A Saffron Walden grandfather and environmental campaigner, who previously sailed around the world, is setting sail once more for the Arctic Ocean.

Edward Gildea completed the first half of his circumnavigation of the globe in 2013 to 2014, and the second half in 2017 to 2018.

For his latest epic adventure, Edward will set off from Portsmouth on Friday, July 7, and sail up to the Hebrides.

From there he will join the crew of a 68-foot, professionally skippered yacht, sailing across the North Atlantic to Iceland and then on to Greenland, heading north into the Arctic Circle as far as the ice permits.

The return journey will be via the Faroe Islands and then south either side of the British Isles, stopping off in Holland or the Scilly Isles, depending on the winds.

Edward said: "I am looking forward to being back at sea again, whether in light airs or gale force winds, feeling that intense connection with the planet.

"When you are helming you have to be sensitive to every shift in the wind or change of pressure, to the lift of the waves and the behaviour of the sails.

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"If you don’t anticipate those forces, you could be in trouble!"

After the first leg of his voyage in 2014, Edward told the Saffron Walden Reporter that his journey was about making the next transition in life, after hitchhiking around Europe and the Middle East age 19 to "transition from boy to man".

Edward, who is the Green Party prospective parliamentary candidate for Saffron Walden, added that his initial voyage inspired his work as an environmental campaigner.

He said: "It took my awareness of the planet and how it is changing to a new level, intensified by the birth of my grandsons. They are what motivate me.

"This expedition north is also about gathering more first-hand experiences of the climate crisis because temperatures are rising so much faster around the North Pole than they are here.  

"It could well mean that I campaign all the more passionately as the Green Party Parliamentary candidate when I get back to Uttlesford!"