The Video Blog

Taken June/July 2015. If you read the written blog this will help you to understand what is going on in the video blog. I hope you enjoy watching...

Summary

Iceland is an amazing place - in terms of it's stunning landscapes, super-friendly and honest people, environmentally friendly approach to life and architecture. The perfect destination for photographers (I have never taken so many photos in my life), hikers, cyclists (weather permitting), bird watchers, anyone interested in Geology, adventurers, and definitely anyone looking to escape civilization (there is a population of just 300,000 with the majority living in Reykjavik). I was lucky enough to meet some amazing people. Firstly the guys associated with the triathlon (Peter, Melkorka, Mauro, Marco, Luisa, Ornella, Ivar and Lina). You all played a big part in making the triathlon a wonderful and unique experience for me. Thank you all, and I hope we will meet again in the future (possibly Greenland in 2016 for another extreme triathlon)? Secondly Pauline. It's rare to find anyone that would be willing to take on such an ambitious cycle trip in such a hostile place, let alone a 23-year-old girl who had never done any cycle touring before. She managed to complete the ring road in 36 days on her old mountain bike once I had returned to England. Congratulations Pauline - an incredible achievement!!! I'd also like to thank Dave from Reading Bicycle Kitchen who helped me index my gears with my Canonndale's newly-fitted rear mech and chain. This was a last minute job and we stayed late on a Tuesday evening after everybody else had gone home. Hopefully next time I will be capable to do this myself. To anyone looking to visit in the future I'd recommend spending at least a month there as 10 days was certainly not enough time to do everything. However if you do only have a limited time I would definitely recommend visiting Myvatn, Reynisfjara (the Black Beach), The West Fjords and having a walk/cycle around Reykjavik. Allow at least 10,000isk per day spending money. I hope you have enjoyed reading the blog as much as I have enjoyed writing it. Cheers.

Day 10 - The Golden circle tour

Woke up tired and hungover as expected. The hangover wasn't too severe but I definitely wasn't on top form. After a shower, plenty of water and some jam baguette I was ready for the tour. I got to the bus stop 5-10 minutes before it was due to arrive. I got chatting to a Dutch woman at the bus stop that was also waiting for the tour bus. She had spent some time sailing around the West-Fjords, and had seen whales and Arctic foxes whilst on the water - it sounded awesome. We were at the bus stop for about half-an-hour before a tour bus arrived. She got on fine, and then I went to get on. It was the wrong bus. The driver told me to wait for the next one. Another bus from the relevant bus company pulled up shortly after. The driver said that I should have made my own way to the main bus terminal in the city and been picked up from here. Thankfully I hadn't lost out - I went into the campsite reception where the receptionist phoned Reykjavik Excursions and arranged for me to picked up in a few hours' time from outside the campsite to go on one of the later tours that day. I had an hour-and-a-half to kill so jumped on the bike and made my way to a section of the bay that I hadn't seen before. I came across some interesting sculptures and this weird isolated house made mostly out of random bits of various shaped and sized metal - very cool. Before I knew it it was time to go back to the campsite. I successfully boarded the bus - this took me to the terminal where I would then be boarding the main tour bus. On the first one I got chatting to a Canadian guy who had been doing some hiking around Iceland, and was planning to travel to some European countries in the coming weeks. One of his destinations was London - I told him he should visit Richmond Park and see the reindeer (in my opinion the best place to go in London excluding the standard Big Ben, Buckingham Palace etc landmarks). It didn't take long to get to the terminal and I got on bus 2 straight away. I was falling asleep within 10 minutes. The first port of call was Geysir. It was swamped by tourists and the first thing that greeted me was a huge souvenir shop/restaurant by the coach park. We had somewhere between 30-45 minutes here. I certainly wasn't going to waste any of this in the souvenir shop so made my way up to the Strokker Geysir a short walk away. There were even more tourists here, three-deep in places surrounding the main attraction. I had to wait my turn to get in the prime position for taking photos. It was worth the wait - I was fortunate enough to be in a good position to capture three eruptions in quick succession - something that didn't happen again during the time that I was there. I managed to take some more pictures from different positions before it was time to go back to the bus. Gullfoss was the next stop - just 10 minutes down the road. Again this was overrun by too many tourists and it was slow going down the steps to the waterfall. The waterfall itself was pretty awesome. I climbed down a small rock-face to get down to a lower level away from the crowds and closer to the cascading water. I made a point of sticking to the previously trodden areas to avoid causing unnecessary damage to the flora. It was definitely better down here than the main bit, and I was able to get some decent photos before climbing back up to the proper paths. These took me to the top of the waterfall (cue more photos) before looping back up to the coach park. I had to run back up as was cutting it very fine time-wise before the bus was due to leave. I was more awake for the next bus ride to the third destination. This meant that I was able to pay attention to the interesting facts that the tour guide was telling everyone (the world's first parliament was in Iceland, about how the energy from the volcanic activity is harnessed to provide water and electricity for the country amongst many other things). It was about 45 minutes until we got to Silfra Fissure. We had even less time here (about 20 minutes I recall). This meant having to run around for the entire duration of the time - it was a vast and truly spectacular place and 20 minutes didn't even allow me to scratch the surface. The interesting facts continued all the way back to Reykjavik, and like yesterday the driver was happy to drop me off by the campsite on his way back to the terminal. I thanked the driver and tour guide who were both brilliant before walking into the reception and buying my bus ticket to the airport. I wanted to savour every minute and delay going to the airport as long as possible, so opted for the slightly more expensive last bus. This left at 10.30pm, which gave me about 3.5 hours left in Reykjavik. There was only one thing to do - jump on the bike again and go exploring. I made my way further in from the city centre along the bay-side. It was a lovely ride hugging the waters' edge and took me around some suburban areas. I then saw this pyramid - type structure about a mile away so went to investigate. It turned out to be this clearing amongst some long grassy area filled mostly with giant cable reels. The pyramid itself was the focal point (standing at least 5 metres tall and made out of old scaffold boards). There was also a cannon and a little kids fortress amongst the reels. This would have made an awesome wild-camping spot had I discovered it earlier. Just behind this clearing there was an equally impressive old children's Wild-West/cowboy 'town' again made out of old bits of wood. Inside it was full of things such as a saloon, sheriff's office, giant flagpole and car. If I'd been 8 years old it would have been the best thing ever. Then there was a crazy-golf course to the side of this that was still currently being used, which featured a big ship and giant playhouse yet again made out of old bits of wood. Time was running out so I cycled on the road rather than suburban path to get back to the campsite. I got back with just over an hour to pack everything up including taking the bike apart, putting it in the box and squeezing everything around the bike within the box. I was done with about 15 minutes to spare, so finished the remains of last nights/this mornings hungover pasta before making my way over to the bus stop, and the bus came within 10 minutes. It was a gorgeous evening and the sky was stunning with the sun low on the horizon breaking through the clouds. I was sitting on the wrong side of the coach so wasn't able to get a clear shot of this. Thankfully when I arrived at the airport the sky was still the same and I was able to run across the car park to capture what was by now the midnight sun. A perfect way to end an amazing 10 days!!!

