Travels with a large sheepskin rug

I have absolutely no doubt that, at some point in the future, tales of sinking jet boats in South Georgia will become the stuff of legend, not to mention a truly awesome dinner party anecdote.  Unfortunately we're not quite at that stage yet.  A couple of weeks ago Ella was woken around midnight by the person doing evening rounds because one of the jet boats was partially submerged.  It seems some small, yet important clip had decided it no longer wished to be attached to whatever it should have been attached to and a tube had come off as a result.  The rather regrettable consequence of this was that the engine bay spent the whole day gradually filling with seawater until the back deck of the boat was no longer above the waterline.  I don't know much about engines, but I think it's fair to say they don't much like being filled with salty water.  Water coming out of the oil compartment is apparently particularly bad.  After much pumping and bailing out of water, Ella and Erny had to spend a number of very stressful days fixing the engines (which are now working pretty well again, albeit with a tendency to smoke like a Victorian factory).  This also meant Ella was understandably a little too busy to come to Sorling with Jo and I as planned (yes, on yet another holiday - I really will write the blog about work soon).  However, the forecast was just too good to be ignored, and so it was that Jo and I found ourselves heading across to Sorling bright and early with a blue sky overhead and a truly decadent amount of kit, including a large sheepskin rug.

Sorling hut with an awful lot of kit dumped around it

In fact, we were dropped off so early that there was plenty of time to faff with kit and drink a nice cup of tea before setting off on a walk to Ocean Harbour. Snow shoes were carried for the entire day, but never used as conditions were nigh on perfect, allowing for super-fast travel on hard frozen snow all the way up and over the col.  We arrived at the beach with clear blue skies and not a breath of wind - perfect conditions to find a patch of exposed grass to sit on and enjoy a long lazy lunch. 

Jo heading up the valley towards Ocean Col at the far end on the right

Looking down to Ocean Harbour from somewhere just below the col

After that we had a good explore around Ocean Harbour, stopping repeatedly to stare longingly and make fairly ridiculous cooing noises at the extremely adorable ellie pups that were littering the beach.  

Male elephant seal on the beach at Ocean Harbour with the wreck of the Bayard in the background

Having a little scratch in his sleep

I must admit that, on previous trips, I have somewhat relied on Ella's superior navigational and organisational abilities when it comes to deciding where to go and what do.  On this trip I had to take a bit more responsibility for the route planning, and even did a bit of rushed reading about the options prior to departure.  I was reasonably convinced the thing I read said Penguin Bay was accessible from Ocean Harbour round the coast, but there was a tiny doubt in my mind for the whole trip that it might have actually said "Penguin Bay is NOT accessible from Ocean Harbour," particularly as I hadn't made any attempt to check the tide times. 

Heading round towards Penguin Bay

A lot of kelp and a very 'determined' fur seal hanging out in a terribly awkward position

It was somewhere around here I started doubting whether we could get round - the walk back would have been very long!

Much rock jumping and avoidance of enthusiastically friendly fur seals was required, but we eventually reached the much longed for Penguin Bay, complete with Gentoo and King penguins, a plethora of musical elephant seals and a huge herd of unsurprisingly (considering they spent last summer being shot at) skittish reindeer.  The journey back to the hut was slightly more 'interesting' than intended and parts of it could definitely be described as 'character building.'  An extremely steep slope up to the col which was covered in hard ice left us seriously regretting our decision to bring snow shoes instead of crampons and an axe.  However, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger and all that.   

Jo catching her breath after a rather steep and terrifying haul up the col - Hound Bay just visible in the background

The remainder of the journey back to the hut was really very pleasant and the only failing in an absolutely spectacular day was that we arrived back at the hut 15 minutes too late for sundownwers. We decided it was best to drink the G+Ts anyway while enjoying the sunset over the bay. The unusually extravagant dinner combination of reindeer and juniper burgers, cheese, butternut squash relish and roasted vegetable cous cous (clearly I had nothing to do with the food-planning) washed down with wine, as well as the 7.5 hour walk, meant we were fast asleep by 2030.

