Iceland Marathon 2014 Part 1

My blog on my trip to Iceland, Reykjavik and the 2014 Marathon (Part 1)

3:45pm on Thursday  21 August 2014 and my friend Graham Dale, my daughter Zoe and myself meet at my home where my brother George takes us to Edinburgh Airport.

Edinburgh Airport

 All checked in, and through security, we visit Yo-Sushi, which I think was Graham and Zoe's first introduction to Japanese Cuisine.

Filled with some Japanese beer and ample plates of soup and food, we made our way to the Easyjet for our planned 6:30pm flight to Keflavik, which was bang on time. After a very comfortable flight, and clear conditions, we could see the plane follow the southern Icelandic coast over the Icecaps of Vatnajökull, Mýrdalsjökull and Eyjafjallajökull (see map below). This was my first visit to the island since 2005 when I trekked over the pass between Mýrdalsjökull and Eyjafjallajökull. Eyjafjallajökull is where the 2010 volcano erupted that interrupted aircraft for weeks over the Northern Atlantic.

Major Icecaps of Iceland

ARRIVAL AT KEFLAVIK

8:00am approx. An interesting Airport architecturally from the outside. We were surprised to find it extremely quiet. If I'm right, we were the only plane in at this time. I had heard before that most planes at Keflavik arrive and leave every 4 hours. So by the look of the airport we were the first arrival. Picking our bags up, we quickly went to pick up our hire car (a Kia something or other). It was a sunny evening, clear and calm. We proceeded to exit Keflavik airport and drive off to Reykjavik.

Keflavik Airport

ARRIVAL AT REYKJAVIK

The car journey to Reykjavik is very simple. Its a quiet road all the way and with Reykjavik being the only city of notable size on the island, all roads lead to Reykjavik. We arrived at approx 9pm. It was still light, but the sun was setting behind long Orange shadows. We knew our guesthouse Loki 101 was adjacent to Reykjavik's Hallgrímskirkja Cathedral so we drove to this very extrordinary and prominent landmark and parked up approximately 200 metres from the guesthouse adjacent the Cathedral. It is quite some sight.

Reykjavik's Hallgrímskirkja Cathedral

 

Loki 101 Guesthouse

UNPACKING AND EXPLORING

After unpacking our bags, and a cup of tea we went out to grab some food and for a wee nosey in town. Reykjavik has many bars and restaurants and seemed busy on a Thursday night. However wuth the Marathon 24 hours away, we went for some Pizza and then returned for a relatively early night as we had planned an itinery for tomorrow that would see us explore the south west of the island.

22 AUGUST - EXPLORATION DAY

So we had 1 day to kill before the marathon. We planned that today would be a great chance to explore and being so close to the race, we were not doing any running today, so we got up early, had breakfast, went to the supermarket for packed lunches and set off in the car.

VISIT 1 - SELJALANDSFOSS WATERFALL

Journeying along the route 1 highway, our destination was initially Skogafoss. However approx 1 hour into our journey, we diverted to take in the falls at Seljalandsfoss. The weather was sunny and rather warm.

Paul and Graham at Seljalandsfoss

Seljalandsfoss

Paul and Zoe at Seljalandsfoss

This waterfall is 60meters tall, it looks beautiful as it falls down from the cliffs. You can walk behind the waterfall and see the water falling down like a mirror which makes it one of the most beautiful places to visit. Graham did just that. Below the falls, is the river Seljalandsfoss which flows out into a large expansive glacial flood plain as per the photo below.

River Seljalandsfoss

VISIT 2 - EYJAFJALLAJOKULL ICECAP AND 2010 VOLCANO

Eyjafjallajökull Icecap and volcano

Stopping at the edge of the road, we spotted Eyjafjallajökull on our left. It was very prominent from some distance as we travelled highwah N1 as too was Hekla, some miles behind it.  I was fortunate to walk over it in 2005 before it went boom. Quite an impressive sight.

Eyjafjallajökull Icecap and volcano

Eyjafjallajökull Icecap and volcano

VISIT 3 - SKOGAFOSS WATERFALL

Heading on from Eyjafjallajökull, we eventually arrived at our first planned destination of Skogafoss. The waterfall was set against a huge cliff which you could climb to a viewing platform set into the cliff on a metal stairway.

Skogafoss Waterfall as we walked from carpark

We originally stood at the foot of the falls and from a distance you could see the striking foaming tumult and its rainbow residing alongside it set against the wonderful blue skies. In 2005, this is the base from where we began our 9 day walk accross the nearby icecaps into the Porsmork valley and beyond (well worth the challenge all you hardy walkers).

 

Standing in front of Skogafoss

 

Walking to the falls