Day 9 - Cycling through the night (part 2), hiking, waterfalls, beach, bus, night out

The later it got the less cars were on the road. By about 1.30am it was down to one or two cars every 20 minutes - amazing considering this was the main road between Hofn and Reykjavik. The scenery started even more special around this time, helped by the light from the sun starting to appear behind the mountains behind me. There were low clouds towards the bottom of the mountains, snow higher up and a mixture of cloud clearing and light breaking through over the peaks - a special moment. I spent a good half-an-hour here with the camera capturing the mountains from various different angles, perspectives and positions along this section of road. I continued to enjoy virtually empty roads for the rest of the ride. As I was in the middle of nowhere and I didn't have my Garmin switched on I didn't know how far I had to go - but was pretty sure I was making decent enough time. Another highlight was stopping at a bridge where the Jokulsarlon Glacial Lagoon was. This was a lake with small icebergs in that merged under the bridge and into the sea - another spectacular sight. There was a campsite there - everyone was asleep which made it seem like I had the place to myself. There were a lot of sea birds there which certainly added to the experience. After a load more photos I continued making my way towards Skaftafell - now concentrating more on keeping the momentum going and covering the distance quickly rather and less stopping for photos. Between 4.30-5am I started seeing the first villages. This was good as I was finally able to get an idea of where I was and how far I had to go. I got to what I thought was Skaftafell at about 5.45am - there was the 'Skaftafell Hotel' along with petrol station with a village nearby. I was wandering around very tired looking for proof that I was definitely in Skaftafell. As I walked up to the hotel doors they opened which I wasn't expecting. I walked in and asked the guy working there where I was. Skaftafell was in fact 5-10km further along, so I pedalled these last few km's, and reached the campsite/tourist information centre just after 6am. My plan had been to stick the tent up for a few hours sleep until my 9.30am coach arrived. However I looked at a trail map, and saw that the famous and spectacular Svartifoss Waterfall was about an 8km walk away from where I was. It would definitely be a missed opportunity if I didn't see this. I ate the last of my food and mentally prepared myself to push through the fatigue for the walk (Come on legs - you can do this!!!). I left the bike by the coach stop and started the walk. There were trails that led to some other places within the local area so of course I had to do as many of these as I could fit in before the coach turned up. The initial trail led me very high up a hill. I came across these strange growling birds - they were quite large, black and fat. Certainly wasn't expecting these. This trail ended at an impressive red steel bridge crossing a river. By this point I was starting to need a poo. On the way back I had to resort to sitting on a low branch by the side of the trail and going - thankfully it was still very early and nobody else was around. The pace quickened significantly post poo and I got to Svartifoss by about 8.00am. The square rock formations surrounding the waterfall were awesome, and spent as long as I could get away with admiring it. I ran back down to the bike arriving just after 9. Just enough time to use the toilet, get changed and clean my teeth before the bus arrived. It was abut 9.20 when I came back outside, and the bus had arrived and people were getting on/loading on their luggage. I went over with the bike. There were two other bikes already there, and the bike rack on the back of the bus had a maximum capacity of three bikes. After the other guys had put their bikes on I started to put mine on. The driver came over and wasn't happy with the way I was doing this. He was a very unhelpful Polish guy (I have known/worked with many Polish guys before most of which have been great, but this guy was a dick). There were these poorly designed elastic straps that held the bikes in place. The elastic straps were deemed insufficient, so I got out my bungees and used these to secure the bikes adequately. I explained that I'd done this many times before and that there was nothing to worry about. He huffed and puffed, said that it wasn't his responsibility and left me to it. Definitely could have done without this in my fatigued state. By the time I boarded the bus it was a couple of minutes after we should have left. I went to pay for my ticket and to my horror realized that I was marginally short of cash to hand. The driver had had enough by this point and waved me on after I'd given him all I had, not wanting to delay things any more. Unsurprisingly I spent most of the bus ride asleep. The bus arrived at Vik (by Reynisfjara) at around 11.30am. I was very hungry so as soon as I got off the bus the first port of call was the service station cafe by the bus stop, deciding to go for a nice stew. This along with the bread this filled me up enough. I then asked a member of staff how to get to Reynisfjara. When they explained that it was the other side of a cliff I knew I would be pushed for time getting there and back before my next coach would be departing from Vik in a couple of hours time, so running was the only option. It was pretty hard going running up, but was great at the top with panoramic views over the beach and surrounding countryside. Getting down was quite sketchy - I went the most direct route I could see involving a steep descent and having to climb over a few barbed-wire fences. Eventually I got to the beach, having just 15 minutes to try and take it all in. There was no time for a walk along the shore, so I stayed at the closest end. This was still really good as I was able to see the abundance of sea birds (including puffins) nesting amongst the incredible rock formations on the cliffs. Before I knew it my time was up and I had to start running back. I'd stayed 5 minutes longer than intended so had to keep up a good pace. I had to powerwalk back up the cliff - this time opting for going a little further inland and avoiding the barbed-wire fences. Once at the top I continued running and kept a good pace until I was back down in Vik. I arrived in the town 10 minutes early - just enough time for a quick supermarket food shop before boarding the coach. I was hoping to buy some beer there as well for my night out later, but all they had were 2.25% cans to choose from, so gave them a miss. I picked up my bike and pannier bags that I'd dumped by the bus stop earlier and stuck them in the luggage compartments under the coach. This driver was really nice, as was the woman/tour guide that took my fare. Again I was able to get away with not having to pay extra for the bike when technically I should have done. The bus was a very reasonable 4500isk, and included stopping at some waterfalls en-route back to Reykjavik - definitely a pleasant surprise. The first waterfall was Skogafoss - an absolute monster standing at 15 metres wide by 82 metres high!!! We got 15-20 minutes to enjoy this before heading to the second waterfall - Seljalandsfoss. This wasn't anywhere near as big but was easily as impressive as Skogafoss, as you could walk right behind the overhanging waterfall and out the other side. I was lucky to witness a small rainbow that had briefly formed at the bottom of the cascade. I was very busy with the camera for the limited 20 minutes that we had here - could have easily spent another half-an-hour here. Before I knew it I was back in Reykjavik - the driver kindly dropped me outside Reykjavik campsite (not one of his scheduled stops). My first priority was planning what to do tomorrow. I went over to the reception and looked at the leaflets. The budget was dwindling and I didn't have enough money left to go diving in Silfra Fissure. I could however afford to go on the Golden Circle Tour that would take me to Geysir, Gullfoss and see the Silfra Fissure nature reserve. This was the only way I could tick the remaining boxes of the 'must-see places in Iceland' in my remaining day here so I booked my ticket that would leave at 10am tomorrow morning. I cooked a batch of pasta that I had bought in the supermarket in Vik after setting up the tent. I had half now and saved half for when I would come home after my night out in the early hours of tomorrow morning. After eating and showering I went into the reception and asked where I would be able to buy beer. Apparently there was only one shop licensed to sell alcohol in the whole of Reykjavik, and this had closed about an hour earlier. It was about 8.30 by now and it was too early to start drinking, so I went for another cycle around the city going to some areas that I'd missed before. The highlight was the famous Hallgrímskirkja church - a spectacular piece of architecture standing proud on a hill well above the city. I freewheeled my way back down to the town, and along to the strip where all the pubs/bars/clubs were. After locking my bike at the end of the strip I had a wander along. There was a 24-hr supermarket, and they were selling beer - result :) . Admittedly it was only the 2.25% cans but after hearing that I wouldn't be able to find anything I was happy with this. Besides I hadn't had a drink for over a month so my tolerance was very low. I wandered around checking out where looked good whilst drinking my two cans. I didn't want to go straight into Austur (the well-known club), so went into an Irish bar. This was dead so went into another bar next door - a place called 'Hurrao'. This was much more popular and had a good vibe so I stayed for a pint in here - 900isk (about £4.50) so not overly expensive. After this I decided to go back to the main strip, opting for the American bar. This is what I'd expected - very similar to a Walkabout or Yates's back in the UK. I had a couple of drinks here and the DJ was playing the standard commercial dance music, so went on the dancefloor for a bit enjoying this. At about 12.30 after an hour or so of being there I decided it was time to go to Austur. They refused me entry - my walking trousers were deemed as unsuitable attire. So back to the American Bar. They wouldn't let me back in because apparently they have a dresscode for anyone arriving after midnight. I definitely didn't want the night to end this early so had another wander around. The other bars on the strip didn't look very good so I made my way back to Hurrao. The dance room that I had barely noticed before was now packed. The DJ was banging out some classic 90's dance tracks and it was great. The pint prices remained the same all night. After a few hours on the dancefloor I was starting to flag and started making my way towards the door to go home. I was stopped in my tracks when Technotronic's 'Pump up the Jam' came on - there was no way I could miss out on this. So back onto the dancefloor it was. It was quite a small area with low ceilings and was very hot - the DJ had his top off and I was close to doing the same. The crowd was predominantly Icelandic and they knew how to party. After another hour or so he started to play predominantly RnB tracks and I had consumed as much beer as I could sensibly handle - this was now definitely time to go home. It was bright light outside when I left at about 3.30am. What was a quiet tranquil city during the day had been transformed into the complete opposite - some of what I saw wouldn't have looked out of place in an episode of 'Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents'. I made my way back to the bike, walked with it initially as the police were there and then concentrated on trying to pedal in a straight line. It was a beautiful morning and I saw the sun emerging over the bay on the way back. Arrived back at the tent at about 4.45, ate the pasta and went straight to sleep. The alarm was set for 8 as my Golden Circle Tour was leaving at 10.

