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.