Ikateq was a small settlement of a dozen or so homes about
8miles (13km) from Tasiilaq as the crow flies, or twice
that around the coast by boat. It was abandoned
as a permanent settlement several years ago (early 2000's?
no-one seemed to know for sure) and has an air of a Marie-Celeste
type village about it, though the better condition homes
are used as holiday homes for people wanting to have a bit
of a break, or by hunters not wanting to trek all the way
back home at the end of the day.
Ikateq is very exposed with no
particularly large hills or mountains close by to protect from
wind from any direction, so it gets blasted from all directions.
Many of the houses like this one had to take extra measures
to stay attached to terra firma, oil drums filled with rocks
thrown tied to ropes thrown over the roof and attached to similar
drums on the other side helped to stop them blowing away when
a winter storm arrived.
