Tom Cunliffe and his wife, Ros, gathered their four-year-old daughter and a couple of friends and embark on an amazing expedition sailinh north from England to Norway, bashing their way westward from Norway to Iceland, then past Greenland to L'Anse aux Meadows in Northern Newfoundland in the 75 year-old pilot cutter Hirta. Their burning desire to retrace the explorations of the 10th century Vikings is told with gusto, and Cunliffe interweaves stories of Viking adventures with Hirta's progress, relating a great deal about ancient Viking history and showing that the VIking spirit still lives on in present-day Scandinavians.