Eighteen months after conceiving the idea of doing a challenge I set off early on Wednesday 25th June 2014. I had taken my son, Thomas to stay at Ty Gobaith for 4 nights the Monday before. I was quite emotional doing so, knowing I wouldn't see him for a week and I'd be in a different country to him. On Wednesday morning I went to see Emily before I left. She was subdued, maybe just sleepy, but possibly upset. Paul went in to her after and said she was "OK". I felt myself welling up as we travelled to the station and then during my journey, first by train, then plane from Manchester to Keflavik, Iceland.
I'd forgotten how nervous I get flying and felt quite stressed during the flight. This exacerbated my feelings of emotion and then on arriving and going to collect my luggage I found that the walking poles I'd borrowed from my parents that had been attached to the outside of my bag had gone. Nobody in the airport was remotely helpful so I felt quite upset. The rest of the trekkers were travelling from Heathrow so I had to find them. Their flight arrived a few minutes after mine so thankfully not too much waiting around and I approached someone I thought looked a likely candidate. I was right and met Julia, who I'd be sharing a tent with later.
We travelled by bus then to our first campsite, a journey of some 4 hours. The reality of being away from my children, in the company of strangers, with the task facing me now imminent and with the loss of my walking poles meant i felt very emotional and I fought back the tears. I calmed myself but felt the tears pricking my eyes occasionally as thoughts entered my head.
The journey was fascinating with spectacular landscape. We saw Mount Eyjafjallajokull, the volcano that erupted in 2010, causing all the problems for airlines. It was topped in snow and covered in cloud. We also passed close to Mount Helka which erupts about every 10 years and last erupted in 2000. It has apparently been swelling in recent years and it can't be too long to an eruption. We arrived at Landmannalugar at around 7.30pm local time, 14 hours after I'd left home. We had to then pitch our tents after being paired up. The ground was hard and rocky and it was noticeably cold. There were patches of snow and ice not too far away. We were shown how to pitch the tents before doing our own ourselves. Thankfully Julia is involved with the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme and was clearly no stranger to camping so our tent was pitched, thanks to her. We then all met in the Mess tent for a meal. Our tents and the food were provided by Edwin and Miriam who are Dutch but now living in Iceland. It was a good chance to get to know some of my fellow trekkers a little along with Carmel and Victoria from Charity Challenge. Victoria was our trek leader and had spoken to me at the airport and offered me her walking poles for the trek as she said her job was easier if I was OK!
After our meal a few of us visited the hot spring pool on the site. I was not too keen on it given the temperature but felt it had to be done! Before we got in though we saw a sign warning about "Swimmer's Itch" which caused me some concern, being the worrier that I am. Very little information was given except we basically bathed at our own risk. I'd come this far though so had to carry on and try it. The water from the spring was lovely and warm but flowing into the pool was also melting snow and ice so we'd get hit with some very cold water too.
I finally got to bed about 11pm (1 hour behind UK time). It was still light. Sunset and sunrise are only 3 hours apart this time of year and it never gets completely dark. It was also very cold and I struggled to get warm all night. I woke frequently feeling cold and uncomfortable.
In the morning we had to prepare for the day and pack our tents and belongings. Thankfully we got our tent packed away due to the efforts of Julia again. We carried a day pack with all the essentials for the day but Edwin and Miriam transported our main bags between camps. We set off around 9.30. We had been provided with lunch and snacks and also there were some Thermos flasks to make tea, coffee and soup during the day. I felt I ought to do my bit and volunteered to have one. However, my day pack weighed heavily on my shoulders and I felt discomfort immediately. At every opportunity, when there was a brief rest I took it off my shoulders. This led to Carmel and Victoria being concerned about me and after only about an hour Carmel took the Thermos flask from me. So that was my contribution to the flask carrying for the entire trek!
It was damp and raining a little but the scenery was stunning all around. It looked unreal in places, as though it had been painted. Today was due to be our toughest day and it definitely proved to be. Thankfully it didn't rain too much but it was cold and got very foggy. There was a lot of uphill climbing and we spent a lot of the day hardly able to see those in front of us. Our guide was Oskar whose usual job is a banker but who does guiding a little in the summer as he enjoys it and is friends with Edwin. He would stop and wait for all the group to catch up every now and again, which was especially important when visibility was poor. We walked over a lot of snowfields and it felt like we could be in the Himalayas! In the fog we passed a plaque, commemorating a man who had died at that spot in a blizzard almost exactly 10 years ago.. This brought home how extreme the weather can be there and how quickly it can change. Oskar said later he'd never experienced fog like we did that day. 
Part way through the day I discovered my water bladder had leaked in my bag. That lead to a lot of wet belongings, including a pair of socks that didn't dry until 2 days later. I also got one foot wet crossing a river and my boot was still wet the next day. With us sleeping in tents and it being so cold, there was no opportunity to dry anything. My towel from visiting the geothermal pool remained damp and I didn't have a shower until the hotel at the end of the trek! As we reached the end of the trek that day after 24km/15miles and 10 hours of walking I chatted to Victoria about why I was doing the trek and what it involved for me. She asked if I was excited and I told her to ask me on Saturday. I felt so proud and a huge sense of achievement but also overwhelmed and anxious that there was still two days to go. I had managed to send and receive text messages so I felt happier about being able to report back home and found out how they all were. I heard from Paul that Emily seemed a little tearful but she was so proud of me she wouldn't show it. I filled up with pride and knew I had to do her proud.
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