Day 8 - Bus from Myvatn to Hofn, Cycling through the night part 1

My body clock woke me up at 7, and I lay there until about 7.45. I had bought a coach ticket yesterday evening from the campsite reception that was leaving at 10am and would take me around the East-Fjords ending up at Hofn. This meant that when I did collect my laundry at 9 I had to work pretty quickly to pack everything up and sort out my clothes before making my way to the coach stop (thankfully this was located by the supermarket/tourist information centre across the road). I got to the coach stop about 10 minutes early. I was told yesterday that with this coach company I would have to pay the driver extra for the bike. The ticket was very expensive and I didn't want to have to fork out any more for the bike. Thankfully the driver was really nice and didn't ask for any more money. We departed Reykjahlio about 5 minutes late. It was a long old ride, and I would be on the coach until about 5pm. I used this as an opportunity to catch up on some blog notes. After a few hours we stopped at the town of Egilsstadir for about 30 minutes - I was out of the coach and walking around the town/by a lake close by trying to see as much as I could of the place in the very limited timeframe I had. There was one moment of panic when I'd lost my camera - I had been taking photos of some butterflies and gone for a pee, and about 20 metres along the path I noticed my camera wasn't in the bumbag where it normally was. Thankfully after 5 minutes of scouring the floor I managed to find it hiding in the grass. Massive relief. This delay meant that I had to run back to the coach and take a shortcut across a field/jump over a stream. I boarded the coach and we made our way around the East-Fjords. The East-Fjords were absolutely stunning, and I was resenting the fact that I was seeing them fly by at 60km per hour through the window of the coach rather than having time to take it all in at 15-20km per hour from the saddle of my bike. Seeing the East-Fjords, along with Pauline recommending night cycling a few days ago inspired me to cycle tonight. I got my map out and looked at the road heading West after Hofn. There was a big desolate-looking area around Skaftafell that I remember Ivar recommending. This looked achieveable, so I decided that I'd find the tourist information centre when I got to Hofn, and work out distances/see bus schedules back to Reykjavik. There was one more stop before we got back to Hofn. I was wearing one of my Ironman t-shirts at the time, and the driver asked about this. This led to a conversation about cycling, and him talking about skiing in his home town of Akureyri - he used to be a very fast downhill skier, but had got injured so was unable to do it anymore. Apparently the snow isn't as consistent now as what it was when he was younger, and December/January were the best times to go for decent powder. After the scheduled break was over we boarded the coach and made our way the remaining distance to Hofn. We pulled up by a a petrol station, and after getting the bike/pannier bags off the coach and leaving them outside I went in to use the toilet/ask where the tourist information centre was. Whilst waiting for the toilet the driver came in and jokingly said 'I appreciate tips but this is too much' before handing me my iphone that I had left where I was sitting. I thanked him before he went back out to the coach. The guy working at the petrol station explained how to get to the tourist information centre - it was about 2 kilometres away. I didn't have long until it was likely to close, so I left my pannier bags outside the petrol station and jumped on the unloaded bike and made my way there. It turned out that it was open until 7pm - not 6pm like I thought, so I didn't have to rush planning the ride and looking at bus times. The girls working there were very helpful with showing and explaining the bus times/various options. I eventually decided that I'd cycle the 130km through the night between Hofn and Skaftafell National Park. There was a bus leaving Skaftafell at 9.30am towards Reynisfjara that I was aiming to get, so it gave me plenty of time to enjoy the ride. After about an hour I made my way back to the petrol station and bought myself a fast-food burger/chips meal along with snacks that I could take with me. After a good feed I set off at about 8.30pm. The road was generally quiet and there wasn't much other than horses, sheep and ducks to keep me company. It was cold and I had to keep the momentum going to stay warm enough - anything more than a 10-minute break would make me too cold. There were some spectacular early sections of this road, and I took a lot of photos. At one point I saw this black animal and looked like a fox. It ran behind some trees as I approached so wasn't able to get a good look, but think it must have been an Arctic Fox. There was some drizzle as midnight approached - thankfully it wasn't too heavy and the cloudy sky helped to keep the temperature from being too cold. At about midnight I stopped for a 10 minute snack break sitting on a sheltered rock by a river next to the roadside.

