NIALL: DAY 5 (27th APRIL)

Homing pigeons navigate using the earth's magnetic field. Little strings of iron molecules in their cells align with the magnetic waves enabling them to judge direction and distance. From the evidence of our natural predilections for turning left or right when hauling, I surmise that I am a left handed pigeon and Murray is a right handed pigeon. This morning started well and we were ready to go at 9am. Then we had a near disaster - last night Muzz forgot to put his socks into his sleeping bag so they had iced up this morning when he came to put them on. Each morning it takes about 45mins of walking for our boots to thaw out. So when Muzz put his frozen boots over his frozen socks he very quickly began to deteriorate. 15mins in front of the stove later and we were back in the game. Last night we camped within view of the two British chaps who had set out two days before us. Our intention had been to sneak up on their tent this morning and scare the living daylights out of them but we were met with a total whiteout and there was no way of finding their tent. The whiteout continued all day. It is an odd experience for a human, not having a horizon. It makes navigating a little more challenging too… were it not for GPS.
Today we were blessed with a strong tailwind. As a cyclist I have often heard tell of tail winds but have only ever experienced those directly in my face. I always assumed that these winds were punishment from God for not believing in Him (Her/It/Them) and that they were a great divine flatulence aimed directly in my direction. Today, thankfully, the wind was off our starboard stern quarter making navigation using the wind particularly easy, were it not for homing pigeon syndrome. I managed to override this syndrome early in the day but Muzz still found himself curving away at 45 degrees every few minutes until the wind was directly in his face. Then he stood there confused for a while until a quick GPS check confirmed his suspicions, he'd gone wrong again. We made good ground before lunch but Muzz's feet developed blisters on his blisters in the afternoon and we called it a day an hour earlier than planned. Still, having spoken to the MD of Expedition Greenland this morning it sounds like we're putting in more miles than most people manage to do at this stage as we steadily scale the parabolic icecap of Greenland. The daytime temperature stayed steady at -8C today, dipping to below -9C by the time we called it a day at 6pm. Muzz and I no longer refer to temperature as minus anything, it is simply 8 or 9 degrees. We had a steady 15-18knots of wind today so if someone could do the maths for a wind chill I'd be very grateful.
Now we're hunkered down and the wind is up at around 20 knots, gusting 25. We're in for a cold one tonight. I hope all is well with everyone at home and you are enjoying plotting our position on Google Earth. Morale here is high. We are enjoying the challenge and enjoying taking the mick out of each other. Muzz's socks are safely warming in his sleeping bag and we're about to tuck into some dehydrated dung. This is Niall (the left handed pigeon) signing out.
The position for day 5 is 65 59.639N 39 40.208W