And so I found my Island...

I often said this is the place I want to be if I come back to Europe, and so it's true, it seems.
I just spent a few days in the Westfjords with Einar, and to be honest I can hardly imagine anything nicer than living there.Isafjordur is so layed back it almost felt stressful to be back in Reykjavik (c'est dire!!)A bunch of decomplexed children taking an outdoor folk dance lesson on a nice summer's day..Found on a front door. "Here live..." I really like the idea! :o)

Very peaceful, loads of birdlife.A bunch of harlequin ducks (I think...)

Semi-wild mammals... :o)
Although it must be quite hard in the winter.. it's encased in a fjord (hence the name!) and so far north there are times in the winter when the town hardly sees the light, and is even sometimes cut off from the outside world I believe.. good opportunity for knitting and playing chess! :o) Dynjandi

We flew back on Saturday evening, as Einar was to catch his plane back toSvíþjóð and I was theoretically supposed to take part in the Blue Lagoon Challenge, which is a yearly bicycle race that goes 60 km from Hafnafjordur to the Blue Lagoon on gravel and road between (what feels like) mountains and lava fields.Gardar, from IFHK, again went to a lot of trouble to find me a bike and help me, so thanx to him and also to Katrin, whose bike I ended up using for the competition.

I ended up 250th out of 313, completing the course in 3 hours and 36 minutes. Not brilliant, but I'm happy: it was a first, I'm not used to mountain bikes and rather shy of gravel roads generally, and after all, I'd only slept one hour. Also, i'm not even sure I'd ever cycled so long with only about 10 to 15 minutes' break..
Hope I can do it again next year, to compare! :o)

Anyway, the ride was beautiful, light, magic. Obviously I didn't stop to take pics, 'cause well; it was a race after all! :D

This is what the profile of the race looks like
And this the road taken

I'm on pic 240 here:
And 134 to 136 here


Very glad to be here again, singing, swimming, knitting, cycling! :o)

Going to the pool now, but before that, want to wish my little bro Benjamin good luck, as he's starting his Baccalauréat exams tomorrow!!! (WHAAAAAAT???? 18 and nearly out of school already???!!)
:D