I placed my estimate for the total fuel to be used on the Fuel Challenge, which also happens to be nearing it’s end. The Taylors are in Lisbon awaiting the arrival of their cars as we speak, and will depart for London in merely hours. They need to arrive there on Tuesday morning.

With their 29,000 km journey coming to a close, I do wonder how they are feeling. They’ve been on the road twice as I long as I had been during my trek across Canada.

Hopefully once this is all wrapped up, I’ll be 2500 litres of fuel richer. I’ll bring you their final mileage results as soon as they are available.

Also - this weekend is the start of the autoshow in Vancouver, and I will be bringing you coverage on the many new small vehicles emerging this model year.

The Vancouver Sun ran a piece on the weekend about some Icelanders trekking across Canada’s north in some heavily modified Ford F350 diesels. Being a (novice) off-road enthusiast myself, I was immediately facinated with the story and the journey.

Originally planned out as a six week journey, the Icelandic team refers to their adventure as Arctic Trails, and you should check out their website.

Interesting to note however, is a change in their itinerary. Exceptionally warm weather has brought about some very major changes to their route…

A crowd of people on snowtracks welcomed us at the harbour in Kugluktuk. We have discussed with the locals about possible routes from here. It has been extremely mild here this year, temperature sometimes up to 4 to 5 degrees Celcius during the day. We are told that “iceroads”, where we intended to drive, don´t exist any longer. That means that we are forced to face facts and change plans.

Climate change in action. There are warning signs from even the most remote places.