Fulham and Atletico Madrid could again face the possibility of long, arduous journeys to get to Hamburg for the Europa Cup final on Wednesday.
That is because fresh eruptions of volcanic ash have been drifting over Northern Europe and shutting down airspace. Air travel between Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Ireland were affected as airlines operated fewer flights. Many others were delayed. Flight time were longer as airlines had to re-route to avoid the ash.
Roy Hodgson pleaded with UEFA honchos to consider postponing the finals.
"I do not think it is quite that simple to say, 'The game is Wednesday, you have to get there' if [Atlético] Madrid are facing a 20-hour journey and we are facing a 30-hour journey, because I do not think this is what the finals are about -- they are a great occasion," Hodgson said. "You would be playing the game with thousands and thousands of English and Spanish fans not able to go, which I would say is another reason for Uefa to reconsider."
Atletico Madrid had to travel to Sporting Gijon by bus, a four hour ride as ash forced closures in Spain's northern airports over the weekend.
Last saturday, the ash eruption ceased. Just in time for my visit of the environment of Eyafjallajökull! I traveled through an amazing landscape of ash covered meadows, where tips of grass are struggeling through the ash carpet. Rivers are washing heavy loads of black sand into the sea. And the glaciers! I’ve seen many of them, but this was the first time I’ve seen blue ice sticking out og a black moon landscape of ash-covered ice moutains and canyons!
See some blog photos of the post-eruption situation in Iceland here:
http://abc4trip.eu/volcano-fun-in-iceland-while-air-traffic-is-shut-down/
JK