great service and amazing food (and wine included – and they let me help get rid of excess dessert!). Big thanks to Dave Daley for introducing us to his human and canine families and letting us try riding a dog sleigh. So much fun! And thanks to Bjorn, Kim, Sylvie, Shelly, Yuka, Tom & Sue, Brenda, Jane, Harriet, Bonnie, Tom & Heike, Karsten & Sybille for being great travel friends and help making this trip amazing.

When typing this out in March 2022 (only slightly delayed) things have happened since the trip. The travel company has an annual photo competition, and while I never partake in such competitions (a mix of me not thinking my shots can keep up with the competition and the fact that the winner is often found by the number of likes and not actual quality) I was pretty proud of my bear-in-sunrise shot, and as people from the tour badgered me to add it to the competition I ended up thinking that it couldn’t hurt. And to my surprise I actually ended up winning! Not the first place, mind you, but the runner-up place and that absolutely good enough for me! A photo I took actually won something! I was absolutely full of myself in the days after I found out. 

Full album can be found here.

13th – 15th – Polar bears en masse

3 days at the lodge where we every morning had breakfast from 0700 and boarded our buggy at 0800. In the morning at some point we would be served coffee/tea/chocolate and cookies (and Kahlua/rum if you wanted that added – and who doesn’t?). Lunch was brought from the lodge and was served as it fit into our driving, but usually around 1300-1400-ish. It would be soup followed by a simple but delicious main course; samosas, sandwiches and tortellini. We returned to the lodge at around 1600-1630, and while that does sound early on paper, at that point it had gotten too dark to really be able to easily see anything, anyway.

The two first nights we were the only guests at the lodge, and being 16 people at a place that has a capacity of 40 it never gets crowded. The last night a second group arrived, but as they were only 10 it wasn’t too bad having them around, too. The lodge was built up by several units; One end was two accommodation units each with 20 beds, 3 toilets and 2 showers, followed by a lounge and dining hall. After that the kitchen, staff quarters and workshop. Each accommodation unit had its own buggy access so two groups arriving at the same time wouldn’t get in each other’s way, and apart from those there was also the water buggy and the staff’s transports always available.

If there ever was an animal that represented the feeling "Mondays"...

The food was absolutely delicious; snacks when we returned from a drive and 3-course dinners where everything clearly was made with care. House wine was even included in the price!

The conservation area was quite small (relatively speaking) and it was not unusual to find ourselves at the lodge hours after we had left it, simply because that moment’s hunt had naturally led us back. Considering the heavy bear traffic around the lodge you could probably have stayed at the lodge all day and still have gotten some great views. And when looking at the area in general it was all quite flat, so you would almost always have a clear line of sight to the lodge.

Sparring.

So we drove around and looked at (mainly) polar bears. And if you had any expectations of having to spend time hunting for anything to see you’d be mistaken. Many, if not most, bears were not very shy so you could get quite close to them and it wasn’t uncommon to be able to see 5-6 of them at once. A large number of bears were lying around, resting, playfighting/sparring or just being downright curious when we drive by. The buggy was basically a large box with a platform in the rear with a grating floor and tall enough that a fully grown male bear standing wouldn’t be able to reach the windows or past the railing. Curious young individuals would stand up below the platform and have a close sniff of us – and trying to figure out what all those phones lying on the grating filming the close encounter were. Moving the phone during and feeling the bear’s breath on your fingers is something else.

As can be seen, even when on their hind legs they won't be able to reach.

Polar bears are a solitary creature unless they are mating or if it’s a mother with cubs. Churchill is the only exception and only at this time of year. All the bears are gathering in the area and waiting for the ice to form on the Hudson Bay, and them all being there together they tolerate each other’s presence and it’s not uncommon to see them actively socialize and cuddle together. 

Socializing.

Foxy walk.

We ended up seeing two mothers with cubs – that was our conclusion, at least. It could technically have been the same mother and cubs, but during some sightings the bears were very skittish, and other times they didn’t care about our presence. It makes no sense that it would be the same family we saw that acted so differently between sightings, hence the conclusion. 

A mother with her two cubs.

We also managed to see a few red foxes but no arctic ones, though. The latter are being pushed away by the former, as due to the heating climate the reds can go further north, pushing the arctic foxes away even further north. While we did have a few sightings, we saw significantly more tracks from foxes than foxes themselves. We were lucky enough to also get to see a snowy owl, albeit at a far distance. Technically we probably saw two, but the first sighting was just a quick white flash past the window when we were in the diner having dinner. 

Owl sitting in the tree.

So overall, the number of polar bear sightings greatly exceeded my expectations. To be honest; after seeing a bear in the middle of the sunrise on the third day (which was also during the only few hours it wasn’t completely overcast while we were there) I was ready to go searching for owls even if it meant that we wouldn’t se another single bear on the trip. I was happy for all the encounters we had, but I wouldn’t have minded a bit more variation at some point, even though it was the bears we had come for. 

