A burly day of weather today after what must have been a tough night for the dogs as they curled up and kept warm through the snowy night.

It had started snowing during the night and by the time we reached the kennels later that afternoon, about 10cm of fresh snow lay on the ground. It was windy white out for most of the day and at times on the exposed lake crossings we had to hold on tight to the sled as it got blown sideways by the crosswinds.

I needed a face mask to prevent the left side of my face freezing.

My dogs also took me on an additional adventure, by sniffing out their own route across a big lake. The guide had led the pack around the edge, but my team ploughed on into the middle. Squinting through the horizontal snow, I could just make them out, but was worried that the others had kept to the side because the ice was too thin to be out in the middle! After much shouting and coercing, my lead dogs, Elvis and Willow, took the hint and rejoined the pack.

It felt a barren and desolate landscape after the previous bright days.

We really felt like polar explorers!

We had a lunch break around a fire, as the sun tried to make an appearance, but the snow kept falling. On the final wooded section back to the lodge, I saw a herd of reindeer galloping along.

Finally we arrived back at the wilderness lodge kennels and un harnessed our dogs for the last time. After returning the sleds, we gave them our thanks for pulling us a whopping 209km over the past week.

Last of all, we had a sauna by the frozen lake, dashing out to wash in the fresh snow every time we got too hot. A big meal and a lot of kit sorting filled the final night. there are some seriously smelly thermals and socks in the cabin tonight!

Total Ride: 29.1km