Ushakovskoye, Wrangel Island, on far-eastern Siberia

Even for an arctic territory, this is a remote, bare and forsaken land, the kind of island where one would really hate to live. At least, it has been so, and its location in the arctic sea, north of eastern Siberia, doesn't help.

A community of native fishers and an army detachment had a temporary residence in Wrangel Island, in a settlement called Ushakovskoye. That was in soviet times. The hamlet was then abandoned and only now starts to a new life - a protected natural reserve and some adventure tourism.

Wrangel Island (Russian: о́стров Вра́нгеля) is an island in the Arctic Ocean, between the Chukchi Sea and East Siberian Sea. Wrangel Island lies astride the 180° meridian.

Coordinates: 71°59′ N, 179° 25 W

The International Date Line is displaced eastwards at this latitude to avoid the island as well as the Chukchi Peninsula on the Russian mainland. The closest land to Wrangel Island is tiny and rocky Herald Island located 60 km to the eas. The Siberian coast is 140 km away through the Chukchi sea.

Island map, showing the main features and the route from Ushakovskoye to Dream Head.

Wrangel Island is a protected nature sanctuary. The island, and their surrounding waters, were classified a "strict nature reserve" in 1976 and, as such, receive the highest level of protection and excludes practically all human activity other than for scientific purposes.

Several animal species are also protected, and the polar bear community is the largest in the world.

Find the bear !

As of 2003, there were four rangers residing on the island year-round. In addition a core of about 12 scientists conduct research during the summer months.

In spring and summer, most of the island is tundra-type, crossed by seasonal rivers that come alive from the melting snow and permafrost.

Wrangel Island is about 125 km wide and 7,600 km2 in area. It consists of a southern coastal plain; a central belt of low-relief mountains; and a northern coastal plain

The highest mountain on this island is Sovetskaya Mountain with an elevation of 1,096 m. The east-west trending mountain range terminates at sea cliffs at either end of the island.

The north coast at Dream Head.

In 2004 Wrangel Island and neighboring Herald Island, along with their surrounding waters, were added to UNESCO's World Heritage List

A sandy spit towards Cape Blossom, in southeast Wrangel

HISTORY

After some attempts from the U.K., Canada and the U.S. to claim possession, the Soviet Government, in 1926, declared its sovereignty over the island; and, to confirm this, Ushakovskoye was founded on August 14, 1926.

The initial population of the settlement included displaced Chukchi and Russian families, totalling about 60 people. The settlers established themselves on the island and few chose to return to the mainland after their first posting ended in 1929.

Indeed, so successful was the initial settlement that resulted in the founding of Ushakovskoye, that a second village, Zvyozdny (meaning Star) was founded some 30 km west of Ushakovskoye on the shores of Somnitelnaya Bay.

The abandonned Zvyodny setllement, where a house is kept functional to accomodate rangers and visitors.

Seasonal research and management are carried out at Zvyozdny.

Zvyozdny would later become the landing point for supplies delivered to the island from Mys Shmidta as well as mail, which would be delivered to Ushakovskoye along the dirt track which links the two settlements.

The abandonned weather station

Ushakovskoye grew and developed, until at the end of 1970 it had a school, club, shop, post office, hospital and electricity was supplied to the homes, as well as a modest museum of natural history, an underground repository in the permafrost for storing meat, the polar station "Rogers Bay", library and a communal bath !

Ushakovskoye as seen from the sea

In 1984 the population had grown to around 180 people. But in they 1990s, subsidies were reduced and in 1994 the last supply ship brought provisions and fuel to the settlement.

The settlement of Zvyozdny was being abandoned as well. However, a helipad had been constructed in Ushakovskoye in 1966, so the village could continue to be supplied. 

In 1997, it was decided to resettle the inhabitants at Mys Shmidta. The last resident was killed by a polar bear on October 13, 2003.

Ushakovskoye, Rogers Inlet

Residence houses

 

Ruins make good photos; this was the local shop

Restored hut with polar bear window protections.

Ushakovskoye is presently a ghost town on the south coast of Wrangel Island. It used to house up to 200 residents, but at the end of the Soviet era, was largely abandoned. The only human residents nowadays are the Wrangel Island rangers and the occasional scientific researchers.

Bear protection for window.

Regularly-seen animals and birds in town include snowy owls, arctic foxes, musk oxen, reindeer herds, and of course, polar bears.

A musk oxen among the ruins

A bear through the school's attic window

 Polar bears' tireless curiosity

 Snowy owl 

 

Snow geese in flight

Sea ice and birding cliff at sunset light

'Professor Khromov', prepared to face sea ice, is a frequent visit to Wrangel Island. The trips start at the local capital Anadyr.

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Full moon over Zvyozdny

 

Fox cubs playing at sunset.

