Vigur Island!

I first came to Vigur Island in 2015. It was a stop on a circumnavigation of Iceland by an expedition ship. We spent a sunny afternoon braving territorial Terns, exploring the farm and watching Eider ducklings splashing clumbsily on the beach. I spoke to one of the family living on Vigur and told him how much I envied him spending a childhood on an island like Vigur. How wonderful that five years on I find myself making Vigur a home for my own family and my own child.

We formally became official custodians of the island in January. There is a lot for us to learn here - most importantly looking after the Eider colony of some 5000 ducks that are due to arrive any day - but also preparing for visitors that come on ships every summer, baking the home-made cakes that have become a reknowned highlight of the Vigur experience and settling in to our new permanent home in the farmhouse on the island. We are also very conscious of the cultural heritage and social history of Iceland that is preserved on Vigur - and of our responsibility to make sure it stays accessible to everyone. A lot to do!

We look forward to many happy years here as a family but also to welcoming new and familiar faces alike to Vigur! We hope to see you soon x

www.vigurisland.com

Looking for expedition members

I am planning a new expedition to ski the last degree to the North Pole in April 2022. The purpose of the expedition will be collecting data for scientific projects but, no less importantly, to experience and enjoy the amazing environment of High Latitude Arctic Ocean Sea Ice while we still can.

Ideally I am looking for a 6-woman team including myself. I can provide any core skills training necessary, team equipment and even some of the personal clothing and equipment. Aside from good personal fitness there are no criteria for team members – women of any nationality, age (over 18) or experience level are more than welcome as long as you are prepared to pitch in and play a full part in all aspects of the journey. This is a team expedition, not a guided trip and, as ever, I am very keen to support anyone from under-represented groups/backgrounds/circumstances.

This time around each team member will be responsible for sourcing their own funding to cover the cost of their participation in the expedition – which is why I am starting this process so far in advance. Polar travel is expensive and the costs are considerable so potential team members need to have a plan for raising this – either by self-funding, finding sponsorship, personal fundraising or by other means. I can help with advice, contacts and ideas.

If you are interested in knowing more, please send me your email address either on Facebook, as a DM on Twitter or here on my website. I will reply with further details of the journey, including the likely costs, and we can take it from there.

I’m excited to hear from you!

UPDATE: I’m delighted to say that I now have a confirmed team for the planned expedition in 2022. I look forward to keeping you all posted on our progress!

Basking in a Siberian Spring

For more than 13 years now I’ve been intermittently dipping into the story of Kate Marsden, the 19th Century nurse who travelled across the Russian Far East searching for a herb that could reportedly cure leprosy. My motivation has been largely to satisfy my own curiosity about this odd tale but now, embarking on my fourth trip to Yakutia, I recognise that there is something about this part of the world that is addictive too. Perhaps its the sense that there is true unknown out here in the distant taiga, real wildness infused with the Shamanic, animistic beliefs of both Yakut and indigenous reindeer herder cultures, a vastness that swallows whole mountain ranges without name and natural oddities yet to be investigated - and then there are the people who are some of the most generous I’ve ever had the good fortune to travel with.

This trip was at the invitation of Arctic Films, a collective of creative intellectuals from Yakutsk who want to bring the story of Kate Marsden and her impact on this specific corner of the world to a wider audience. I was very touched that they were interested in my perspective on a story that is so cherished by the people of Yakutia and have been deeply touched by their welcome and care during this latest visit. It has been genuinely moving to have witnessed the devotion of the communities Vilyuisk and Sosnovka, in particular, to the memory of Kate Marsden and to see the Russian and British flag flying alongside each other behind the new memorial to Kate Marsden in Vilyuisk - I suspect this is a sight regrettably not to be seen very often anywhere else right now.

I wish Arctic Films every success in their mission to vindicate and validate the legacy of Kate Marsden and I dearly hope that this is not my last visit to this very special part of the world.

Looking forward to a UK tour in spring 2020!

I’ll be speaking about the Women’s Euro-Arabian North Pole Expedition in seven different towns and cities throughout March and April next year in association with the Royal Geographical Society. I love going on tour to tell expedition stories so I am really looking forward to bringing this particular tale to new audiences across the country.

