Since we left the Isle of Skye and set out on the second half of the expedition, we've spent the nights on " camping rough," which in Scotland very often means wet meadows with tussock grass, lots of gnats (small mosquitoes), a long way to a toilet and bath – or the ship.
Twice we made dinner on board; canned sailor's casserole with carrots, leeks and pickled beetroot that we had the luck to find in a small supermarket, and goulash that we made with meat from Scottish Black Angus cattle.
When we buy meat, we have to find a local butcher to get the quantity needed (13 kilos per meal), but then we also get good meat: Organic, free range, etc. If we spend several days in one place (and we know, we are going to stay there, mind you), we can order supplies.
In one place, John from the escort ship Island Fox had some locals provide us with meat from crown deer, Scottish lamb and beef, plus barbeque charcoals and salad. We ate about 40 kilos of meat that night, added some rice, beer, wine and whisky. We really enjoyed this after the many only slightly differing versions of casserole.
Right now we've been ashore for four days at Lagavulin Whisky Distillery – about the only civilised thing around here. There is 4 kilometres to village, bath, laundry, café and pub, but still we've managed to shop in town almost every day. The chance of having something other than oat-porridge for breakfast must be taken. The more milk, juice, cheese, yoghurt and coarse toast (still somewhat light and sticky for us Danes) we buy, the more we eat. But we must need it! Some of the crew members now feel sick if they just hear the word porridge.
Our stock of rye bread is almost empty. We haven't been able to eat all 7000 slices we ordered from Kohberg, and now the life of the bread (which was 30 days) has expired. And though we must say that the bread kept really well and was fresh for a long time, that is now over. We Scandinavians will have to do without our almost indispensable rye bread. And the non-Scandinavian crewmembers are glad! They think our lunch habits are really odd. "Sour, mushy, heavy bread with the strangest fillings." Maybe our open sandwiches with mackerel in tomato sauce, cucumber, rémoulade, salami, onion and whatever else we put on the bread doesn't exactly look like the famous Danish open sandwiches; but on this particular point – the food, that is – our foreign participants have had to put up with quite a bit.
And if the crew of Island Fox haven't wondered about our heavy rye bread, they've definitely wondered how we are able to eat Logan Bread – this compressed mixture of fruit and nutcake and coarse rye bread. One of them was accidently hit on the head with a Logan Bread, and almost hit the deck! But however heavy it is to lift, it is surprisingly easy to chew – almost like a muesli bar.
We are slowly approaching the time where we must think about eating everything, so we don’t have excess supplies when we hit Dublin on August 14th. In Dublin, the Irish will make sure we are fed. So some of the open sandwiches and dishes in the last few days will have a touch of "cleaning up” about them It is strange to have to think like that already, with 14 days left of the expedition.