Sunrise.

More sparring.

On the last day, instead of returning to the lodge we drove back to the dock (the fox was there again!), got back into our minibus and returned to Churchill. We checked in, had dinner in the restaurant and ended the day.

The fox was still present!

12th – Captivating murals

A quick glance outside when waking up (with a view of the airport tarmac) showed plenty of snow blowing horizontally past the window, but as planned we met in the reception at 0615 to hand over our checked luggage before having breakfast. With no hesitation we boarded the bus that didn’t only take us to the airport but all the way out to our plane. 

Then we sat in the bus waiting for a bit while watching the ground crew running around doing their thing getting small planes ready and sending them of in snow and high winds – visibility was maybe 100m. Finally it was our turn, maybe an hour delayed but being the only 16 passengers in a 40-seater we had plenty of room.

The flight north went off without a hitch and a bit past 1100 we arrived safely at Churchill airport which was nothing but a short landing strip and a small building. On the way in to Churchill – which has a population of app. 900 people – to have lunch we passed by a polar bear internment facility which basically is a containment building for bears that are caught in town where they are kept before transported away and let loose. As opposed to Winnipeg it isn’t snowing, but there is snow everywhere and it’s still quite windy.

Bear trap. It's like a humane mouse trap (enter in one end, nibbling at food triggers the gate that closes), but slightly bigger.

Mural on the holding facility. 

Following this we visited Polar Bear International to have a small lecture/speech on polar bears before we got to an ATM and a chance to buy beer and wine. Before leaving town we had maybe ½ an hour by ourselves to roam around before meeting at 1600 to go to the buggy loading dock. The town is full of murals all over the place, depicting primarily wildlife, but also historical people and events, among many other things. On the way there we went by a rocket facility they have been using to launch rockets used for measurements and tests of the atmosphere. 

We finally arrived at the loading docks where we loaded into our buggy – but not before being charmed by a red fox sitting in the parking area not being bothered by the presence of vehicles or people at all, just minding its own business. The 1½ hour long bumpy drive to the lodge was dark, with only the head lights of the buggy and lights in the far distance as light sources. We did manage to spot a bear in the headlights close to the lodge, though, so great success already!

"Is it windy?". Well....

Arriving at the lodge around 1830-1900 we quickly found our beds (I, and a few others, got two beds as the capacity is for 20 which will make it so much easier to spread out and not have to tidy up when going to sleep) before having dinner. This was followed by a safety briefing where I and another ended up being designated emergency buggy drivers. We were quickly introduced to the workings of the buggy but crossed my fingers that this would end up being unused knowledge.

Throughout the evening polar bears were walking around being their curious selves so before we made it to first daylight out here we had already seen the first 5-7 bears. 

8th – 11th of November – Reunions

I was flying out on the 9th very early in the morning so I decided to spend the night at one of the airport hotels so I could sleep in and not wake up until 0400. The morning went as planned and I was soon on my way to Frankfurt for my first layover. The distance between the gates was long but having considered this when booking I still had time to grab a handful of snacks at the lounge before boarding and settling into the seat that would be my home for the next 8 hours. My second layover in Toronto went just as smooth as in Frankfurt and I was happy to find out that all the paperwork, most of it due to Covid-19, was put to good use so all the planning wasn’t a completely waste of time. Got a few hours in the lounge with a view of the tarmac before grabbing the last leg of the trip going north to Winnipeg. Another easy flight and arriving at my destination it was a short walk to pick up my checked bag, and fortunately it had made it all the way, too.

Crossing Greenland on the way to Canada.

Here, with a bit of difficulty, I managed to locate my friend who had shown up to pick me up, and we were soon on our way home to her and her husband’s place where I’d be staying the next two days. Unloading my bags we went for a short walk around the neighborhood letting me stretch my legs after spending 20 hours on getting there – regardless of leg space a good post-flight leg stretch is highly appreciated. 

The following day – the 10th – we had breakfast at a nearby diner before we drove to the Human Rights Museum. A quite interesting exhibition, but having seen several similar museums previously it’s hard to avoid some repetition. This one did unsurprisingly have a strong focus on Canada’s past, though. To be honest, at times the building itself and the layout of the interior seemed more interesting that the exhibition it contained.

Looking out on Winnipeg from the Human Rights Museum.

Leaving the museum we continued forward to a café in the falling snow where they had some excellent cakes. We followed up on this by going to a neighboring pub where we had dinner – visiting Canada I had to get the poutine. French fries, cheese curds and gravy, topped with shredded smoked meat. A massive portion – even big enough that I didn’t manage to finish it.

My bedside lamp seemed to have a bright idea.

