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Greenland. In exceptional weather conditions it is even possible to glimpse Greenland from Iceland, from the top of Snaefell. Cloud patterns and the flight of birds make it clear that there is land west of Iceland, and even the very first Icelanders must have been aware that a land mass existed. Yet the sea between is one of the world’s most dangerous. The Denmark Strait has a strong, cold current from the north which in summer brings down a constant stream of pack ice, and frequently icebergs, while in winter the sea freezes out from the coast of Greenland, in a particularly cold winter forming an ice sheet right across to Iceland. The Denmark Strait is a very major challenge for navigation. For the coracle-using Irish living in Iceland it was an absolute barrier, for coracles cannot withstand ice. Whatever westward movement the Irish may have managed – and there is little doubt that they voyaged further west – was accomplished without a stop in Greenland. For the Vikings, the Denmark Strait was challenging, but just passable. Their route was not straight across through the pack ice, but tookthem well out to sea. Out of the way of the pack ice they sailed south along the coast of Greenland until its southernmost point, Cape Farewell, was reached. Here the ocean breaks up the pack ice, and they were able to round the cape and land on Greenland’s western coast.
    Icelandic sources record the name of the Viking credited with the first landing on the coast of Greenland – Gunnbjorn Ulfsson. A Norwegian bound for Iceland, he was blown off-course in 900 and made landfall on some islands off Greenland’s east coast around present-day Tasiilaq which, with a view to preserving his name, he called Gunnbjorner Skerries. This coast had little to offer, and Gunnbjorn corrected his error and sailed to Iceland. Indeed, even today the east coast of Greenland is the most marginal of human habitation, supporting only a few hundred East Greenlandic Inuit along well over 1,000 miles of shore. There is a strip of land between ocean and ice cap which is free of snow for the summer, but the resources it offers are exceptionally meagre. The problem is compounded by the navigational difficulties presented by the pack ice and icebergs which are pushed close into shore and prevent access by sea. There can be no surprise that Gunnbjorn was keen to head to Iceland.
    There is no record of another voyage to Greenland for 78 years. In 978 Snaebjorn Galti became entangled in the endemic Viking feuds, committing a revenge killing which left him and his companions liable to a death penalty at the
Althing
. Snaebjorn and his companions fled Iceland for Gunnbjorn’s land to the west. A saga passage records a dream by one of Snaebjorn’s companions on the eve of their departure: ‘I can see death in a dread place, yours and mine; north-west over the waves, with ice, and cold, and countless wonders.’ Snaebjorn nonetheless set out, retracing Gunnbjorn’s steps to Gunnbjorner Skerries, and establishing a homestead nearby on the fjord at Blaeserk. Winter fell, effectively confining the men to the shelter they had built, and in this claustrophobic environment they turned first to arguing, then to murdering one another. In the spring a handful of survivors made the return voyage to Iceland, concluding the first attempt at the settlement of Greenland.
    The attraction of Greenland as a refuge for an outlaw was not lost on its next settler. Eirikur Thorvaldsson, known to later generations as Eirik the Red, either on account of his red hair or his bloodthirsty ways, established the first permanent settlement. Eirik was a Norwegian, forced to flee Norway ‘on account of some killings’ as the sagas tells us, who sought his fortune in Iceland. In Iceland he pursued a similarly bloody career,murdering the killer of two of his slaves, with the result that he was outlawed from Iceland, too.
    Eirik stands at the head of so