Itilleq,a crossing place right on the Arctic Circle

Itilleq (or Itivdleq) is a settlement in central-western Greenland, located 45 km south of Sisimiut on the shores of Davis Strait, in an archipelago surrounded by steep, alpine mountains.

Itilleq means "crossing place".

 

Coordinates: 66° 34′ N, 53° 30′ W
(some hundred meters north of the Arctic Circle)

Population  ~120

 

Itilleq is an Arctic Circle village, situated quite close to the 66° 33′ 44'' magical Northern line.

Itilleq was founded in 1847, and was still an unknown place not long ago. The opening of the Northwest artic sea route and the coastal ferry service bringing tourists had an important impact and changed radically the lifestyle - new school, store and other facilities.

The new school, looking out onto the most stunning fjord view.

The settlement's football playground, a full succes

The Fram cruise ship often calls for a visit to Itilleq

The people in the village mostly live off hunting and fishing, and cruise ships and minicruisers stop by in the summer while groups of heliskiers use the mountains around Itilleq for spectacular backcountry skiing in the deep Spring snow.

Mountains and sea surround this beautiful arctic village.

The typical greenlandic houses, painted in all rainbow colours:

Red

Blue

 Pink

Traditional clothes add further colour to the scenery

 Hand made seal skin boots - an inuit work of art

Life style has changed a lot - this is modern Greenland

The main trade in the settlement is fishing and hunting, with a fish factory being the principal employer in the settlement.

The village is served by the communal all-purpose Pilersuisoq store.

Angaju Ittuk, a ferry for maritime connections between settlements.

Royal Arctic Line ferries provides weekly ferry services to coastal towns in southwestern and southern Greenland.

The midnight sun, an yearly celebration.

Colin Davis, Nimrod

For many years I´ve been listening to great music directed by Sir Colin Davis (1927-2013) with the London Symphony Orchestra. I want to thank him here, he gave me some moments of happiness and wonder. His art was like an Ultima Thule I wished to reach. Thank you, Sir.


Elgar, Nimrod

Brønnøysund and the legend of Torghatten

Brønnøysund, a coastal town in the center of Norway, could well be the site of Pytheas' mythical Thule. The greek sailor might have reached this coast and taken it for an island, as in those times ice was all around and the sea frozen. And central Norway is not short of legends, though I'm talking of Nordic tales now.

Brønnøysund is a “coastal town in the middle of Norway." In fact it’s located at the mid-point on the Norwegian coast on an elongated, narrow and twisting peninsula with bays and inlets, protected from the open sea by numerous islands, islets and rocks, which form large and small inlets.

Population ~ 5000

Coordinates: 65°28′ N, 12°12′ E

Brønnøysundbrua

The Brønnyøsund curved bridge connects the small island of Torget (where the Torghatten rock is located) with the mainland. The ships pass under the left side of the main span.

Maybe the best known building in Brønnøysund: the "Telegrafen" originally housed the telegraph office.

 Tårnskolen, the old school.

Seahouse restaurant & bar

This is a prosperous region, with a well-run economy based on seafood, modern agriculture, wood-processing and tourism.

Whale sculpture at the harbour, called Steinar Breiflabb - a small islet turned into a stone whale.

'Hurtigruten' coastal cruise calls twice daily at Brønnøysund.

Frøkenosen, a sea-water filled lake, is also a quiet neighborhood

Brønnøy Church

Brønnøy Church is a 1870 stone church located just south of the city centre.

In the neo-Gothic style, the church is built in natural stone and wood.

Choir wall and the entrance have a core from the middle ages (12th cent.).

In 2008 the Church opened for use after ten years of restoration.

The old Claus Jensen organ from 1879 in the North wall.


Torghatten, The Gates of Thor

During the Viking era, Torgar, by the foot of the legendary mountain Torghatten, was a nationally powerful chieftain seat and an important commercial center along the coast.

 

The Torghatten (*) mountain is the most famous sight in Brønnøy. Torghatten is like a Troll's hat with a huge hole through it. The mountain is situated on the island of Torget, which is linked to the mainland by the town bridge and is only 10 kilometres from the town centre.

The legend

“According to Norse legend there was once a giant troll called Hestmannen (‘the horse man’) who became besotted with a beautiful ogress, Lekamoya, when he glimpsed her bathing in the sea with her 6 sisters.  He decide to steal her away at midnight (night is the time when trolls come out).  As he galloped southwards, the seven sisters saw him and fled as far as Alstahaug, where they flung themselves exhausted to the ground.  When Lekamoya fled on, Hestermannen raised his bow to shoot her: if he could not have her, then no-one else should.  The King of the mountains, Lekamoya’s guardian, deflected the arrow with his hat.  Dawn broke, the rising sun turning the trolls into the mountains of Hestmannen near Melfjord and the seven sisters into the Syv Sostre range on the island of Alsten (seven small mountains).  The king’s hat became Torghatten – the mountain with the giant hole!”

(*) Torghatten means "The hat in Torget "