The following day – on the 11th – we had a lazy morning with snow still falling outside. We met up with a friend of theirs for lunch before heading to the Manitoba Museum, a history museum of the local area (hence the name…) and Canada in general. After spending 2½ hours there they let us know they would be closing in 20 minutes which unfortunately meant we had to rush through the last quarter of the museum. Too bad – it was actually quite interesting. When leaving at around 1700 to even more snow they drove me to the airport to deliver me to the hotel where I’d spend the night before leaving for Churchill tomorrow. In the evening I met with the group for introductions by our guide & photographer and dinner, and soon after we went our separate ways for the night.

Getting ready for tomorrow’s early morning I got all the necessary stuff out so it would require minimal effort to get out the door. This included getting my boots out. Now; these were some a friend have given me after having found them practically unused in her dad’s house they were cleaning out a few years ago, and I hadn’t had a chance to use them until now. I wasn’t planning on going trekking, but they would be great at keeping my feet warm and dry in the potentially snowy landscape further north, meaning that breaking them in wouldn’t be much of an issue. But all that worry turned out to be unnecessary, as when I pulled them out of the bag the soles just crumbled away between my fingers. I had a quick talk with our guide and he convinced me that my current shoes would be enough, though walking in Churchill might get a tad chilly. Satisfied with that I tossed them in the bin and went to bed, ready for the following day.

25th – Returning home

As opposed to coming to Valencia the trip home was quite uneventful.

Check-out time at the hotel was 1000 but I managed to get a late check-out time at 1200 so I didn’t have to be in a hurry in the morning. It also meant that when I left the hotel I could take the metro directly to the airport and check in and only have 2 hours until the flight.

The only hiccup was during check-in when my carry-on was weighed and the guy behind the counter pointed out it was too heavy. It took me a moment for it to sink in, but if it was split in two bags and neither weighed more than 8kg I could bring them both on as carry-ons. Total weigh was the same, just split in two. 

So I went through security with two bags (one being my backpack and the other one of the bags from the run stuffed with camera and a jacket) but coming out on the other side I realized it felt very silly and put it all together in one again. And no one stopped me and asked me to split it up. Weird.

Flights home via Zurich went without a hitch, and arriving in Copenhagen 25 minutes ahead of schedule meant that I could catch an earlier train and be home an hour before I had planned to. And that was a pretty neat end to another trip.

Full album from the trip can be seen here.

24th – Valencia half marathon

Just like when picking up my goodie bag it was easy getting to the starting area in the early morning. My starting group would be allowed into the waiting area at 0830 (where the toilets and baggage handling were) before being let into the starting area at 0845 and crossing the starting line at 0900.

I had registered an expected finish time of 0145 so I had expected to be put into the starting group before the one I ended up in. I was surprised, but the other group was “sub 1:45” and mine was “sub 2:00”, so I was technically in the right place.

Bullshit.

The fastest pacers in my starting group were the 2:00 pacers who were standing in the front, but it seemed like I wasn’t the only one who felt I had ended up in the wrong place, as as soon as we started a large horde of people quickly passed the pacers. The group before us started at 0845 so the front had a 15-minute head start, but even before reaching the 5km mark we were easily catching up with the rear end of that group.

When closing in on the 3km mark there was a lot of shouting and cheering, something I hadn’t expected this soon, but it was amazing and felt good with such eager onlookers. It turned out that they were facing the wrong way; on the other side of the median strip the fastest runners from the first group were just passing their 16km point.  

On paper the course looks fairly easy as it is very flat. But along the way there are only 4 water stations (norm is almost double that), a time limit of 2½ hours (norm is usually 3 hours) and when not in the shade, which was maybe half the time at best, we were exposed to the Spanish sun from a cloudless sky, which meant it got very hot at times. I almost missed the rain from the previous day. All this culminated in a finish time of 1:45:24 which unfortunately was outside of my goal of sub 1:45. Despite expecting to be annoyed with the result and whining about it I felt fairly relaxed with the result. No pacers to follow, few water stations and high heat made it far from an easy race. 

Out of 8839 runners (7002 men, 1837 women) I came in as no. 3758 (top 42,5%) and in my category (M35, i.e. men 35-39) I came in as no. 623 (out of 1049, top 59,4%). Clearly a lot of strong runners. And we got a new world record for women; 1:02:52 run by Ethiopia's Letesenbet Gidey, 68 seconds quicker than the old record.

Crossing the finish line we were handed a second bag, this one filled with a banana, a net with clementines, nuts, “probiotic mango/coconut drink” (tasted like an iced tea), bottle of blue Powerade, water and a Monster Hydrosport energy drink (which in my opinion is a crime against humanity). Overall with a fair margin the run I’ve participated in with the most goodies handed out to the participants. 

Arriving at the hotel the breakfast should have been over and closed but wasn’t, so I got a few quick toasted buns before returning to the room and had a much-needed shower and relaxing. Getting a bit antsy during the afternoon I went for a few hours’ walk but while it did feel good getting out a bit my legs were very happy that I returned to the hotel to do nothing.