Day 7 - Hiking around Myvatn

I was up at 7 again. Not knowing yet what the plan would be for the day, I packed everything up and left the fully loaded bike by reception. The tourist information place was very conveniently located across the road from the campsite, so I wandered over to get some ideas. The weather forecast wasn't great for the day with rain predicted. I didn't fancy cycling in the rain so decided that I'd spend the day in Myvatn hiking around some of the local trails (these were shown in a free leaflet I picked up). Knowing that it would be a full-on day I popped into the supermarket getting pasta/pasta sauce to have for brunch before leaving and some snack-foods that were small/light enough to fit in the Camelbak. I walked across the road back to the campsite, paid for another night (packing everything up earlier was a complete waste of time), and went into the camp kitchen to sort out brunch. The campsite kitchen was very busy (one sink, one worktop, one hob and a few pots and pans for the entire campsite) so it was a case of everyone trying to work around each other and waiting their turn. Not ideal when it was 10.30am and I had probably 30km of hiking I was keen to get on with. Eventually the pasta was cooked and eaten, and ham/cheese rolls prepared for later. It was well after 11am when I started walking. The map on the free leaflet I had wasn't very detailed and it wasn't long before I ended up on a golf course - clearly having taken a wrong turn somewhere. Not wanting to backtrack and delay myself any more I went in the correct general direction towards the first trail. Thankfully this worked and there were small painted wooden stakes marking the path. However these disappeared again soon - I continued walking as there was a clear track created by a 4-wheel drive offroad vehicle. I must have carried on down here for at least 45 minutes slowly gaining altitude, seeing a lot of birds and getting more and more remote. The track eventually ended and there was no path or painted stakes in sight - I must have gone the wrong way again. The weather had taken a turn for the worse (it started off being cloudy and now it was foggy and damp). I jogged/powerwalked back the way I had came and eventually saw the painted stakes again :) . I had followed the big track rather than paying attention to the stakes which marked a barely-visible path up what I think was a volcano. This was the first of four landmarks on the free map so I started climbing. It was very tough climbing - steep and long with loose shingly material underfoot. About half an hour later I made it to the top - unfortunately the visibility was extremely limited and I couldn't see more than about 10 metres away so wasn't able to enjoy the views. It was too cold and windy at the top so I was back down again quickly. After a snack and photos I continued jogging/powerwalking along the next trail. It wasn't long before this led to a massive lava field and once again the painted stakes disappeared. I was trying to take more time navigating this time and it didn't seem obvious where the correct path was - there appeared to be a faint unmarked path skirting around the edge of the lava field so I followed this. I was back to walking again as was focussed on seeing where the path led. This lasted for what must have a good hour, with the damp conditions lingering. I was starting to get pretty cold and a bit concerned the longer this went on. Thankfully on this occasion my decision to persevere with the unmarked path paid off as the painted stakes came into sight again and I was back on track! The next couple of hours were awesome - the stakes took me across the middle of the lava field - the landscape and magma formations were incredible. I didn't see another soul whilst on the lava field - it was like being on Mars or something. Running for sections of this clearly-marked path warmed me up nicely. Next there was a spectacular glacial river - I was able to clamber under this void under the ice at the edge (basically like an ice cave) - brilliant. The path then took me to Hverir (a well-known hot-spring area) close by. They had built this wooden path for the tourists that led to the main bit - this was pointless as detracted to the landscape and made walking around feel more like a tour and less of an adventure. There were quite a few tourists taking photos when I reached the end of the man-made path - the hot-springs were impressive but having the tourists and the path certainly detracted from the experience. After leaving here and starting to make my way onto the next trail I started to need a poo. This was definitely not the time or place with no toilets anywhere, and it being far too cold to want to squat down anywhere. This slowed me down to a moderate walk which I maintained for a few hours holding it in. The path took me most notably up a mountain and along a ridge giving spectacular panoramic views. Eventually I could see the next landmark ahead. This looked very similar to Hverir - another hot-spring area with a car park for all the fat lazy tourists choosing to drive rather than enjoy the walk. I made the decision to follow the road back to Reykjahlio as I was more concerned with warming up and using the toilet than seeing another tourist-laden hot spring area. A few kilometers before getting back to the campsite a car pulled over beside me - it was a French woman and her family that I had spoken to briefly earlier at the campsite. They offered me a lift - I gratefully accepted and was back in 5 minutes. After getting the immediate hot shower/toilet priorities out of the way there was another issue - all my clothes were wet after the day's hiking. Thankfully the campsite had a laundry service so I was able to wash and dry everything. This meant that I had to cook and eat the second batch of dinner pasta wearing my sleeping bag - thankfully it was quite late and there weren't too many other people in the camp kitchen at this time. After dinner I had to take the tent and camping gear (that I had left by the toilet block all day) back down to the grass and set it up again. Unfortunately the sleeping bag was too restrictive so I had to work fast in the cold wearing just a t-shirt and shorts. I was tucked up shortly after midnight. There was no point in getting up early as I would have to wait until 9am to collect my laundry from reception before doing much. I set the alarm set for 8.