Full details of each event, including dates and links to online box offices to buy tickets can be found on the Forthcoming Events page: http://www.felicityaston.co.uk/forthcoming-events

Tuesday 10th March, Turner Sims, Southampton
Wednesday 11th March, Stamford Arts Centre
Thursday 12th March, Guildhall Arts Centre, Grantham
Friday 13th March, St George's Guildhall, King's Lynn
Sunday 19th April, Darlington Hippodrome, Monday 20th April, Worcester, Tuesday 21st April, Tobacco Factory, Bristol
Wednesday 22nd April, Exeter Phoenix

Receiving a National Geographic Traveller UK Award!

A lovely way to end the year; as National Geographic Traveller UK's Special Contribution Award winner. Really touched as the award recognises the work that goes into sharing experiences, not just for the journeys themselves; something that is very important to me.
Particularly flabbergasted to be taking this trophy home as previous winners include Bill Bryson, Rick Stein, Michael Palin and Paul Theroux! What an incredible list of people to have a connection with!
The event was full of wonderful positivity and enthusiasm so big hugs to all my fellow award winnners and travel-folk who were in the room as well as to those awesome people that nominated me - thank you x

At the Women's Forum Global Meeting in Paris

So thrilled to be part of the conversation at the Women's Forum Global Meeting 2019 here in Paris. A gathering of business and government leaders that have the ability to truly drive real and lasting change. Today I took part in a plenary discussing what the role of women is, has been and should be as the global community grapples with the issues and problems created by our rapidly changing climate - alongside ocean advocate Alexandra Cousteau and Bertrand Walkenaer, CEO of the French Development Agency. It feels like a real priviledge and opportunity to address such an informed and influential audience focused on accelerating the rate of progress toward broad and meaningful gender equality. It’s time!

It's been so personally gratifying to at last be part of a meaningful, grown-up conversation about accelerating gender equality.

Particularly striking has been the emphasis on solutions rather than problems and on practical actions rather than talk. The atmosphere has been overwhelmingly positive and motivating as a result. Also noticeable has been the drive to involve men in the gender discussion and the insightful support of male speakers in positions of influence (great to see 30% male attendance in the audience) and to move away from gender being seen as a womans issue. A society more inclusive for women is one that provides a beneficial outcome for everyone. A key takeaway has been the repeated emphasis that it is simply illogical for 50% of the population to be under-represented - both from a moral AND economic perspective.

My session on the main stage talking about women and climate action…

Failing to find basking sharks in the Hebrides...

The waters around the Isles of Coll and Tiree of the Scottish inner Hebrides are a hotspot for the UKs largest fish - the basking shark. Not much is known about basking sharks generally and so no one is really sure why basking sharks gather in this particular spot in such great numbers but they return year on year throughout July and August. The ‘Shark Squad’ based on Coll have been taking limited numbers of guests out to see the sharks, creating greater awareness with the aim of establishing a marine protected area. The numbers of sharks spotted on a regular basis are pretty astounding….stories of 30 or 50 sightings in a day are common and we even heard of a drone survey around Coll that counted over 900! That is not a typo, they said nine hundred!

Which makes it even more gutting to admit that in a week of solid searching we saw just one. During the final hour of our final day, as the boat was relunctantly heading for home, came the cry, ‘Shark!’

The No-Sharks Squad….

It was a fleeting view but no less thrilling for that. The fin rising proud from the surface, preceeded by the lump of the fish’s nose and followed by the slender spike of its curved tail. It fed just under the surface for a minute or two, circling, before dissappearing - reemerging a few minutes later and then gone for good.

There was no chance to get in the water despite the best efforst of the shark squad - and no time to search further - our time was up. Still, the sight of the ~7m shark is ingrained and definitely worth the wait.

Braving Siberia in the summer...

I have been very fortunate over the years to have visited many different regions of the vast swathe of wilderness we loosely term ‘Siberia’.

I am a definite fan.

But I have only ever experienced this part of the world in the winter, when it is a playground of extraordinary frozen wonders and in the spring, when, by anyone elses standards, it is still pretty much winter (I traversed Lake Baikal in March, which is spring in Siberia, but the lake was still frozen with a solid layer of ice and felt very much like ‘winter’!)

So it felt like discovering this part of the world anew when I returned to Yakutia for the third time in my life, but in high summer. Standing in the central square of Yakutsk, the regional capital, under the outstretched arm of the ubiquitous statue of Lenin I was surrounded not by passersby in fur coats stretching from neck to ankle and sheltering their faces from the frost but by families in shorts and summer dresses eating ice cream and having picnics. It was a lot to take in!

Happy to report that Siberia in the summer is a lush paradise of fertile steppe dotted with wild flowers, rolling green hills and forest alive with the chirp of birdsong and the chatter of chipmunks….

