Andy plural, you're both right. It's not feasible IMO to paddle up rivers (there are precious few that lead to where we're going. We are paddling up fjords (which just in case no one knows, are inlets), staying of course close to the shore as they are wide and deep. Then we climb 3000ft (that's the really tough bit). From there we must navigate across the plateau to Kilpisjärvi, which is a small town on the Finnish/Swedish border. I think it's originally a Sami town, but since the E8 goes through it I think that it will contain at least some Norwegians. It's of little consequence however.
Then we walk a brief 18mi to Råstajarvi, the lake source of our (enormous) river. The river starts both wide and shallow. There are few rapids and almost no falls. However as is obvious to anyone who's been to a large river's falls, they will be huge - a two edged sword. Firstly, it will make such a tremendous noise that we will quickly be aware that it's no ordinary series of rapids. However it does mean that should we lose someone over the falls, it's likely to be fatal.
I can find no UK supplier for the canoes. Can someone with canoeing connections, say Rich or Phil, find out if there is one?
It would be very tricky indeed to split the expedition in half. Sheer logistics and cost, never mind so much more time (we'd likely have to make it two different years to get the right season), would mean that it would in fact be much easier to do the expedition as one.
As regards food, I intend to take as little as possible. This isn't supposed to be a cosy safe trip, we will need to be very serious about gathering food. If it fails of course we can go to the towns. I have already pointed out that if you consider we are never more than 2 days from a town, and if we take 24 hours rations (how much space can that take up), we have quite sufficient food insurance. If it goes very pear shaped indeed we could even detach an advance party to get food for people left behind.
Since we're a walking as well as canoeing party, portaging will not be a problem. One man can carry a canoe if necessary or split between two people. I have no intention of attempting rapids that I am in any way not sure about. From my own experience alone I know that if you make a mistake, you're in a bad position, so the next maneuvre you will mess up even more etc etc, ending in perhaps a severely injured head or worse.
I would consider it a matter of course to rotate partners, nothing is worse than bad humour in a very isolated trip - I can tell you that for sure. This extends to what you are saying Rich about individual kit, duties like digging latrines, getting fires etc.
Phil you are right we do not need to go hell for leather all the time - far from it in fact. At the estimated speed we will take about 12 days to paddle the whole river - less time than I have allowed for in fact. Plus that speed is based more on families not a party of grown men, however tired and hungry.
Speeds vary depending on which part of the river you are on of course, but we can very realistically travel 30-35km a day. In August the river is not in spate (unlike May or June) and yet is not cold and frozen in any places.
Rich I am certainly not here to contradict your friend the Guru, of course since he has far more experience in canoeing expeditions than myself. However we have one advantage over him, namely the food. I still think that we can rely on fishing and foraging for our food.
The river as I have mentioned is at it's optimum in the time we are going. This is a time of plenty in the whole area we are in. It is much like August here in the UK except that there are a huge number of natural resources as they are untapped thanks to the lack of population in the area. This is when the river teems with fish, the plants come out, the deer and fox are in the woods. This is the time where there is enough food to support people through the winter, never mind just for two weeks. Think of Russian peasants or the Sami - they manage fine all year round in far worse conditions. We need to be open minded in our trip - we cannot expect to step off the boat and find blackberries and wild onions, but we can find plants that give us what we need - all it needs is thick skinned tastebuds and knowledge. I mean, once I was lost for two days on the same plateau as we shall be on in part. We boiled the stems of all the plants and chewed the roots. It didn't taste of much, but it was food, and it kept us going.
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