July means 24-hour daylight here in Ittoqqortoormiit and about this time every year the sea ice breaks up. It also means instead of my usual running routine of keeping close to town, where huge generators power lighting and bears are few, I run over sandbars and through fast flowing melt water streams to increase my daily mileage.

On journeys or training I wear Rab’s Vapour-rise. Training equals lots of difficult running, a hundred miles a week of it.

That’s running twice daily with weight training three times a week. Consequently I spend a lot of time on my feet in less than pleasant circumstances. I also choose to wear Bridgedale socks. Their sock range covers all the activities I’m interested in: socks to run in, socks to hike in and obviously socks that keep my feet warm and healthy in Arctic cold. If you’re serious about the same don’t bother looking anywhere else for socks. Bridgedale socks are hardwearing, insulate properly, dry fast, keep shape and look good.

Up until now I’d lived in the Ittoqqortoormiit region for over two years without leaving. In all that time I’d seen snow every single day, lived without running water, not seen trees and not travelled faster than the speed of my dogs.

I wasn’t that bothered about taking a break but an opportunity to visit family arose so I went to the UK.

It wasn’t easy. I had difficulty sleeping before going because I was really worried about leaving my dogs behind, they’d been with me every day for two years.

I wormed all my dogs Bayer’s Drontal Plus before leaving for England.

By the end of July I was back with my dogs after my return flight from the UK to Iceland and another one to Constable Point on Jameson Land. Constable Point is Ittoqqortoormiit’s only winter connection with the outside world. No roads or railways lead here.

The Constable Point runway and buildings are the remnants of a mining company that had the dosh to build such things. The miners pulled out years ago but left behind the runway, and a windsock.

From Constable Point it’s a 20-minute helicopter hop to home. As I walked from the landing pad I could hear my dogs without seeing them or my house. They could smell me coming and were going nuts to see me again.

Since being away the 24-hour sun had given way to darkening nights and apparently news was that bears had been hopping on and off the pack ice and coming ashore while I was away. You can understand why I worried so much before leaving. My next-door neighbour’s daughter had a polar bear sow with two cubs come up and look straight at her through a window. She said the bears went between their house and my dogs without fuss, up the hill and out of sight.

The Arctic char had started to run and hunters were out with their nets. In comparison to the salmon-run I used to see in the Canadian north, the quantities here are poor and there’s none of the 2,000 fish stockpiles dog drivers can accumulate over the summer to feed their dog teams throughout winter.

Big icebergs have been a problem this year. They came close to shore and the fear was that they might topple. All summer there had been one aground 400 metres offshore. Word was if it came any closer hunters would have brought their boats ashore. An upending iceberg creates wave action tending to destroy everything in its wake.