Birthdays and Donations

As some of you reading may well know, Jim and I have both had our birthdays in the past two weeks, turning 25 and 24 respectively. We'd like to thank everyone that sent birthday wishes, particularly those that took the time to wish Jim a happy birthday in Afghanistan.

I'm delighted to announce that we were able to to use this as a reason to get people's attention and do some fundraising, bringing more donations in and getting us to a very healthy 4% towards our target, with many months to go.

Please do keep the donations coming in - the easiest way to donate is at our JustGiving page. We've got some big publicity plans lined up over the next few weeks, so keep checking back for more info on what's going on!

Training Ideas

As the first few donations have started to come in, the reality of this expedition is setting in. There's no doubting that the combined 280 km hike and mountain climb will require a certain amount of fitness, so we've been trying to come up with a few ideas on what to do in the time leading up to the expedition - ideally sporting events that are both a challenge to train for and present an opportunity for marketing our expedition and doing some fundraising.

The first idea on the cards is that Ed will participate in the Rab Mountain Marathon in September. He's never run a marathon or a mountain marathon before, so it should be an interesting experience. It would be great to take a small team of runners out to the hills, so if anyone has any interest in running with Ed, please let us know in the comments or through emails. If you have any other ideas for similar events that we could get involved in, please send those in too!

Finally we'd also like to say a big thank you to those that have donated so far! It's still a long way to go until we reach our target, but every donation is a step on the way and they are all very appreciated.

First donation is in!

We have received our first donation over our JustGiving web page! Please keep these rolling in, and remember that through Gift Aid, HMRC will automatically contribute an additional 25% (or thereabouts) to your donation!

We would like to extend our thanks to all those that have helped and contributed so far. If anyone is interested in helping with promoting our expedition, helping obtain sponsorship, or simply wishing us luck then please leave a comment or email us at icelandhighsandlows -AT- gmail.com

A little bit more about us...

Jim is 24, rapidly approaching 25. He is currently serving with the Royal Artillery in Afghanistan during his 4th year of service with the Territorial Army. He grew up in London and enjoys rock climbing, parkour, making cheese-on-toast for Ed when he's far too drunk to do it for himself. He's on the right hand side of the photo, which was taken in Iceland in April 2010, a few days before a major eruption at Eyjafjallajökull covered the area in ash.

Ed, shown next to the tent with his spork in his mouth, is 23, and grew up in Berlin and in Singapore. He's also a keen climber, and enjoys eating cheese-on-toast made for him by others. He spent 3 years with the Territorial Army, and over a year training to be a Royal Marines Officer. When he's not at work in the Jack Wills head office in London, he is usually found either rock climbing, training, or planning for the Iceland expedition. 


To see more of our previous exploits in Iceland, click here.

Any Questions?

Want to know more about our plans? Want to know more about us or about Macmillan Cancer Support? Or simply want to tell us we are crazy?

For any and all queries, tips, and evaluations of sanity please either leave a comment on our blog or send us an email on: icelandhighsandlows - AT- gmail.com

Please remember to visit our JustGiving page to donate!

What is Iceland - Highs and Lows?

It's hiking 280 kilometres. It's climbing a mountain. It's crossing a country.

Highs and Lows is the name we've given to an expedition we are planning, with the aim of raising money for the fantastic charity, Macmillan Cancer Support. Things are very much in the early planning stages at the moment, but what we do know is that we are going to hike from the north coast of Iceland to the south coast, and make a slight detour along the way to summit Hvannadalshnúkur, Iceland's tallest mountain.

We've called it Highs and Lows because we'll start at sea level, cross the Icelandic highlands, summit the country's highest point, and then return to sea level at the finish. As well as the altitudinal changes, we expect our journey of several weeks to take us through some emotional highs and lows as well, as we fully expect to be battered by storms, blasted by Iceland's harsh winds, rained on continuously, and be thoroughly worn out by the end.