12 days of gateway, 8 of them nomadic, with our autonomy safely stowed away in our ski-drawn pulkas.

Buchans, a small point at the end of the road on the map of Newfoundland, theoretically retains its continental climate, cold and snowy in winter. It will be our starting point, as it was last year. However, on the 1st day of our journey, the forecast is a dreadful thaw and rain. In fact, a downpour. The large lake we're aiming for is a pool covered in water; on ice that's still solid, of course, but bare... and with the strong wind, balance and trajectories are rather hazardous. So we opt for a less open route, wandering through rivers, hills and small lakes. But we soon realized that the open rivers had broken the beautiful ice tracks on which we'd thought we'd glide so many times. This major change means that we have to cross a lot of undergrowth, where weaving between trunks while dragging a pulka is no picnic. A change of scenery and a variety of terrain are guaranteed, and we look forward to it every evening! Weather changes are also frequent: crossing a small frozen lake can start out sunny, only to end in snowy gusts that send the temperature plummeting.

Eric has the tools of our freedom and safety right in his pocket: in the form of previously downloaded applications containing morphology and constitution of the terrain, as well as more or less ancient trail layouts. In this way, we can assess the possibilities of reaching one point or another, crossing a wood or joining a track... and finding a spot sheltered from the wind for the evening's bivouac.

Along the way, nature offers us its surprises: a lemming passing between our skis, moose spotting in the undergrowth, a squirrel too greedy to be afraid, ice sculptures caused by river flooding, the masterly colors of the setting sun, and the strange sensation of gliding (sometimes rubbing) over the grasses of marshes still a little frozen...

Long live adventure, whatever it looks like!

See the album.