Craig paddles his own canoe to Greenland
INTREPID Bo'ness explorer Craig Mathieson is Greenland-bound this summer, delivering laptops by kayak in a project linking Inuit and Scottish children.
The realities of climate change and lifestyle tales from both countries will be swapped online, including face-to-face webcam exchanges.
In an exciting next step for the Northern Lights Greenland Expedition, Craig and partner-in-adventure Dr Richard Smith hope to return next spring with two Deanburn pupils and a teacher.
The Bo'ness eco school is one of three nationwide to be twinned with the Inuits, who would be welcomed to Scotland later in 2010.
Dad-of-three Craig from Dean Road said: "For the Inuits, life changes dramatically with global warming and they don't have time to sit down and form committees.
"Some years no ice has formed at all and they depend on that to hunt.
"The aim is to think about what's happening and how it can be stopped in future."
The tax director and ex-navy man is no stranger to adventure, leading the first dedicated Scottish expedition to the South Pole and also skiing to the North Pole.
Setting off from eastern Greenland hunting town Tasiilaq, Craig and Uphall's Richard, formerly of the elite Special Boat Service (SBS), will navigate whales as they paddle for 10-12 hours a day.
Icebergs
"We expect to get huge icebergs, that's probably the greatest danger, more than animals.
"They can be a couple of 100 feet high and if they collapse you could be facing 60ft waves full of pieces of ice."
Craig and IT expert Richard (38) have been practising in the Forth, with the 40-year-old joking: "Usually when the storms are coming you find me and Richard there!"
Kids Layla (13), Jake (11) and Ruari (6) will be able to text a satellite phone and artist wife Michele is feeling relaxed about the trip.
"We do a lot of outdoor stuff as a family, camping and cycling, but not to quite the same extreme as Craig does!" she said.
Deanburn headteacher Mhairi Ogilvie said: "It's a fantastic opportunity for the whole school to get involved in this project."
Of a trio heading to Greenland, she said: "There is the possibility of that, if there were children and staff who were interested."
Visit Craig's blog at www.northernlights-expeditions.org
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Weather for Queensferry
Friday 18 May 2012
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