Heading home in the evening sun

Day two dawned bright and clear - perfect conditions for bacon butties on the beach.  With legs working far better than expected after the previous day's exertions, an ambitious plan was hatched to scale Ellerbeck. Admittedly I did give Jo the choice of Ellebeck or a massive trek covering most of the Barff Peninsula, so it was mainly chosen as the lesser of two evils.  With absolutely no prior knowledge of which route to take and exceedingly dubious land based navigational abilities (Jo is a sailor and great with charts, but not so good with maps, and I should be good with maps, but am very easily distracted) we set off along the beach. We were again sidetracked by the presence of many cute seal pups, but eventually began our ascent up the ridge.  

More 'challenging' ascents - this time steep and loose rock kept things interesting

Enjoying the fruits of our labour - stunning views back down Cumberland Bay

I suspect Jo would again describe the ascent of the top section of the ridge as 'character building', but the views more than made up for occasional fear of death.  Thwarted by a seemingly impassable pillar of unstable rock, the actual summit escaped us, but we spent a glorious two hours sat high above the bay with views of Hound Bay, Sorling Valley, Cumberland Bay and the mightily impressive Nordenskjold Glacier surrounding us. 

The final snowy ridge leading up to the impassable pillar of broken rock

Picture in black and white as I was sunburnt already - Nordenskjold Glacier in the background

The short and sharp descent back down to Sorling Valley

After deciding we were suitably sunburnt we took a more direct route home, down a very steep snow slope into Sorling Valley (part walking, part sliding).  Having learnt from our mistake the previous day we arrived back at the hut in time for G+Ts in the glorious evening sun around a roaring campfire. 

Jo making a speedy return to the hut to ensure we arrived back before the sun disappeared behind the mountains

Super classy G+T in a mug

Day three and yet more blue sky and sunshine.  Our good intentions of a morning ski got somewhat altered in preference for a very prolonged breakfast of bacon butties on the beach. After our 3rd cup of tea we decided more comfort was needed so the sheepskin rug was removed from the hut and relocated to the beach.  The arrival of a very vocal and photogenic ellie bull and more tea delayed us further.  Eventually the calls of the pups from Sorling Beach spurred us into action. Unfortunately, by this time we had become so attached to the sheepskin rug that the thought of travel without it was unbearable. So, two intrepid explorers, one rather large rug, a mountain of photographic gear, half a kitchen and enough chilli con carne to feed a small army finally departed for the long (ok, not that long) trek to Sorling Beach.  

Breakfast on the beach

Having fun blowing water

Bit of roaring practice

Mostly showing off I think

A sheepskin rug is not the most portable of items

We established our sheepskin camp with an excellent view of the pups, and promptly made more tea.  After a couple of enjoyable hours spent relaxing with the ellies, stuffing ourselves on chilli and drinking even more tea we finally had sufficient energy for the long trek to the Nordenskjold Glacier.  Attached as we were to the sheepskin rug by this point, neither of us was keen to carry it for several miles along a pebbly and rocky beach, so we reluctantly left it behind in favour of a slightly lighter and faster approach.  

Jo making the most of the rug

The reason we got distracted for so long on the beach

The sun continued to shine giving spectacular views of the glacier in all its glory.  We eventually returned to the hut just in time for a celebratory glass of wine in the sunshine sat next to another roaring campfire.  Due to a slight error in the catering arrangements the evening ended with an unusual, yet quite delicious, meal of chicken and bacon curry with pasta.

There is a really rather big discrepancy in size between male and female elephant seals......

Nordenskjold Glacier close up

Day four and the holiday was coming to an end.  With pick-up arranged for 1400 we headed off for a morning of skiing on the slopes above the hut.  Snow conditions were perfect for lots of gentle easy runs; I even had a go on Jo's cross-country skis which turned out to be far less terrifying than I expected.  I was also introduced to extreme sport of ski sledging, and against all odds we returned to the hut in one piece. We then enjoyed a final lunch on the beach with our rug, while we waited for the boats to arrive to take us back to base.

A truly amazing holiday, and some of the best weather we've had on South Georgia.