Day 6 - Cycling from Akureyri to Myvatn

Dragged myself up at 7. I wasn't in the best of moods - this was due to not liking the campsite and being cold. The cold start sped up the packing/getting ready process and I was pedalling out of the campsite by 8. After coasting down the hill back into the centre of town I found a bakery on the main street, and went in for a hot chocolate and pastry. It was a proper hot chocolate with cream and a sprinkling of cinnamon - this was the perfect way to start the cold day. Whilst sitting in the bakery I got my map out and made a plan for the day - this involved cycling to Myvatn - probably about 80km away. After another delightful hot chocolate I had a stroll around taking photos around the picturesque little town (Akureyri is the second biggest town in Iceland but is only about the size of Caversham). It must have been at least 10.30 by the time I finally started the day's ride, and nearly got lost straight away. I had stopped to take photos of some ducks on the road that continued through and out of the other side of town, and noticed that the N1 towards Myvatn was signposted to the left where I had carried straight on. Luckily I only had to backtrack a few hundred metres to re-join onto the correct road. Initially I went over a bridge across the estuary, and there was a long uphill offering awesome views of Akureyri on the other side of the water. On the way up I saw a couple of Dutch cyclists sat by the side of the road having a sandwich. They had come from the opposite direction, and told me conditions would be windy at the summit. There was a bit of wind on the ascent but nothing compared to yesterday's onslaught. Thankfully this didn't get any worse at the top. However there was a bit of damp mist that made it rather cold, and gave the place a Jurassic Park-like feeling. The road was mostly flat and I was able to maintain a decent pace for a while. The cold conditions and lack of civilization up there meant I had to keep the momentum going in order to stay warm enough. After a couple of hours of pedaling I came across this big hotel in the middle of nowhere. It had a restaurant so I went in to warm up and get some food. The plan was to spend 30 minutes there and charge my devices whilst eating. Neither of these happened. I had gone inside, and gone back out to the bike to get something. Whilst outside I'd noticed an old fully-laden mountain bike had arrived since I'd got there. I went back in and saw a girl in waterproofs who had clearly just come in from outside. As there was nobody else there it was obviously her that had been cycling. I introduced myself and we got chatting. Her name was Pauline, a lovely 23-year-old French girl. She had been living with an Icelandic family on an exchange trip, before embarking on cycling around the entire coastal ring-road by herself. This was her first proper cycle trip - she was certainly 'jumping in at the deep end' with this. Pauline had started in Akranes and was going clockwise around the coast, meaning she had also been to Snaefellsness as well as the beautiful West-Fjords. I was both in massive admiration and jealous of her trip. We chatted for an hour or so before making our way out to the bikes. Her setup consisted of a HUGE bundle of camping stuff on top of the rear pannier rack, including rather amusingly a 2-litre bottle of water wedged under one of the bungees. She didn't have any bottle cages so this was her method of carrying water. And then there were her shoes - Pauline had taped plastic bags around her feet to keep her feet warm/dry. Brilliant. She didn't like the look of my backpack - it was full with my sleeping bag, pillow and food, and had my bike cover and Camelbak clipped onto the outside. I can certainly understand why she wasn't a fan. We then set off. It was still very cold - I had to pedal quite fast to stay warm enough. Pauline was a bit slower, so we said goodbye and pedaled off separately. About half an hour after leaving I realized that I'd forgotten to pay for my meal - totally distracted by Pauline. Not wanting to backtrack/at the same time not wanting bad karma I decided the best option was to email/send the hotel a bank transfer when I next came across the Internet. At one point I saw a guy on a longboard going down a hill - this immediately reminded me of Walter Mitty. There were also these long-beaked ducks flying alongside the bike - these reminded me of Pterodactyls and made the place seem even more like Jurassic Park. After maybe an-hour-and-a-half I stopped for a pee by a field and ended up getting acquainted with some Icelandic horses for the first time. They are very attractive animals and came over when I approached the fence. I spent 5 or 10 minutes admiring/petting/feeding them grass before pushing on. It wasn't long before I came to a section of road that was being resurfaced. This slowed the pace down to a walk for the first few hundred metres, followed by crawling along on the bike barely faster than walking pace when the surface improved slightly. Thankfully this didn't last too long and within 30 minutes I was back onto good tarmac again. The weather remained cold but the mist from the morning had vanished by mid-afternoon making life a bit easier. The late afternoon was spent focussing on speed and momentum, as was very keen to get to The Naturebath in Myvatn. Eventually I reached the Myvatn region at between 6-6.30pm. It wasn't too long before I was cycling around the south side of the lake. This was definitely the highlight of the day's ride - there was the lake on my left, lava formations on my right and volcanoes/steam from the hot spring areas in the distance. Despite this amazing section of road I was longing to get to the Naturebath - eventually what must have been 2 hours after entering the Myvatn region I pedaled up to the town Reykjahlio (the town by the lake), and saw the sign for the Naturebath. It was just a few kilometres inland from the lake. My excitement levels were very high as I lent the bike up outside the entrance and went in. It was a very reasonable 3900isk to get in, and I certainly wasn't disappointed. After being cold all day there was no better feeling than submerging myself in the warm natural water. I spent the next 2-and-a-half hours in and out of the main lagoon, even warmer jacuzzi-like bath at the side, and sauna by the changing rooms. I was reluctant to leave and delaying having to get on the bike and pedal back to Reykjahlio for as long as possible. I consumed a roll and couple of bits of cake from the Naturebath restaurant, and bought a hat from their shop before finally leaving when it closed at midnight. Thankfully I was able to find a campsite straight away in the town, so went in, paid for the night, and found myself a great spot for pitching my tent by the waters' edge. I was tucked up in the sleeping bag going to sleep at about 1am, with the alarm set for 7am

Day 5 - Cycling from Borganes to Staðarskáli, getting a lift from Staðarskáli to Akureyri

I woke up as planned feeling much better for the good night's sleep. It was a relatively cloudy start to the day and quite cold - this helped speed up the process of taking the tent down and loading up the bike. I made it to the supermarket with time to spare so had a look at my map in the service station restaurant opposite to decide on a target destination for the day. I thought the town of Blonduous would be ideal - it was just over halfway to Akureyri (probably 170km or so away) so set this as my target. When supermarket opened I was straight in. It was very reasonably priced so I ended up buying more food than I needed, and went back over to the service station restaurant to eat this. I sat behind a pillar out of sight and started tucking into yoghurt, jam baguette, bananas and bourbons. I had bought two baguettes and a jar of jam so after eating as much as I wanted for breakfast I prepared the rest of the jam baguettes for later. The plan was to be pedalling by 10, but it was more like 10.30. I wasn't really bothered as with the 24-hour daylight I didn't have to worry about covering the distance before it getting dark. My backpack took a few kilometers to get used to - it was bulky and heavy enough to cause a bit of initial strain. After about 15km or so I had adapted and it felt fine. The sun had come out later in the morning and it didn't take long for me to unzip my jacket. I was focused on keeping the momentum going and didn't stop at all until I had covered 40-50km and a good few hours of solid pedalling. There wasn't anything in the way of restaurants/service stations or even a bench to sit on anywhere so I sat by a stream by the side of the road sheltered from the increasing wind. There were very few cars going passed and it was a nice relaxing break from the saddle. I was there between 20-30 minutes eating more jam baguette and bourbons/re-filling my water bottles from the stream. I had been slowly climbing for a while before stopping, and the hills and wind intensified significantly shortly after I got going again. I was battling very strong headwinds/sidewinds whilst going uphill and it took all of my concentration to keep pedalling as gusts created by the cars and lorries passing were throwing me off balance at one particularly challenging point. The climbing eventually stopped but the winds remained strong. It was a vast exposed plateau and I was at the mercy of the wind for a long time. Thankfully there weren't too many cars or lorries going past. Momentum was key at this point and there was no real option of stopping. After what must have been at least an hour of this I got to a small waterfall by the side of the road. It was by a bridge so there was a barrier to stand the bike against - I was very glad of this opportunity to stop. I took some photos and refueled with more bourbons before pedalling again 10 minutes later. There was now finally some houses in the distance and the road was starting to descend. Going downhill didn't really speed anything up as the wind was still making life hard for me - it was a case of free-wheeling at about 15km per hour with the brakes on trying not to get blown off balance. I started passing some of the houses and thankfully it wasn't long until I saw a service station ahead. As I crawled up to the service station the wind was increasing still. I lent the bike up outside and stumbled in. This was going to be a generous break. As I came in a couple of guys offered me a lift in their truck as they were heading towards Akureyri too. They were having a meal and would be leaving in about 20 minutes - it was decision time. Normally I would have politely refused and insisted on cycling all the way. However it was less than 48 hours after completing a 16-hour triathlon, I had been cycling for nearly 100km today in very testing conditions and was knackered. Also the guys told me that the wind was likely to persist for the majority of the way to Akureyri. I took the sensible option and accepted the lift. After they had finished their meal we laid the bike on the back of their massive american-style pick-up-truck and headed off. They were both from the small town of Dalvik (20km north of Akureyri) and worked in the fishing industry there. Cruising along in the truck was good and a well-needed break from the saddle. Like all Icelanders they spoke very good English and told me about their work, Icelandic Horses, and what to expect in Akureyri amongst other things. We stopped at another service station en-route and they gave me a packet of dried fish - a common healthy snack in Iceland that is high in protein. This was surprisingly tasty. They dropped me off a few kilometers outside of Akureyri at about 9.30pm. I thanked them for the lift before they drove away onto the road towards Dalvik. I was at the top of a hill that lead down into Akureyri. After a while spent taking photos and videos of yet more great views I pedalled down into the town. I was now cold as the temperature had dropped and was keen to find the campsite. Melkorka and Ivar had recommended a campsite that was located approx. 10km from the other side of town. The guys in the truck had told me about another one in the town itself. I was eager to get to bed and out of the cold so went for the convenient town campsite. I found this easily as it was signposted. It wasn't particularly nice as was in quite a busy suburban area but it would have to do. I paid, pitched the tent, had some more food in the tent and went at about 11.30pm to bed with the alarm set for 7.00am

