One last gasp Akureyri to Reykjavic

This was to be it, the last day on the road in Iceland for some time at least, and a slightly anticlimactic not quite melancholic pall descended on the occupants of the vehicle.

Half of us had not slept particularly well, having not discovered the well disguised black-out feature of the curtains in our room until after breakfast.  In a country where the sun rises around two in the morning without actually disappearing entirely before or after that time, sleeping in a room wihtout blackout curtains is a distinct disadvantage.

But we soldiered on happily, stopping only to visit a tiny cafe in what would otherwise have been the living room of our host and later of course for lunch a little further south, before launching once more onto a detour across another desert to farewell the last glacier of the week.   Perhaps it's the unfamiliarity we have with these landscapes that burns them into our inner selves, or perhaps there is something in the water but whatever the reason, our week has been full of wonderful surprises even at times when conditions have been less than perfect for being outdoors.

At journey's end in Reykjavic late in the evening we felt to a person that we'd given the island a fair old shake, but it was the younger among us who saw the menu item and ordered it on our behalf.

It simply read: "Surprise".

Note: I have finally posted some more photos on Flickr and am slowly working my way through captions.   They can be found here.

Just another day on the road. Lake Mývatn to Akureyri

Shelley summed up one of the villages we visited today, when she said the only reason anyone would live there was that it was impossibly beautiful.

According to the brochures we have run out of "good bits", and after the spectacles of the past few days our expectations for stumbling across the extraordinary were not high and we were almost in commuting mode as we left Lake Mývatn, late morning after sneaking back to the Dairy which had hosted our dinner last night to ensure their waffle mixture was put to good use.

This was perhaps a mistake.   I am referring to "commuting mode", not the waffles, which were definitely not a mistake, as once again kilometre after kilometre of picture postcard unfolded before us as the day rolled on.

I suspect the only reason anyone would visit this country is that it is impossibly beautiful or perhaps because its populace is impossibly friendly, but we have a long drive ahead of us tomorrow so perhaps there is still time to find some tiny fault.

Note: It is not possible to describe our stay in in Iceland in one photograph or even a few paragraphs, so as soon as internet availability and time allow, further pictures will be uploaded to our flickr gallery.  Watch this space!

Nothing to see here - move along! Hallormsstaður to Lake Mývatn

Today may well have been the day our senses were finally overloaded, although we have thought as much for the past week.

In just this one day there were more waterfalls than one could poke a stick at, more steaming geothermal basins than one could imagine, deserts that reminded us of home and others that didn't, craters and pseudo craters by the score, but it was walking through the steaming magma fields that held us captivated until late in the evening.

There is something about walking through patches of snow in dark lava fields still warm in parts from that last eruption thirty years ago that has a strangely cathartic effect on one's emotions.

Dining in a cafe on a dairy farm, separated from the evening's milking by a sheet of plate glass has a different, but no less significant impact effect.


Note: It is not possible to describe our stay in in Iceland in one photograph or even a few paragraphs, so as soon as internet availability and time allow, further pictures will be uploaded to our flickr gallery.  Watch this space!

Pining for the Fjords Höfn to Hallormsstaður

By this morning we were used to beginning our day in fog and we were not at all disappointed to see it in its customary position.  The day had promised to be a spectacular one driving along endless fiords along winding mountain roads with mountains on one side and nothing on the other.   We could only see the bit where the mountain met the water which to be fair may well have diminished the spectacle a little, so we decided to change our plan.  Instead, we would take the short cut over the mountain through the heart of the fog above the melting snow line.

This meant that we were forced to visit enormous waterfalls and walk around snow drifts and to drive along winding mountain roads that sometimes had nothing on one side and nothing on the other either, which didn't at the time appear to be much of an improvement in terms of view than the route we had initially chosen.

But then we reached the plateau where the melting snow banks had begun to crack, showing an iridescent blue glow magnifying the sunlight even through the heavy fog, and for a few hours we were travelling through yet another wonderland.

Surely now we have seen it all?

