A mere 2203 miles later . . .

After driving the equivalent of nearly three times around Iceland’s ring road (2.67x to be precise) our 18 day road trip has come to an end. What a trip, and what a country. Our last few holidays have been more an appreciation of what beauty man, through its creations, has added to the planet over the centuries . This holiday was more about the beauty of the planet that we were given.

The water is so crystal clear you can just drink it, virtually from anywhere. At the end of the day your clothes may be muddy but there is no grimy feeling clinging to you. You just feel clean. We have seen waterfalls, canyons, glaciers, glacial lagoons, golden sand beaches, black sand beaches, craggy volcanic rock formations; an arctic fox, puffins, dolphins, minke and humpback whales, various birds that I have no idea what they are but I know I’ve never seen them before; grass appearing after months under snow, in tiny, straw green mounds like goosebumps that stretch for miles, beautiful carpets of vivid green moss and eventually blue lupine coats with tiny pink flower polka dots; geothermal springs just randomly alongside many roads and at official sightseeing spots, mud and geysers, dormant volcanoes and albeit from 11 miles away as we weren’t allowed any closer, an active one. Before you argue about me counting this, we spent a considerable time last night mesmerised by the live feed from four cameras overlooking the volcanos in the region which were being streamed to a 65”TV in the lobby of our airport hotel. This livestream is for our safety incase of the need to evacuate but that doesn’t stop it being fascinating, Too fascinating if you have an early flight and need to go to bed! The one we saw from the ring road spewing smoke was now spewing out fire/lava so I’m counting it😉.

For such a small country it has everything. You don’t need to come to Iceland to see all of this, apart from possibly the active volcano when it’s not quite so active! There are plenty of sites around the globe that show off the best of our natural planet and we’ve been very fortunate to see some of them. However it seems that Iceland has more variety per sq mile than any other country we’ve been to.

With all the war and tragic loss of life in the world at the moment we need no further reminder to be kinder to humans. Iceland reminds us of our responsibilities to be kinder to the planet. Around us is the evidence of the unintended consequences of man’s development. Shrinking glaciers is the biggest example here and the country appears to be doing so much more than us to try and stop this. It is already self sufficient for energy, tapping into the natural geothermal resources. All the public areas and in some cases the bedrooms had bins for separating paper, plastic etc. All bathroom toiletries were in large refillable containers rather than tiny, single use plastic bottles. The default for all the hotels we stayed in was no servicing of the rooms. You had to specifically request a room clean, new sheets, towels etc the evening before. Everywhere else we’ve travelled it is the opposite – your room is automatically cleaned daily and in many cases new towels given even if you don’t leave them on the floor. I can hear many of you saying “but we’re on holiday” and this is just a cynical ploy to reduce staff costs. Well we’re on holiday too and this is not what makes or breaks ours. Yes we like and still get our comforts but new places, people, experiences and no cooking are far more important to us. We don’t think this is a cost cutting exercise – do you clean your bedroom/bathroom daily? Is it really necessary when you are only staying 2 or 3 nights maximum and there is a full room clean on your departure? In Iceland every hotel we stayed in took pride in the quality of service they provided with plenty of available staff at mealtimes and nothing was too much trouble for them. Coffee refills for the room were easy – ask at reception or at breakfast and you were given huge numbers immediately. We’ve stayed at very well known, expensive multinational hotels abroad whose cost improvement programmes blatantly reduce staff so much that service is affected – waiting times in their restaurants for cutlery let alone the meal was excessive, and in one hotel we got fed up of waiting for our luggage so went back downstairs to retrieve it ourselves. I have commented on this topic in comparing service in local to international hotels in my last post from India.

In many ways Iceland does tourism very well. The Perlan museum was one of the best we have been too. Driving around, everywhere is signposted and there are plenty of helpful and fascinating information boards once you arrive. The ring road is dotted with random toilet blocks and most tourist destinations have their own facilities even if in the middle of nowhere. They are easily in better condition and more plentiful than in the UK – shame on us. The less accessible sites are made more accessible by paths, walkways and viewing platforms. Not only does this aid accessibility, it is for our safety. It is helpful to be reminded how dangerous raw Mother Nature can be. Mother Nature is also very fragile and whilst you are encouraged to go off the beaten track, and we did, it is up to us to literally tread carefully – staying on the stones and paths so we don’t crush the fragile moss and bright pink flowers and heathers. It was sad to see that even in isolated areas there are paid “litter pickers” with their claws and black bags. Don’t get me wrong we aren’t “eco warriors” by any means and we know the air miles that we have accumulated in the last few years are what many would consider excessive. There are many positives that tourism brings to local populations and nations, and whilst I’m sure we can do more, we try to be respectful and be mindful to do what we reasonably can in order to help protect what we have.

In India we were driven everywhere and we are both extremely grateful for that. The roads here are completely different. We saw more cars and motorbikes in one hour in Delhi than we did in our 18 days here, and most of those were in the last 4-5 days when we entered the “Golden Circle”. We have seen literally 2 motorbikes and 5 bicycles. We could have stopped where we wanted in India, but the distances were much greater so any spontaneous stop was more of a comfort break. Here we were truly masters of our own destiny. The distances were much shorter so we had more flexibility and the scenery decided the stopping places. Yes there were some scary moments I’m not going to deny it – well I can’t as I’ve already told you about them! Our hotels were pre-booked but where we visited from each place or along the route was up to us. We pre-booked the Blue Lagoon and the Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon boat tour with the travel agent, but to be honest we did most of the research and planned most of the stops ourselves. The internet is a wonderful place at times. Not just for its suggestions but the useful tips such as where to park to approach a point of interest from the correct view point, or what to consider when approaching a waterfall – the sun, the wind etc so you don’t get too wet. Wherever you visit you are told that the best time of day to go is sunset or sunrise which at this time of the year means being there from 23:00 to 03:00 to get both and avoid the tourists, which means sleeping during the day. This was always a holiday for both Steven and myself first and foremost so that was never going to happen, and I don’t regret it one bit.

