Canadian Test Drive

15.03.22 Travel diary

Arrived in Cambridge Bay last night. The day turned out to be creative, there was a strong wind and snow in the morning, the visibility either appeared or disappeared. It was about 50 km to Bathurst Inlet Bay through quite rugged terrain with valleys separated by rocky ridges, with slopes of varying steepness.

In the absence of visibility, the task of crossing them did not arouse much enthusiasm in our souls. But at the top it is clearer who to help in undertakings and visibility at the right time to one degree or another appeared, and by the middle of the day we finally got out onto the sea ice. In the afternoon, having left about 200 kilometers behind, we expected to reach the hot water supply by 6-7 pm, but ... "Welcome to Canada", a strong wind picked up and in zero visibility conditions (sometimes it improved to 5-7 meters) staring at the navigator screen with one eye, and with the other at the windshield, so that, if you're lucky, noticing the ice block in time, go around it, or at least minimize the impact, "on instruments" arrived in the glorious village of Cambridge Bay.

I went to the doctor in the evening, with a request to allocate some ethanol in the form of combating strabismus, the healing liquid was issued in a ruthlessly insufficient amount. As you know, selflessness in Russia is encouraged abundantly, but only verbally.

In the middle of the strait, about 15 kilometers from the village, a white hybrid handsome Ford “gave it up”, the electronics turned off, well the ice was quite even and allowed him to be dragged on a rope to his destination. This car is over. The remaining two Fords, simpler, behave quite decently and demonstrate quite good cross-country ability, within the limits, of course, possible for cars of this type. The team is pleased, relations with the Vikings are warm, the men are highly professional, in general, everything is fine, we are moving on.

Tomorrow we have a rest day, and we will spend it in the garage with cars. 
So it goes. Greetings to all! VE