The month in Norway was dominated with heavy rain, lenghty wild storms and a day or two of snowfall all in September alone. At night amongst the heavy rain and gale force winds, we had glimpses of bluey green northern lights which kept us going, working through a 12 hour night shift on the Arctic Coast.
Until this week, which is now a little over 6 months since my epic winter began, a ray of sunshine appeared and the daylight hours are returning and my hope of a stroll in the park joined with the warmth from the sun is on the agenda again.
Not saying the least, this winter may not be completely over but it is certainly warmer in the sunshine. I even saw some brown grass, ducks, a hare and an eagle hovering above my head but before all this... We had been in temperatures of -28c in Sundsvall, 57cm of snow in a day in the Höga Kusten and been stranded because of snowstorms on a runway in Billund, Denmark on returning from a snowy trip to Amsterdam in January. We even stayed in avalanched looking Copenhagen that night, all expenses paid thanks to SAS.
The winter has been epic with locals telling me it's the longest winter since 1967 and the snowiest in the past 15 years and the coldest in how long? They're just a few facts of a list of records which has been broken in the memorable winter of 2009/2010.
Strangely enough it hasn't been the worst experience of my life by any means. Okay slipping and falling over on the way to work and trying to rush for the bus in deep snow can be a pain but there's a lot of pluses with a good old-fashioned winter. I've seen natural beauty which is easily some of the most amazing and truly stunning images I'm ever likely to see on any level. (Chasing The Winter Sun)




