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day for three years. After 16 hours in the water, my crew informed me that the tide was going to change and there was a chance I would be swept back up into the Channel. I made a call, which I still question today, to use flippers to gain some ground. The kicking was tough, but I made it to slack waters, arriving at 3.30am in the pitch dark after 18 1/2 hours’ swimming. Rob had nailed his swim in under 13 hours.
I couldn’t lift my left arm for two days, but as soon as it could reach my handlebars, we were off on the bikes. We cycled from France to Belgium, the Netherlands and then to Germany through luscious farmland, canals and on luxurious flat, cycle paths. We had two crossings – from Germany to Denmark and then from Denmark to Sweden. There were motorway bridges, but you’re not allowed to cycle across them, so we kayaked across the first stretch, a 10-mile channel in the Baltic Sea. However, we nearly floundered, as Rob had never been in a kayak before and was struggling with the near-flat water. He eventually got the hang of it, though. We then cycled to Helsingør in northern Denmark, from where we stand-up, paddle-boarded six miles to Sweden, encountering some decent-sized waves.
The final cycling stretch was up the coast of Sweden and the length of Norway. It was truly spectacular and surely must be one of the most scenic journeys in the world, with cycling being the best way to see it. We arrived in Tromsø and were reunited with our boat, Lady Susan. We spent a few days getting her ready for what was definitely the most dangerous part of the journey. We set out through the fjords after a calamitous start, when we got stuck under Tromsø Bridge, and settled into our two hours on, two hours off routine.
We made open sea, where I was in my element. It was clear this was going to be the toughest endurance leg and extreme sleep deprivation was kicking in after a week at sea, but the exhilaration and profound sense of isolation and vulnerability were like nothing I’d experienced before. About halfway across we
encountered some bad weather. The area is known to locals as the Devil’s Dancefloor because of the extreme conditions. We had to batten down the hatches and pray for about three days as the wind and waves battered our tiny boat. There were experiences every day during the row as we learnt on the job, but eventually we spied the tip of Svalbard in the distance. We had a long and treacherous row along her western flank before taking a turn
into the fjords that led to Longyearbyen. We arrived 81 days after leaving Marble Arch.
I will never forget the experience and I feel very lucky to have had it. We set out with two aims – reaching Svalbard from London by human power and reaching £100,000 for the Scouts. We’ve achieved one, but having raised £85,000, we still need to achieve the second! Please sponsor us at www.arch2arctic.com. Thank you.
FEATURE
THE OLD OUNDELIAN 2018 –2019
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Poldy's Arch2Arctic challenge (top to bottom): Nearing Bear Island, the halfway point of the row; under the Roald Amunsden statue in Tromso, having completed the 2,000-mile cycle ride; at Marble Arch, where it all began; celebrating their arrival at Longyearbyen after four weeks at sea (Poldy is on the right)