Epilogue
Quite obviously there was more, much more, to this research expedition than even this weighty account can portray. Events occurred, people were met, and things were experienced that have not been included here. The reason for not writing about them are varied, but their omission does not change the flavour or context of the expedition, or its successes or challenges.
Being away for a long duration, totally solo, in a very remote area where the potential for hazard was high, has certain effects upon a person. This was a hard expedition to undertake. To leave family was the hardest thing. To have to do everything oneself was very hard, not because I didn’t want to do a particular task but because one’s energy factor was, on some phases of the exped., so very low. The persistent and constant driving was hard – concentrating on driving through laborious Swedish pine forest was soporific.
I measured relaxation time everyday in just minutes not hours.
However having the self-discipline to get on with it was what made the whole thing a success – being motivated when others might say they can’t be bothered is what separates the doers from the also-rans.
You can’t be a prima-donna in the middle of a white-out, 187 kms from the nearest settlement in Norwegian Lapland when you’ve got to get out of your cab for the fifth time that morning to get video and stills shots – you just crack on and do it, not because others are telling you to – and you’re not doing it to impress the passers-by because in any case this morning you haven’t seen another vehicle for four hours, and not talked to another human being for three days.
I did it; I ‘walked the walk’ and it has changed my life forever; virtually every single aspect of my outdoor life has been changed by those 6,000 miles. It was exciting, it was challenging, it was unique, it was self-supporting and solo. Solo work I’ve come to find is professional therapy. When you put yourself through the mill you get to know yourself and you’re honed.
What you have read in this account is designed to illustrate just a little of the variety and challenge, fun, frustrations, and satisfactions of the 2002 Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Scandinavian Outdoor Education Research Project.
B.J.Howard MA B.Ed [Hons.] C.Geog. [Econ] ML FRGS. Assoc.F.R.Met.S. Churchill Fellow
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