We’d like to quash the rumour that we got fed up with Mark Valladares here at LDV Towers and therefore banished him to the most northerly inhabited archipelago in the world.
There is simply no truth whatsoever in these whisperings.
Seriously, Mark Valladares is a long-standing Liberal Democrat Voice editorial team member. On the team, we really do value his calm, wise and supportive counsel. He is also known as @honladymark on Twitter, and as a Liberal Bureaucrat, Creeting St Peter parish councillor and Liberal globe trotter.
There was a place called “Spitzbergen” which used to appear on those old globes of the world. It was so far up north that you wondered why people bothered to live there – or could live there. Spitzbergen is now referred to as Svalbard. It is a Norwegian archipelago within the arctic circle.
Mark is one of those people who likes to clock up destinations. He has gone to Svalbard for his summer holidays. Apparently, it involves something called “wet landings” – jumping off boats into uncertain icy terrains.
You can read the daily diary of his travels on his blog here. It is much recommended! One of the posts is entitled “Adrift on the pack ice with only a light snack for sustenance“. He is getting up to all sorts of wheezes and japes with polar bears and walruses!
Have a great holiday, Mark, and please come back safely!
* Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist and member of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.
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3 Comments
I’ve never been there. Spitzbergen, the name commonly used in English is Dutch (pointy mountain) – the Dutch found it first. As the archepelago is Norwegian territory it has the Norwegian name Svalbard (cold coast). The practical reasons for going there were hunting and mining – substantial deposits of coal. For many decades, as well as a Norwegian mining town there was also a Soviet Russian establishment squatting on Norwegian territory. Must have made for interesting relationships during World War II and the Cold War.
Somewhere in my collection is a book (imperfectly translated to English from Swiss German) describing a Swiss mountaineering expedition to Spitzbergen.
According to Wikipedia – which is ALWAYS right – Spitsbergen is the name of the largest island in the Svalbard archipelago. I’d love to go there but have “only” made it as far as North Cape, the most northerly point on the Norwegian mainland.
Is he going to the area for Liberal International, as he is a stalwart of that excellent fellow Liberal clan too , and LDV as well ?!