We got up at 6.15am and breakfast at the hotel before being picked up by tour company at 8.15am and driven the their office to change into snow suits and have a very brief introduction into driving a snowmobile.

We left at 9.45am for a 10 hour trip to the east coast of Svalbard and back. S was given a few chances to get up to speed for the trip but the dogsled fall left her low on confidence and she had to ditch her snowmobile and ride as a passenger.

At the first scheduled stop we all had to park in formation, the group leader decided to stand in front of my snowmobile as I parked and with minutes of experience as a snowmobile he nearly regretted it as I nearly ran him over when my glove got caught on the accelerator!

We drove on down a valley and then out across a glacier to the east coast where we had lunch...a crappy add boiling water beef stew and some chocolate and coffee. We then drove on towards a glacier face and stopped as a polar bear and her two cubs were spotted about a kilometre or so in the distance. Looked through binoculars and then set course around the polar bears on another glacier with a blue marble-like face.

Continued on to a ship stranded in ice that acts as a bar/hostel/cafe in the Tempelfjord. We thawed out and had coffee and biscuits before driving on home via a trapper's hut.

S was dropped off where her snowmobile was left earlier and she drove it back to the tour company office. We both got back alive but exhausted and sore from the bumpy ride and the endless sideways swerving of the snowmobiles on the snow. Back to the hotel and ate at the pub then off to bed as we were knackered!