CHAROITE SIBERIANS

Things have been a bit quiet lately so I thought I'd dig a bit further back for something to write about and started looking at some old pictures.

As you can see, the lack of glamour in my life these days isn't necessarily a new thing. This snap was taken on a trip to Canada quite a few years ago. We'd made the mistake of hiring some canoes from someone who was either a) completely nuts (he looked it) or b) had a great sense of humour when it comes to holidaymakers. This was May on the Yukon River and the old guy was convinced none of us were kitted out properly for the mild 20 mile round trip we were planning - in spite of eveyrone having fleeces, waterproofs etc. Before he let us have the boats, he insisted we gear up in his borrowed oil skins and, yes, carrier bags. Carrier bags must have survival qualities I hadn't thought about before.  

Scenically, the trip was like something out of a Hollywood film featuring a bunch of dumb tourists who end up getting eaten by cannibals or turned into wax work exhibits. I can't remember what we were exactly planning to see but looking at my pictures from the paddle trip we clearly didn't find it ! About a mile or so up the river, the trees disappeared. There had been a massive fire the previous year and we paddled through about 5 miles of burned stumps and piles of ash until we lost the will to live and turned round. There weren't any cannibals (probably the best thing about that particular excursion). There wasn't really anything except the eerie dead trees, the occasional raven and the residual smell of smoke. Oh and that  tune from Deliverance also gets a bit annoying when someone hums it on and off for four hours. . .