Where in the World are Aimes and Hobbes?: July 2008

"We come from the land of the ice and snow,

From the midnight sun where the hot springs blow.
The hammer of the gods will drive our ships to new lands,
To fight the horde, singing and crying: Valhalla, I am Coming!"
(Robert Plant, 1970)

The iceberg lake of Jökulsárlón

Our Iceland visit was timed to coincide with the summer solstice, as although not quite within the Arctic Circle, a healthy latitude of 64 degrees north meant that for the entire 6 days we were there it never actually got dark (even if the sun did dip below the horizon for an hour or so). We experienced the weirdness of this on our arrival, as after seeing the sun set at 12:30pm on the bus ride from the airport, by the time we reached Reykjavik an hour later it was starting to get bright again. It also meant that for the late starters on the Saturday night runtur (trying to avoid the prohibitively high bar prices) were queuing for clubs in blinding day light (and a pretty cold wind for the middle of summer).

One of the fault lines caused by the pulling apart of the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates at Þingvellir

Aimes taking in the spectacular view between the plates

Þingvellir Church

The trip started with a few days behind the wheel of an distinctly undersized Toyota Yaris, which at a tiny 1.0L didn't really do that well in the testosterone stakes when compared with the behemoth vehicles Icelanders seem to prefer. Don't think we've ever seen a greater concentration of standard 4WD chassis perched on top of a set of monster truck wheels... though considering what the winters are like, they probably have a reason (more than the Chelsea mum's anyways).

The Strokkur geysir

Hobbes at Gullfoss waterfall

The upper half of Gullfoss (with a few people for scale)

Another of the innumerable waterfalls flanking the Ring Road

Picking up the car in Reykjavik we circumnavigated the 'Golden Circle' of Þingvellir (the world's first parliament and also the point of separation of the North American and Eurasian Tectonic Plates), Gullfoss (a pretty decent sized waterfall and Geysir (a geysir), trying with varying success to time our arrivals to avoid the many tour buses. From here it was on to the ring road to continue along the south coast to the small town of Vik. Vik provided the first of several nights dining on fast food in a petrol station diner (amongst the only options available in the rural areas) watching Euro2008 on a tiny TV... it felt very much like the American mid-west (to someone who's never been there)... except for the football...

Footsteps and pebbles in the black sand of Vik Beach

An after dinner (of cheeseburgers and chips) stroll along Vik Beach

Monument to the Cod (not Cold) Wars

Not a bad campsite

In fact, while the Icelandic cuisine was a little too reminiscent of the Mongolian mono-menu of meat and potatoes, it did have one obvious (though unexpected) highlight - Hotdogs... available everywhere (well every servo anyways) they come with three sauces and three types of onion, and even better don't repeat on you for the next fortnight... anyways, so we got a bit addicted (total number of hot dogs consumed = 14, maximum number of hot dogs consumed by one person in a day = 4), but there is nothing like a hotdog and a coffee to help you keep on truckin' (did we mention there was an American feel?).

A trek through a field of Alaskan Lupine (we had to look that up) to the clifftops for brekkie

Vik's hilltop Church

Taking a break from the Sigur Ros soundtrack

Waterfall No. 86 (and some horses)

Anyways, despite the light we managed to get some sleep in Gerg's tent... again... (Hobbes says thank you Viking beer). From Vik we continued along the Ring Road (there aren't really any other options) towards Jökulsárlón an iceberg filed lake at the base of a receding glacier. Along the way the scenery was seriously impressive, as the road passes through lava flows, past numerous glaciers extending from the Vatnajokull icecap and too many waterfalls to even contemplate counting. Accompanied by a Sigur Ros soundtrack being isolated on the wide open spaces of the Ring Road takes on a very zen feel.

Glaciers extending from the Vatnajokull Ice Cap

The glacier view from the car

Icebergs float out to sea...

Iceberg filled Jökulsárlón Glacier Lake

Jökulsárlón was worth the trip being one of the most beautiful places we've been with the scenery ever changing as the icebergs float around and change colour in the sunlight. There were even a few seals and a feeding frenzy of Arctic Terns to break up the monotony of ice... the only complaint would be that it was a little cold, considering that a couple of jumpers under a down jacket isn't necessarily everyone's idea of a summer holiday... After a couple of hours contemplating life, love and the ingredients which make an Icelandic Seafood Soup we headed back west to Skaftafell National Park where we were to spend the night surrounded by an island of green and three massive glaciers.Despite the weather not joining in, we did a bit of a walk up to the Svartifoss waterfall and the Skaftafellsjökull glacier.

Testing the waters

Who would have thought it was the middle of summer...

A seal having a rest... how is it not freezing?

The bug graveyard on the front of the mighty Yaris

Non stop action - melting icebergs, the sad effects of global warming before your eyes

Arctic Terns go on a feeding frenzy

For Aimes the undoubted highlight came on the next day at the Blue Lagoon, which manages to overcome it's status as an overflow pond from a Geo-thermal power plant and an over proliferation of obese swimmers to make a perfectly relaxing afternoon lounging in the 30 degree water. Particularly coming after 3 days amongst the ice and glaciers it was a little strange to strip down to the boardies and bikini under vast clear blue skies (Hobbes even managed to get sunburnt, though that's not much of a surprise).

The nearby Breiðárlón glacial lake, Aimes didn't get out of the car for this one

Turf roofed church

Aimes contemplates how many glaciers in a day is too many at Svinafellsjokull Glacier

Hobbes going for a hike in Skaftafell National Park

From this picture of serenity that was the Blue Lagoon it was on to the craziness of a Reykjavik Saturday night - the legendary 'runtor'. Aparently every Saturday night is big in Reykjavik, however being midsummer this one was a little bit larger. Only thing is they start LATE, it wasn't until the sun started rising on Sunday morning that the pubs start filling up. Though thanks to the cost of drinks, everyone is already well on their way by the time they do make it out!

Not another photo

Hobbes and his little yellow friend at Svartifoss Waterfall

The immense Skaftafellsjökull Glacier (the photo doesn't do the size justice)

The Ring Road

Aimes dwarfed by yet another waterfall

A bit of the old midnight sun (well 12:30am)

Reykajvik seems to take Sunday seriously, with not a whole lot open, but considering the lack of sleep resulting from the paper thin curtains in our room this wasn't such a bad thing. If nothing else it gave us opportunity to be slightly up for our dinner at... which if a little rich, provided a nice contrast to our fast food diet of the previous week.