Global Exploration Summit 2019, Lisboa, Portugal

Three cheers for The Explorers Club who organised a completely epic three-day event in Lisbon last week celebrating Global Exploration, past, present and future. Speakers included the first and second people to reach the deepest point on Earth, the woman preparing to send a probe to explore a completely metal world (Psyche) and the man who holds the current record for the most space walks…and me (a highlight for many I am sure!). We also heard from Bertrand Piccard and Fabien Costeau, both with fascinating family legacy…and then Julian Lennon arrives…

It was the event that just kept giving; after two very full days hearing everything from what it feels like to be lowered into a fiery pit of zillion-degree hell, to how it feels to discover a cave full of bones that disproved every theory in your branch of science … we learnt how to mummify a rabbit.

But perhaps what was especially great about GLEX was the opportunity for brilliant people from totally different disciplines to get to know each other (over endless glasses of free-flowing wine). We will probably never know precisely how many or how vital the projects that will come into being thanks to last week, but I’m sure they will be AMAZING!

Svalbard

It felt strange to be back in Longyearbyen. The last time I was there was with the Euro-Arabian expedition team having just returned from the North Pole. It was peak winter season, full of snowmobiles. This time, though, I was in town to get on a ship and take part in a journey around the coast of the archipelago. We had a wonderful trip with plenty of Walrus and sunshine and even a Polar Bear on the ice beneath a glacier front…

Trekking in Ethiopia

I had insisted that we wouldn’t need the donkeys - but as we set off into the Agame Mountains in the heat, I was grateful to be able to offload my bag into the care of the waiting donkey drivers. Our journey was part of a ‘community trekking’ initiative that tries to involve as many local people as possible in order to spread the benefit of low-impact tourism. We stayed in basic community guesthouses and were accompanied each day by a local farmer who would pass us on into the care of the next community and so on. The system had immediate benefit for us as we were invited to a local ‘holy ceremony’ - a sort of party in a nearby farmstead - and we were also taken to see some of the famous-for-not-being-famous rock-hewn churches. There are more than 175 scattered around the eastern Tigray region and although most continue to be used as places of worship, there is still an element of secrecy that hangs around them. Unknown to the outside world until the 1970s, there is still much controversy about dating the churches and the artwork they contain, the story of each individual church wound up in local folklore and Ethiopia’s extraordinary history, so that it becomes difficult to work out what is fact and what is unlikely.

The churches were extraordinary in their location and construction as well as their character - each so different from the last - but equally extraordinary was the scenery we walked through. From mountains the mauve colour of blackcurrent sherbet to table-top summit plateaus that seemed to float above the fiery valleys below, forests of cactus so aged the trunks looked like bark and rock the reds and orange of the Grand Canyon…it all looked far more Wild West than my expectation of east Africa had been.

Ethiopia is a country that needs more than one trip to explore it, we saw one tiny part and a part that appears to be radically different from any other part ! So, clearly, I need to go back!

Speaking at #PolarDay2019...

Congratulations to Eric Post, Pernille Sporon Boving and the Polar Forum at UC Davis in California for putting on yet another thought-provoking, inclusive and memorable Polar Day.

I was completely thrilled to be involved again (I spoke at Polar Day at Penn State a handful of years ago) alongside a stellar line-up of polar presenters. First was Hester Blum, Professor of English, Americanologist and polar devotee who set eyes on her newly published book for the first time at the event: The News At The Ends Of The Earth - The Print Culture of Polar Exploration. Hester shared just a tiny amount of the paper ephemera from polar expeditions that she has been carefully studying over the last decade including menus, newspapers, play bills and cairn notes.

Next was Liz Bradfield, who coincidentally also saw her new book for the first time at the event. ‘Toward Antarctica: An Exploration’ is a volume of poetry, travel journal and photography inspired in its style and format by Basho, a Japanese poet of the 1600s. I was first introduced to Liz’s work by Hester, so it was a real treat to meet her and hear her read from her new book.

Before it was my turn (I spoke about last year’s Women’s Euro-Arabian North Pole Expedition), Lily Simonson introduced us to her work - some of which was on display around the room. She traced her journey from painting lobsters, moths and Yeti Crabs (white hairy crabs from the deep ocean) to diving in deep sea submersibles and under Antarctic sea ice to depict otherworldly sub-ice worlds and polar sea creatures.