Day 4 - Recovery day/bus from Arnarstapi to Borganes

Woke up at about 8 with the sun shining on the tent. Had to get up as the tent was like a sauna. I was seriously struggling to walk and genuinely concerned about not being able to cycle for 3 or 4 days. Hobbled over to the toilet block cleaned my teeth etc, had the leftover strawberry crunch for breakfast which did very little to subdue the appetite. I then had a good snooze with the tent door open and woke up very groggy 10 minutes before going over to meet everyone for brunch. I hobbled the short distance to the summerhouse, said hello and had a very much needed shower. By the time I was out everyone was outside and the food was ready. It was a delightful spread, and I remember there being fresh fruit, yoghurt, salmon, bread, mini pancakes and jam. The weather was again beautiful. After a good feed and chat Mauro and Marco presented us with a trophy and medal rack to go with the t-shirts. A lovely thought and very much appreciated. After some group photos with the t-shirts and trophies it was time for the Italians to go as they had a long drive ahead of them. We bid them farewell. I hung around a bit longer getting some advice on what to do with my remaining 6 days in Iceland, and got my map out to mark where these places were. After a lengthy chat with Peter, Melkorka, Ivar and Lina there were several places marked on the map from waterfalls to beaches to nightclubs. It was unlikely that I'd have time to do everything, but I would certainly try. I decided that initially I wanted to cycle from Borganes to Akureyri. It wasn't possible to cycle directly from Arnarstapi to Akureyri as there was a gravel road for a significant part of the way (definitely a no-go for my fully loaded Canondale road bike). This meant having to get the bus back to Borganes, which left in a couple of hours. So I said goodbye to everyone and made my way back to the tent to pack everything up. The bus was there on time and there were two other bikes there before me. Thankfully It wasn't a problem fitting mine on as well as the bike rack was big and the driver was happy to wrap some bungees around everything. One of the cyclists was a guy from Brighton who was coming to the end of his time in Iceland, and had been touring around Snaefellsnes over the last three or four days. After a quick chat with him we boarded the bus. The bus was crowded with people - half of which were backpackers with huge rucksacks. I spent most of the journey eating and sleeping. I got to Borganes at about 6pm - the immediate priorities were getting food and finding the campsite. My legs were starting to feel better now and the days of cycling ahead started so seem more realistic. I went over to the supermarket across the road from the bus station - this had closed about 15 minutes earlier. I was still relatively full from eating on the bus, so I opted for finding the campsite, going to bed as soon as possible/getting a good sleep and coming back at 9am when the supermarket would open. I found the campsite easily after asking someone which was less than 2km away. It was pretty small and basic, and there was no sign of any reception. After pitching the tent I went over to brush my teeth and it said that someone would walk around collecting money. I was tucked up in my sleeping bag by 8.30pm exhausted. At about 11pm I heard this voice directly outside my tent saying 'hello, hello'. I reluctantly sat up and unzipped the tent door. It was the campsite woman asking me to pay. I wasn't best pleased at being woken up at this time. After paying it was back to sleep until 7am.

