Thursday 6th August - Ny London - Lillehoekbreen Glacier

I managed to get internet access at 6.30am, the first time for six days, and then it failed!

The weather is still very calm, though now quite cloudy, but not at all cold. We had breakfast and went on the Zodiacs to see the marble mine at Ny London. Will guided us and gave us some of the history of this failed venture. It was set up on an island in Kongsfjorden by a Briton, Ernest Mansfield, in 1911 as a mining community for the extraction of marble.  The site was made up of a few derelict houses and old rusting machinery. We spent about an hour there and then returned to the boat.

Walking from the Zodiacs to the centre of the marble mine

The remains of the railway steam engine

A mobile crane used to lift the marble slabs, made by Taylor and Hubbard of Leicester

One of the marble quarries

The quayside crane, about to fall into the sea!

We had three polar bear guards posted around the site, each with a rifle to warn off any bears that might approach.

Chris Srigley on guard against the bears

On the opposite side of the fjord was Ny Alesund, the research establishment we visited in 2010, consisting of an international group of different countries conducting scientific studies of the climate, atmosphere and the seas.

This afternoon two walks were planned. The first at 2.30pm on the 14th July Glacier and the second along some bird cliffs. We think we did both of these in 2010.

We had lunch with Bruce and Luisa and Peter and Sher from Woldingham. As we were eating, Kit announced a bear sighting near Ny Alesund and said they would be lowering the Zodiacs for a trip to the shore to see a mother and her cub.  We were first off with Luke driving the Zodiac and had a good viewing of the mother (with radio collar) and cub.  They were lying on a ridge above the beach where there was a dead walrus that they could feed from. We went quite close in and cut the engines and were very careful to be quiet and still. We took lots of photos and video.

When we were back on board, it was announced the afternoon walks would not now take place and instead we would do a ship's cruise along the Lillehoekbreen Glacier, before setting sale for Greenland.

The glacier was about twenty miles up the fjord and took a couple of hours sailing. As we approached our destination, the temperature fell as the cold air swept down from the ice sheet. Twelve glaciers converged and formed an ice face over five kilometres wide. It was very impressive.

The ship turned about 500 yards from the ice face and we cruised along it for about an hour. Unlike the Monacobreen Glacier, there was no carving taking place.

We then set sail for Greenland, over 850 miles away. We went to the dining room for dinner and joined Eugene and Jurate, known as Judy. We had a most enjoyable time with them.

I managed to get on the Internet and pick up our emails, including one from Mavis Mills saying her husband Bob had just died after a short illness. We emailed our condolences. On a brighter note, we learned that Stuart Broad had taken 8 for 15, bowling Australia out for 60, in ninety minutes!!

We went to sleep about midnight on lovely calm seas. Hoping it stays that way to Scoresby Sund, which we should reach early on Sunday morning.