It was such a pleasure to be part of an event that took such a holistic approach to the polar regions, beautifully blending art, the humanities, science and exploration to give a much more rounded view of the Arctic and Antarctica. At the heart of it though was a committed and positive determination to ensure the well-being of these regions that we each care so deeply about.

In particular, for me, one phrase rang out - stated by Eric right at the outset of the day: What happens in the Arctic does not stay in the Arctic.

This is a stark reminder that the consequences of changes in the Arctic environment will be felt globally, providing one more reason why we each - no matter where we live or come from - have reason to be informed and engaged in the fate of the polar regions.

Celebrating launch of Wild Women!

Couldn't be more chuffed to have a chapter of my book 'Alone in Antarctica' included in this new anthology of travel writing edited by Mariella Frostrup. Other authors include some of my all-time heroes; Gertrude Bell, Mary Wollstonecraft...as well as modern-day heroes like Lois Pryce, Junko Tabei and even some names I haven't come across before. The book is yet another demonstration that women have always been explorers and adventurers, we just don't celebrate them nearly often enough.

I went along to the book launch in London last night and met five of the other living contributors to the anthology; Christina Dodwell, Lois Pryce, Catherine Fairweather, Bella Pollen and Josie Dew.

Even if I wasn’t in it, this book would be a joy to own. It will certainly sit proudly on my bookshelf at home ready to be used anytime I am in need of some extra motivation.
You can buy the book from Waterstones at: https://www.waterstones.com/book/wild-women/mariella-frostrup/9781788540018

Walking a frozen river...

Years ago I heard of the tiny Himalayan region of Zanskar in the far North of India, which was completely cut off from the rest of the world during winter when the mountain passes were blocked by snow, except for a narrow river gorge whose waters froze, forming an icy highway link.

For years slow progress has been made on a road to link Zanskar permanently to India all year round, but today, the road is still far short and the frozen river remains the only way to get in and out of Zanskar during the winter. There is a helicopter service but - as we were to find out - this is for emergencies only and the waiting list for non-emergency passengers is a long one.

The frozen river is called the ‘chadar’ meaning blanket and i’ve just got back from hiking the chadar into Zanskar (and back out again) with a group of women gathered on Facebook. The Chadar and Zanskar has undoubtedly changed unrecognisably from the place I read about all those years ago but I was still blown away - like countless others before me - by the beauty of the place and the culture. I was also deeply grateful for the good company of the group, which goes to show that Facebook is not completely populated by axe-murderers and weirdos.

The Himalayas now loom large in my daydreams and I’m already starting to plot other journeys in the region…here’s to future Momos!

The non-axe-murderers of Facebook and our superstar Zanskari guide, Angla.

Talking at schools up and down the UK

It’s always lots of fun to share with schools my experiences of Antarctica and the Arctic - plus I get to feel that I am doing my bit to inspire the next generation. So it was a real joy spending a couple of months concentrating on visiting schools of all ages in various parts of the country as they completed projects on the polar world. In some workshops we designed new polar stations or came up with ideas for polar clothing and equipment and I was struck by how knowledgeable the students were about new technology and different demands on various resources. For me, the best bit is the Questions and Answer sessions…I am always asked questions that make ME think and that provide food for thought long after I’ve left the school. So thank you to all the explorers of the future I have met…I am reassured that the future of the worlds most magnificent environments is in good hands with you all x

At the annual EXPLORE Seminar

They told us not to look like a line-up…

The Explore weekend is always awesome - not just because I come away feeling re-motivated and re-inspired to do more and be better, but also because it is often the one and only chance each year to catch up with some friendly faces from the expedition community (as well as to meet with some new ones).

This year was no exception. I enjoyed being on the Polar Panel alongside Steve Jones, Martin Hartley, Claire Grogan and Denise Martin. It was a particular treat to finally meet Denise who I have heard so much about thanks to all her legendary polar guiding but have never actually met before.

It was interesting that this year, unlike previous years, the panel was asked more about Russia/Siberia and Greenland/Arctic Europe than it was about the High Arctic and Antarctica.

Presenting the Euro-Arabian Expedition at the Royal Geographical Society

It is always an honour to speak in the wonderfully historic Ondatje Theatre in the Royal Geographical Society headquarters in South Kensington, London - so I was really thrilled to be invited to speak about The Women’s Euro-Arabian North Pole Expedition 2018 as part of the Society’s Monday Night Lecture Series.