Day 3 - The Triathlon

Woke up at 7 as planned to another glorious sunny day. I had packed up everything and had eaten my pre-race breakfast of squashed hot cross buns and bowl of strawberry crunch cereal by 9.30. Peter, Melkorka and Ivar pulled over to my tent just after 9.30 in their Volkswagen Sharan (the support vehicle) and loaded up my stuff. I needn't have bothered taking the tent down as I would be coming back to the campsite again later. I quickly put the tent up again (knowing I wouldn't want to be doing it after the mammoth triathlon) and threw everything inside before jumping in the car and making our way to the lagoon for the start, with the Italians following in their motor home. It was probably about a 30 minute drive, and gave me a chance to have a good chat with the others. We pulled up by the side of the road opposite the lake (technically a 'lagoon' right by the sea that had a very small opening to the Atlantic, but was 90% fresh water). It was a very relaxed feeling amongst us as we slipped on the wetsuits. We stepped over a low fence into a field that bordered the lake, and made our way to the waters' edge. The sun was still shining and the water was unusually warm (17 degrees). It was a waste of time bringing the thermal swim cap and gloves as they weren't needed. Peter said how the weather was normally never this good and how lucky we were - this reminded me of the first few days in Nordkapp of the Arctic to Africa cycle a couple of years ago when me and the group were extremely lucky with the weather in a normally hostile environment. The swim consisted of crossing the width of the lake six times, and Melkorka would drive around to the other side each time for support. I'm not the best at sighting where to go/swimming in a straight line in open water at the best of times and the first couple of widths were a good example of this. The water was crystal clear, flat as a pancake and not very deep - the water was good enough to drink, and I even saw a flatfish at one point. This was nicest lake swim I had ever done. Mauro and Marco were miles ahead and had finished their six widths before I had finished my fourth. Luisa was tired after four widths so stopped, which left me and Peter still to finish. Probably about 30 minutes after Mauro and Marco had finished we were all done and made our way back to the cars to change into our bike gear. It was still very relaxed - nothing like a normal triathlon and it was a good 10 minutes of drying, changing, eating and taking photos before we started pedalling. The initial pace seemed pretty quick (maybe this was due to my lack of recent riding on the Canondale/fatigue from The Pig Duathlon 14 days earlier) and I struggled to keep up. Luisa was a bit slower on the climbs so I was able to catch up here - a theme that continued for the duration of the bike course. It was a truly stunning bike course - a great mix of flat, hills, incredible views, coastal roads, mountain roads in and around Snaefellsness. This led to several photos and videos being captured. Melkorka stopped every now again to take photos and a couple of times so we had the chance to refuel. There was one long flat fast section where I dropped back from the others and was struggling - I put the bike speaker on and got the tunes going. I recall 'Satisfy' by Nero, and 'THIS' by Oliver Heldens helping immensely. Somewhere between 130 and 150km in I was about 30 seconds behind the others filming whilst pedalling and lost my concentration, veered onto the gravel onto the roadside and fell off. I wasn't going fast and thankfully no damage was done to me or the bike. This put me even further behind and it took the last of my Titan bars, a good 15km of hard work and another hill for me to catch up. We had done a big loop and had passed the lake where we had swum earlier - it was now just a short distance to the town of Olafsvik where we would begin the run. We reached the car/motor home in a car park In Olafsvik together and stepped off the bike and started preparing for the run. It was another lengthy transition with more eating and photos. Peter was having problems with his knee so was creaming this up - he said he may not be able to do the whole run if the knee caused too much discomfort. Then again he mentioned his back being pretty bad on the bike but managed to power through this. Luisa was too tired after the bike to do the run so wished us well and went in the motor home for a shower and a lie down. I opted for rolled-up running tights, a long sleeve t-shirt and camelbak for the run. Peter had a similar outfit except shorts and compression socks rather than rolled-up tights. Neither Mauro or Marco had a camelback - instead had 500ml bottles of water tucked inside the back pockets of the cycling jerseys they were wearing. An interesting choice but knowing they both had a lot of experience in long distance triathlons I was confident this would work for them. The run started going along the coastal road out of the town - really nice start and I was feeling strong. We then turned inland and started running up a gravel track. Peter had earlier told me that the run wouldn't be too difficult- definitely not the case. We continued going higher and higher and the gravel roads started turning into snow covered areas, and we could see the infamous glacier ahead in the distance. The snow covered areas increased as we climbed and the going got very tough. I had gone from a decent jog at the bottom to a slow trudge through the snow towards the top, and was now flagging behind. I had some Jelly Babies - these helped for a short period. It became clear that we would be crossing over the glacier. I hadn't bothered to take my iPhone out of my tri belt after T2, and it still had some battery so I got the tunes going. This time 'Red Lights' by Tiesto kept me going through the fatigue and increasing cold wind. We got to the top eventually which was a massive relief and started the descent on the other side at a much quicker rate. Within the space of 15 minutes I had gone from being barely warm enough to hot. Melkorka had gone up as high as she could in the car and it was great to see her again on the other side. We agreed to stop at the summerhouse in Arnarstapi (where they had been staying) to refuel and discuss the route for the remaining 20km of the run. So we got down and stopped to look at the options on the map. None of us were up for going back over the glacier (one of the original ideas) so we opted for running along a path along the coast to the church where Peter and Melkorka had got married a year ago. So we set off along he road towards the coastal path, and were immediately at the mercy of a large number of Arctic Turns who were really kicking off. Loads of them started flying overhead within very close proximity and started shitting. Mauro got hit on his jacket. Thankfully the attack was less than a minute long and we were soon at the end of the road. It wasn't obvious where the path was so Peter asked some locals. They advised against the coastal path and said we should take the road instead. Peter was adamant on the path so they told us where to go. The coastal path started off OK with a clear path to follow and decent enough ground. However this didn't last long as we were faced with trudging through a swamp, having to jump over a stream and carefully cross a log/bridge over a wider stream. It was impossibly hard so we headed up to the road and continued on in the direction of the church. It started off as a very slow jog as trudging through the swampy terrain had sapped virtually all the energy from our legs, and we still had 15km to go!!! I was about 20 metres behind the others as found it easier psychologically to use them to as pacemakers. The music came back on. We managed to maintain a decent jog for about 5km and I remember a bunch of sheep running in the road ahead of us - definitely one of the highlights of the run. We then reached a cattle grid at the bottom of a hill and the momentum was lost. We walked for a kilometre or so before reluctantly starting jogging again. Peter called Melkorka saying we wouldn't be finishing at the church and to meet us once we had covered 42km wherever that may be on the road we were on.. Thankfully there was a downhill and there were awesome views of the mountains with pink clouds above these where the sun was shining on them from the north. I was getting excited for the last few km's to the finish which looked flat. There was however one last cruel twist - Melkorka had stopped in the car at a junction and I could see her pointing Mauro and Marco (who were now 100 metres ahead) up a hill to the left. I got to the bottom of the climb and could only manage a walk and Peter pulled ahead of me. With the car marking the finish about 100 metres ahead and the hill getting slightly less steep I put the music on, took a good few sips from the camelbak and forced myself to run. With the help of 'Turn back Time' by Sub Focus' in my ears and the finish so close I was just able to keep jogging to the end. After over 16 hours it was finally over- the hardest thin I have ever done. I gave everyone a hug and slumped down in the car immediately eating some chocolate Melkorka gave me as was pretty close to passing out. We drove to the motor home in Olafsvik to drop Mauro and Marco off before heading back to Arnarstapi. I hobbled out of the car into the tent, had some leftover rice and bread from last night and finally went to bed at what must have been 4.30am.

