Awareness about Greenland and the Arctic has never been greater but what makes this place, its people and culture so unique is changing fast, not because of the same old achingly dull global warming waffle but by bans and laws implemented by grey politicians from other countries.

And for what reasons do they do this? I can never fathom it out.

In the last year 100 people have left here for good. Now only 460 people live in Ittoqqortoormiit. We all need money no matter how frugal our existence. Many of those who have left did so because the EU has banned so much of what people did to earn a living here. I know there’s no ban on hunting seals but there is one on selling - outside of Greenland - the fur and products made from it. With so many people leaving I’ve also noticed there are fewer dog teams here now too.

Not so long ago a really hardworking full-time hunter could earn £25,000 a year for himself and his family.

Seals continue to be shot and netted here for human and dog food consumption and why shouldn’t they. But because of the laws it means furs are now wasted. And how dumb is that?

If you have ever dreamt of seeing Greenland for what it’s famous for, I urge you to make haste and set plans in motion before the suits ban you from looking at seals.

In August the first cruise ship of the year landed with nearly 500 Germans. Instantly town population doubled, nothing wrong with that since cruise ships are welcomed.

Before landing, the ship passengers were told not to buy food from the store else they’d have depleted our limited provisions.

Crowds usually gather looking at my dogs from the track beside my house. I go out very happy to talk with these visitors because for the best part there’s always a good chance to meet some very agreeable people from all over the world. I really enjoy sharing information about the dogs, although some of the questions are a bit weird. I don’t know what on earth the woman was expecting me to say when she asked, “What would happen if I put a baby in with your dogs?” And why would anyone ask, “Do your dogs eat rocks?”

I always do my best to go about these questions by myth busting.

Another cruise ship came ashore and I was asked to go aboard to give a talk about what it is like living here, the lifestyle, challenges, the cold and of course about the dogs.

And so because of people’s response and interest towards my dogs and lifestyle I’ve started to make and sell my own merchandise  including signed original photographs, fridge magnets and mouse mats branded with pictures of my dogs and life here.

By the middle of August I had started and finished building a wooden food and fuel depot crate for a planned journey.

Next job was to go about organising dog and my food and fuel into six journey stages taking into account three days extra for margin of safety for every week. This amounted to over half a tonne of Nutrience dog food and 90 litres of white gas. Any 12 of my dogs’ combined body weight equal half a tonne. With muscles in their spit they can easily pull double their own body weight.

I don’t have muscles in my spit but health and fitness is the foundation to everything I do. For so long lightweight nutrition meant living off junk sold as “expedition food”. Food I eat isn’t always commercially available, so I knuckle down to make it. With a UK Juicers Excalibur Food Dryer I pack top-notch nutrition rich foods that years ago were considered impracticable journey luxuries such as plump fresh fruit and vitamin and mineral packed vegetables. I also eat a lot of raw lean dehydrated meat like musk-ox. And because establishing food and fuel depots in bear country is always a risk I vacuum packed every food item. Excessive detail? I don’t want bears knowing where life dependent supplies of mine are. Polar bears have an extraordinary sense of smell and will consider eating anything. I’ve known polar bears to eat snowmobile seats. And gas cans. True omnivores.

So what about this journey?

At this stage all I’m saying is, with my dogs I’ll start from my house and will be heading northeast outward for 200 miles. An approximate 400 miles total with no storms should be a three-week trip. But I've packed for longer because of uncertainties. There’s always the prospect of storms and more than likely deep snow will bring any advance down to a crawl. And it will be very cold.

Oh, one more thing. Where we’re making for: it’s just blank on maps except for the word unknown or unexplored. Yes, these places still exist.

I walked a section of my planned route with Mikkey last summer when we hiked across Jameson Land.

We’ll be moving further on than this though and there’s an interesting story about Ittoqqortoormiit hunters who, in the 1960s, were in a region I intend to traverse.

As far as I can make out what these men saw was what they describe as olden day hunters dressed in furs and hunting with spears and bows. When the modern hunters tried to approach, the ancient Inuit ran off leaving mukluk footprints in the snow. The modern day hunters could not believe what they saw. But there was more. They found seals with harpoon scars. No Inuk in living memory here has ever hunted seals this way. By all accounts it was a real-life encounter with the last remaining Inuit who had never seen civilised man before.

Friends Tore, Inuuta, Jen, Martin and Augo looked over maps with me and poured out what local knowledge, stories and warnings they had of many regions I plan to journey over. Anyone who was going to know anything was asked. Greenlanders who couldn’t speak a word of English joined in with all the help they could give on questions asked through friends, like Jen or Tore who acted as interpreters.

But there were many shrugs and blank faces when we pointed and asked about the region of the map marked unknown or unexplored. It came to a point that because nobody had ever been that far into the Scoresby Sund fjord system there was simply no knowledge anyone could give as to what it’ll be like in there. Quite simply, nobody knows. Scoresby Sund is the longest fjord system in the world and on charts there are places where it’s plotted well over one a kilometre deep and like maps of the region I head for, end with a white blank.

It was left to me to plan, prepare and pack for the worst.

By the end of August food, fuel and other essentials for the journey were packed along with the sectioned crate. Down on the quay Jen, Martin and I loaded the boat and set off to establish two major depots deep inside Scoresby Sund.

The weather was perfect and the sea was so flat. But you know what, it made no difference, I was seasick all the way and felt dreadful.

The first depot was made in the roof an old fur trading post and another further into the fjord.

Energizer lithium batteries were included in the crate. All battery-powered devices such as my Petzl headtorch and Garmin GPS units are AA battery compatible. The bamboo poles are five metres long and mark my crate because I might have to dig down to it.

I turned my back on the depots wondering under what circumstances I might see them again. The depots began their seven-month wait for my dogs and me. From the very moment I left I began to think about those crucial supplies every single day, wondering if they'll still be there when I return to where I had left them.

How do I feel? No longer seasick thank you. I am excited. Fearful too. Icebergs bother me with their upending tendency to let’s-obliterate-whatever-gets-in-the-way even when they are locked in ice.

Fear is no reason not to do something.

All summer my dogs had watched and rested through the comings and goings.