Note: It is not possible to describe our stay in in Iceland in one photograph or even a few paragraphs, so as soon as internet availability and time allow, further pictures will be uploaded to our flickr gallery.  Watch this space!

Some days are diamonds. Vic to Höfn

If you haven't seen ice washed ashore on a perfectly black beach, then there is a chance you've never taken a small boat between icebergs at the edge of a glacier either.   In which case you probably haven't driven through eerie deserts of lava fields overgrown with moss, or beneath a fog which gave one the distinct impression that the world was stuck in wide-screen mode.

Yesterday we thought we´d seen it all, that it couldn't get better, so we weren´t too disappointed to wake to the heavy fog, lashing rain and the single digit temperatures which had been forecast for the entire week.   Last night's fog had turned into a low cloud, completely hiding anything more than a few dozen metres above the ground, which could have been an impediment since we were to travel beside great mountains and glaciers for much of the day.

As we drove through the lava deserts and through the glaciers however we started to become grateful for the artificial limits on what we could see, any more could well have overwhelmed us, such was the impact of what was visible.

Undoubtedly the glaciers stole the show this day, and while the ancient lava fields  were literally the stuff of which legends were made, it was the boat ride among the icebergs that was the icing on the cake, or perhaps more colloquially, the jam on the waffle.

We had not seen Puffin admittedly, but the reindeer burgers were a small consolation.

Note: It is not possible to describe our stay in in Iceland in one photograph or even a few paragraphs, so as soon as internet availability and time allow, further pictures will be uploaded to our flickr gallery.  Watch this space!

Iceland, Day 1: We've seen it all, we can go home now! Reykjavic to Vic via Geysir

Iceland, the brochures state clearly in full glossy colour, is despite it's proximity to the northern most part of this world, surprisingly warm.  We can now confirm that indeed is the case if one is driving in a heated car towards  glaciers, ash beaches, deserts, thermal springs, waterfalls and volcanoes, however it is unsurprisingly not at all warm at the times when one is actually out of the vehicle observing those very same things.

We travelled several hundred kilometres, hopping between at least one of each of the above things, gasping as every bend in the road unveiled some sort of spectacle even more remarkable than the last.

By the time we arrived at our evening destination we had seen so much that we began to wonder if we could keep this up for a whole week without suffering from some sort of sensory overload.  It was therefore with some relief that the rain and fog began to roll in with more purpose than it had earlier in the day as we sat over dinner, but we hadn't accounted for the determination of the youngest of our offspring.

After all, this was puffin territory and she had determined that we should all see one.

By the time we finished our meal the fog had thickened, but quite bizarrely had completely disappeared up to a level that would have been not much above the tree tops, had there been trees.  The puffins we were assured, were safely in their roosts well above the treetops (had there been trees), and therefore well hidden from these desperate tourists who contented themselves with a stroll along the jet black pebbles on the beach, while starting up from time to time, trying to imagine what the basalt cliffs above may actually look like.


Note: It is not possible to describe our stay in in Iceland in one photograph or even a few paragraphs, so as soon as internet availability and time allow, further pictures will be uploaded to our flickr gallery.  Watch this space for details when that happens!

Another day in the office. London to Reykjavik -8 June

We spent a day in the office today, which is to say that it was time to move on once again so we did.  In this case our day comprised a short train journey followed by a wait at one end for security checks and immigration, a few hours on an aeroplane,  more waiting for immigration and baggage collection and at the car hire counter.

"We have arranged a larger car for you sir" smiled Helgur at the counter, which lead us to wonder if it was possible to hire a car without being upgraded, but admittedly we had not been advised to insure against volcanic ash and sand damage before.

When all that was done we popped outside in temperatures not quite up to ten, and a heavy haze which quickly turned into all enveloping fog with rain to boot.

"Welcome", they said, "to Iceland."

By the time we had done all of that of course it was getting on in the day, despite us "saving" an hour in the journey.  But since the sun barely sets at all this month, we had plenty of time to stroll down the city streets trying unsuccessfully to track down some Minke Whale fillets or perhaps some Puffin stew for dinner, and to think about how we might spend the coming week.

Another day's work well done!