Iceland Day 3: Marathon Day

Another beautiful morning of breakfast with a lakeside view before packing up for our busiest day. They did mention that breakfast was on the itinerary but there was no mention of sleep! We stopped off at Tjörnes Peninsula to admire the views and the Fulmars (I think) that were nesting on the cliffs.

From there we headed to Ásbyrgi Canyon, passing over a huge geological fault on the way. Ásbyrgi is an interesting horseshoe shaped canyon with a lovely "forest" (again, tiny little trees), ponds and bird life. It is believed that it was formed when Sleipnir, Odin's flying horse, touched the ground with one of his eight hooves. It was beautiful.

Our next and final stop was Jökulsá á Fjöllum (literally translating to glacial river in the mountains) and Dettifoss. Dettifoss is the largest waterfall in Europe. It's 45m high and 100m across. It was spectacular. There was still snow on the ground in patches and everything was bare rock as far as the eye could see. I had some fantastic shots of the waterfall but I had to follow marathon tradition. I actually had to use my stylish midge hat at the waterfall!

We sadly had to cut our trip short as Hljóðaklettar Echo Rocks were inaccessible due to there still being too much snow on the ground. Despite this we reached the hotel at around 4pm with a few hours to have a nap and pack our bags ready for the marathon.

7:30pm it was time for Pre Marathon tactic talks followed by a pasta buffet. On to the buses and then to the Nature Baths that would be the finish of the marathon. The usual marathon warm up wasn't as useful as it normally is, a quick round of hokey cokey and then a stroll down the road to the start line. I normally take a photo of the start line of my marathons but well this evening there was no fancy start line. Just the open road ahead of us and a quick shot of my watch to record our start time. This shot was of the group heading down to the start line, bras on show despite the cold. The same midnight start as the rest but this time with the midnight sun light