Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council - Mayoral Mike's online diary

HOME

Welcome

News in Dudley

Mayoral Mike's online diary

Mayoral attendant Mike Crannage is currently braving deep snow and plunging temperatures on his Arctic husky trek to raise money for charity.

Mike, aged aged 51, is trekking across northern Norway in temperatures around minus 30 degrees Celsius.

During the seven-day trip he will have to cover around 40 kilometres a day, and record his events in an online diary.

Here are Mike’s entries in his diary....

March 11

We got to Gargia and by 2am arrived at the lodge. Inside we have moose meat and a reindeer stew which is fantastic.

Then its all business. Issue of Arctic clothing, boots and mitts. The dogs had just been fed but they say they would be ready to go in an hour and so go were we. We have made up loads of time. We are now at the lake in Maze which is where we should be at this time. So far I've been thrown off the sled and dragged through the snow three times but I'm sure there will more. Tonight I'm camped on a frozen lake , drilled a hole in the ice for water, going to be very English, make a mug of tea and sit here for a while and watch the northern lights

March 12

Yesterday the journey from Maze to Mollisjokk was tough with all the snow that has fallen this last week. Running is almost impossible. The sled distributes your weight over the snows frozen crust but as soon as you step off you go through the ice and plunge waist deep in soft snow. The dogs have a hard time in these conditions and the only way you can really help is to 'scoot' just like on a skate board, one foot on the board the other pushing you along, we managed to cover 60 Kilometres though. I'm quite sad about one of my dogs, Nakita, she is full of cancer and they don't expect her to survive long, this will probably be her last run. You shouldn't show favouritism but I do make a fuss of her and we share my chocolate :-)

Today we sled down a frozen river to Jiesavri lake, the largest lake in Finmark, it should be frozen but when I drilled the ice for water on the lake at Maze there was a very loud crack that I not only heard it but felt it. I don't want to be falling through the ice and into water, not up here! It should take about 8 hours to get from here to Jotka and about 2 hours to cross the lake.

Sponsor Mike

All the money raised will go to the Mayor of Dudley’s charities - Dudley Stroke Association, Dudley Mind and The Open Stage Learning Group, which is a charity helping people with learning disabilities perform on stage.
For more information on sponsoring mike.crannage@dudley.gov.uk
People can also get information and sponsor him via his website at http://arctic-challenge.webeden.co.uk

go to menu

go to homepage