The event was a great opportunity not just to share the story of the expedition but to thank all our wonderful supporters and sponsors (many of whom were able to be there in person) and to have a small team reunion! Misba and Natasa both joined me on stage to answer questions from the audience after the talk, while Steph supported from the stalls. We were also delighted that Caroline Hamilton (who was on the expedition with us as a guide to the film crew), Alexandra Shackleton (descendant of the Polar Hero) and guests from both Oman and Slovenia were also in the audience.

A special thank you to BRBL who provided gifts for the guests that asked us questions after the talk! I bumped into one of the lucky recipients the following week who was wearing the thermals at the time and said that she had barely taken them off!

Lots of people asked afterwards about the forthcoming film ‘ Exposure’ - the latest news is that the production team are planning for a 2019 release. We will be sure to post any additional news as soon as we have it.

Celebrating 'First Women'

On Thursday I was invited to the opening of Anita Corbin's '100 First Women Portraits' at the RCA Dyson Gallery in London. Anita has spent a decade travelling across the UK to photograph women who have been first in their fields and the exhibition has been timed to mark 100 years of women's suffrage in the UK. The result is an amazing collection celebrating the variety and depth of what women have been doing in the UK over the last 100 years. Walking around the exhibition I was struck by how recent some of the 'firsts' were and how fundamental. For me, it had the effect of highlighting just how far women still have to go as well as a demonstration of how far we've come.

I can't recommend enough going to take a look. The exhibition is free to the public until 22nd August at the Dyson Gallery which is on the south side of Battersea Bridge. Anita has also produced a book of the portraits available at www.1stwomenuk.co.uk.

It was such a privilege to celebrate the opening with so many of the first women - 62 of the 100 were there - great to see Sarah Outen and Rebecca Stephens, and to meet Beth French, Dany Cotton and so many other experts in their fields. Wonderful, uplifting evening.

Celebrating the heritage of women in Exploration

A loud THANK YOU to Tania and Bex of the Womens Adventure Expo for putting on an event at the Royal Geographical Society in the centenary year of suffrage in the UK to celebrate the long history of women in exploration. A day-long conference was followed by an evening event at which I was incredible grateful to be given the opportunity to talk about a subject I feel passionately about - the story of women in the polar regions.

It is a surprise to many that the story of women in Antarctica for example, begins in 1773 - the same year Captain Cook first crossed the Antarctic Circle. Many of the women whose stories I share were not free to explore in their own right, but nevertheless they found ways to explore within the roles available to them (or sometimes trespassed into roles that were not open to them). Either way, they carved out their own relationship with the Polar Regions and left us with a rich heritage that is in itself worth exploring.

The day was topped off by the appearance on stage of the Ice Maidens and my own Women's Euro-Arabian North Pole team. The Ice Maidens skied across Antarctica earlier in the year and although the Euro-Arabian journey was a lot shorter (!), it felt unique to have a stage full of women who had been both North and South in the same year sitting together on stage at the Royal Geographical Society - I wonder whether anything similar has happened on that particular stage before?

Fresh back from the North Pole!

After two long years of preparation and delays, successes and setbacks, I finally stood at the top of the world alongside the 10 team members of the Women's Euro-Arabian North Pole Expedition on the 21st April.

The sea ice of the Arctic Ocean was simultaneously intimidating and mesmerising. We saw such beautiful colours and incredible variety of ice formations and yet everywhere was the unnerving evidence that we were not on solid ground but a shifting, unpredictable raft of fragile ice. We saw open water steam into the freezing air and hang over the ice like a sinister mist, we saw vast boulders of ice balanced in heaps as if swept up by giant hands and once, on prodding the far side of a lead, I saw the seemingly solid ice move away from me frighteningly swiftly.

I am used to expeditions that last weeks, that are all about making slow and steady progress - but the Arctic Ocean was the exact opposite of everything I was used to. We had a very short time window to complete our journey and from the moment we were deposited on the ice we were against the clock. Everything had to happen so quickly and the challenge was to be ready for that. No time to fall into routines or to adapt.

I look forward to sharing the story and experiences of this expedition in the months to come - as always I learned a lot from those we travelled with, about mistakes made and things that I could have done better, as well as a reaffirmation that the human spirit is a wonderful thing to be admired. The team are each speaking about their personal journey in schools and at events, we are all writing up our memories and Holly has already begun the long process of editing expedition footage into a film.

With things changing so rapidly in the high Arctic I feel very fortunate to have been able to experience it and I very much hope this won't be the last time I stand on the ice at the top of the planet.