Day 2 - Bus from Reykjavik to Arnarstapi

Succesfully got up at 5 feeling pretty tired and packed up everything/got myself ready. The plan was to leave at about 6.45 to allow enough time to pedal to the relevant bus stop (about 7 or 8 miles away with navigating involved). I left finally about 7 with the pannier bags rubbing lightly against the spokes - I didn't have time to rectify this so had to make do with cycling cautiously and avoiding any bumps. Thankfully I made it to the bus stop about 15 minutes early (there was only one bus per day to Arnarstapi so I would have been screwed if I had missed it). I put the bike underneath the bus and got on. The journey involved 2 changes and the bike going from being underneath the first bus to being hung on a bike rack on a trailer of the smaller second and third buses. The scenery was really nice (at least what I saw of it in between nodding off was). After almost 4 hours on the bus I finally got to Arnarstapi at 11.45am. Resisting the urge to set up the tent and go to sleep I walked the short distance down to the sea, and whist taking photos was confronted by some aggressive birds. These turned out to be Arctic Turns who were apparently trying to stop anyone going too close to their nests in the immediate surrounding area. They swooped very close to anyone who was within their territory and were very vocal. I walked the short distance along the coast path to the small neighboring town of Hedsor. Thankfully the Arctic Turns were only in Arnarstapi, and apart from quite a lot of American hikers didn't really see much other life. After getting to Hedsor I headed inland towards the glacier summit. It was a hot day and I was glad of the small pools of melting snow that I was able to drink as I got higher. After a while I got to the a small gravel road on a ridge between the glacier summit and Stapafell mountain that overlooks Arnarstapi. I was very keen for the birds-eye view of Arnarstapi so headed up Stapafell. After a few hours of scrambling up loose shingle, traversing carefully across the steep rock faces and having to climb with my hands at the steepest points I reached the summit. It was very exposed and a few sea birds were circling around - I was thankful that it wasn't windy. The views were breathtaking and it was well worth the effort of getting up there. I carefully made my way back down choosing a more direct route back down to Arnarstapi than the way up. I was pretty tired and thankfully was able to slide down the loose shingle for the best part of the descent. I got back to my stuff (that I had dumped by the bus stop earlier) and had a walk around to see if any of the other triathlon guys had showed up yet. It didn't look like they had. It was about 7.30pm and I was getting a bit concerned as the plan was to meet in the afternoon at the campsite. I had no means of contacting them as my phone wasn't set up for Iceland and there wasn't any wifi around for Facebook messaging. I spoke to a lady who with her husband were running an adventure days business within the Snaefellsness Peninsula from a hut by the bus stop. There wasn't another campsite in Arnarstapi. I walked across the campsite, pitched my tent and started eating my tupperware rice and with pasta sauce. Mid-way through the rice Mauro came over and introduced himself shortly followed by Marco and Luisa. They had just arrived and knew who I was because they recognised my bike. After eating enough rice I went over to their motorhome where I also met Ornella (Mauro's wife) who had come along for support. They were setting up their bikes - I offered to help but everything seemed to be under control. At least it was initially - Mauro couldn't find his seat post clamp. We looked on the floor, in the bike boxes but it was nowhere to be seen. It wasn't until about 10 minutes later when I was admiring his bike until I noticed it wedged under the saddle - panic over. Not long after finishing setting the bikes up and inflating my tyres Peter, Melkorka, and the family showed up along with Ivar and Lina (two of their friends). We got acquainted and Peter got out his map and unfolded this on the motorhome bonnet to show us the route. The idea was to start the swim late morning/early afternoon once the water was likely to be at it's warmest. We agreed to leave at 9.30am tomorrow morning to drive the short distance to the lagoon on the other side of Snaesfellsnes Peninsula where the swim would take place. Mauro and Marco then presented us with customised race finishers t-shirts that they had got before coming to Iceland, along with a bottle of wine for Melkorka - a very nice touch. Peter and co. then left to go back to the summerhouse that they were staying in up the road. I was invited in the motorhome for some pasta - having already consumed the rice earlier I only had a small portion. I was very tired so went back to my tent straight after the pasta and went to sleep at about 10.30pm. The alarm was set for 7.00am.

Day 1 - Arriving in Iceland

Got to the airport unnecessarily early (about 5 hours before my flight) as was very excited. I couldn't wait to finally meet all the guys for the triathlon - I had been chatting to them on Facebook but not met any of them in person yet. Peter (a Danish man who organised the triathlon), Melkorka (Peter's Icelandic wife and one woman support crew), and Mauro, Marco and Luisa (three Italians who were taking part). There were no issues with the bike or anything at the airport and the flight went as planned. I was in Iceland sometime between 2 and 3pm. I didn't have anywhere booked to stay for the night, but had an idea of a hostel which looked good that I had googled the night before. So I got the bus from the airport to this hostel in the city centre. I went into the hostel and enquired about the price. 13,000 isk (Icelandic Krona). My daily budget was 10,000 isk so this was out of the question. The girl at reception was very helpful and gave me a free map/told me how to get to this other hostel that was cheaper but outside of the centre. This involved having to lug the bike box along with all my stuff for nearly 1 kilometer to the end of the road in order to get the relevant bus - I had to stop for a break several times. I eventually came to the end of the road and went over to the bus station. A local man told me which bus I needed and I got on board. The driver was great and dropped me directly outside the hostel despite there not being a bus stop there. I saw that there was a campsite around the back - as it was a nice day I thought I may as well save some of the budget and camp rather than hostel. I paid for my pitch (only 1530 isk!!!) and was able to put the bike box into a storage room until I would return in 8 days. After claiming a nice spot of grass the re-assembling the bike got underway. This went relatively smoothly, and after 90 minutes the bike was ready, tent was up and everything that had been squeezed around the bike in the bike box was now in some kind of order. I quickly wrote a postcard and posted this to my parents before heading off on the bike back towards the city centre. It was a beautiful evening and the supermarket was put on hold as I was getting carried away with the stunning waterside views, cool architecture/statues and relaxed vibe of the place. Eventually I did a minimal supermarket shop and headed back to the campsite to fix myself some dinner. I had noticed earlier that there was a 'free food' section at the campsite and someone had left pasta and rice there. This meant that I only had to buy pasta sauce and a loaf of bread and that was dinner taken care of for tonight and tomorrow. The cooking facilities at the campsite were great - there were several hobs and plenty of utensils/pots and pans to use. Shortly after consuming a generous portion of pasta and considerable amount of bread I went to bed at about 11pm, with the alarm set for 5am for the morning bus to Arnarstapi.

Introduction

I was googling 'Iron distance triathlons around the world' in December 2014 and came across the 'Snaefellsnes Jankarl' triathlon that was happening in Iceland in June 2015. I clicked on the link and knew that I had to get involved - it was described as 'combining tough long distance triathlon with the most spectacular nature on earth'. It said to expect 'an unofficial almost 100% self-supportive event', and 'the organisation is one person and the aim is to show and share this extreme place with some other triathlon people'. It was completely free of charge and the tagline was 'it's all about swimming, cycling, running and having a day we will always remember. I was sold. I had been wanting to go to Iceland for the last 2 years before this trip but hadn't done anything about it. The triathlon finally gave me a date to commit to. I booked my flights to Reykjavik in March and would be spending 10 days in the country. The triathlon was on Day 3, so the plan for the remaining 7 days was to do as much cycling as possible around the ringroad, do some hiking, go to the hot springs, see the erupting Geysirs, go diving at Silfra Fissure at Thingvellir National Park (Highly recommended by my friend Gabi who had done this recently), see the big waterfalls and at the end of the week celebrate with a night out in Reykjavik. I wasn't particularly well prepared in the build up to the trip for the following reasons: - Awaiting a replacement part for my bike for at least a month that finally arrived 3 days before my flight, so lack of relevant bike training - Fatigued from a 12 hour Ultra Duathlon 2 weeks earlier - No real plan/itinerary of what to do after the triathlon - No proper test for my new seat posted pannier rack/pannier bags/tent bike touring setup before the trip. So armed with little more than a map and hoping that I hadn't forgotten anything whilst squeezing everything into the bike box a matter of hours before the flight I made my way to the airport early Thursday morning. This trip was always going to be a case of 'going with the flow', completely different to my previous cycle trips that involved a daily mileage and overall destination/deadline to get there. I knew that the combination of hostile weather, fatigue levels, and prioritising hiking, taking photos and seeing the sights would have a big effect on the number of miles I would ultimately be able to pedal. I was extremely excited to try this different approach and to see what Iceland had to throw at me...