We deliberately decided to go in the late spring/early summer. Winter brings worse weather and limited daylight. We would not be comfortable driving in those winter conditions and with limited daylight a winter trip is really about the Northern lights, which we’ve been fortunate to see already, and trips within the Golden circle and we knew that Iceland had so much more to offer than just that. Summer doesn’t guarantee you great weather and as you know we experienced some awful weather and driving conditions, but driving at this time of year is still relatively easy. It had to be or we wouldn’t have clocked up the mileage that we did. All the mountain roads have signs at the bottom showing the temperature and wind speed at the top. Somehow it didn’t put us off. As in any country there is no legislating for idiots – in Iceland it’s those who just stop on the main carriageway to admire the view and take a photo. I don’t know why they think that it’s ok in Iceland when they wouldn’t do it on their main motorway or highway at home.

We got our packing list mainly correct as we just took everything we had previously taken to the arctic, despite it being late spring/summer here, plus proper walking boots. We certainly didn’t need anything smart as eating in the hotel restaurant was just jeans or a clean pair of walking trousers and a casual shirt or fleece. We bought eye masks incase we couldn’t sleep because of the light, but never used them. We were so exhausted and virtually all the hotels had good enough curtains that sleeping wasn’t generally a problem. What we missed off were the T-shirts as we hadn’t anticipated the few days of good weather that we had. Epic fail🤦🏻‍♀️. Our first post commented on the lack of dress sense of our fellow passengers on our flight out here and we were astounded to see inappropriately clad tourists out and about frequently in the worst weather, usually complaining loudly. Like it’s not their fault that no-one told them Iceland isn’t on the Med! They certainly proved the saying “there is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing”

We managed to survive without any cash as everywhere takes cards or Apple Pay/Google Pay. We were warned that it is expensive here, and it was. The quality of the food in the hotels and proper local restaurants i.e not the diners attached to the petrol stations, really was superb. Far better than I’ve eaten in many UK restaurants. Prices ranged from £30 – £40 for a main course fish dish, which included all the vegetables. Thankfully I uploaded some pictures yesterday so you now know what I’m referring too! Given Iceland’s reliance on fishing we were surprised that in some hotels/restaurants there was only one fish dish on the menu so there was the odd occasion when we had the same dish two nights running. There is always a vegetarian selection but it isn’t always what I would class as “restaurant food” – we saw “Linda McCartney burger and chips” on one restaurant menu. I only had the vegetarian option once and bizarrely it was a curry. The petrol station diners will serve a pizza but you can pay £25 for that, and a sandwich will cost you £6-£10. We developed a penchant for a smoked salmon and egg mayonnaise baguette, a weird combination that we’d originally bought as a last resort because there was nothing else. In bigger towns and Reykjavik you have more choice of venue but in remote areas it’s the hotel +/- a petrol station. And yes “Happy marriage” cake is a thing and not just served on Icelandair – it’s served at breakfast in some of the hotels, and is like a fruit flapjack with fudge on and is scrummy. However the best thing about the breakfasts is that everywhere has peanut butter out with the jam and honey. Some places had salted peanuts just to add to your yogurt or cereal. This is my type of country.

Excluding the days we flew, our holiday was 16 full days. Virtually everyone said “gosh that’s a long time for Iceland”. Well it didn’t feel like it to us. The ring road is approx 828 miles but we travelled nearly three times that, a whopping 2203 miles. That tells you that we managed to see huge amounts of the country well away from the ring road. In Iceland, every road really is an adventure waiting to happen. Everywhere and each day was different, even seeing all those waterfalls. We have no idea what we wish we hadn’t done, only things we wish we’d had time to go and see but didn’t. We always have a rest day each week so it was only 14 days of travel and many tour operators do offer trips this long. The length of the trip gave us some flexibility to change our itinerary from each base, depending on the weather, to maximise our opportunities. The driving, the fresh air, the biting cold and the walking up and down hills and over rocks takes it out of you, particularly at our age (said it before you), but we felt that the pace at which we did things was actually just right. We had time to see places properly, not just pop, stop, snap and go. We weren’t under any time constraints so we could just relax, enjoy and really experience the moments. Even the scary moments, once they were over.

We (i.e me) are never going to experience nature by holidaying in a tent, caravan or even a camper van. But this holiday was really 18 days firmly ensconced in nature because the first and really only thing you do in Iceland is go outside. It’s where landscapes come alive and we fell in love with Iceland, one waterfall at a time. My photos don’t do this place justice – you must come and see it for yourself.

So as I sit here at the airport with the fridge magnet bought and the ribena finished, it is time for my usual wrap up with a few thank yous.

• To the owner of the café at Hardraw Force, Hawes who was giving out free beer towels to all the drowned rats who chose the wettest and windiest day of the year (13th March) to do a waterfall tour of Northern England. They saved us and my camera then and now live permanently in my camera bag and saved it umpteen times again on this holiday.
• Agnes – you were brilliant and saved our marriage on numerous occasions so I’ll let you off the hiccup with Brúarárfoss as none of the websites or guide books knew about the new road and car park. For those not in the know, Agnes is the name we gave to our very first SatNav, the traditional TomTom grey box, decades ago. She has now matured to being Apple Maps
• We booked our holiday with Discover the World. They were the only company that listened to us when we explained what we wanted to do and our weird no travel days requirement. Darren organised for us to drive clockwise rather than the more popular anticlockwise to ensure we were in the best places for the weekend and it really worked. Anyone can sell you a car or item that never breaks down, or a holiday where everything goes to plan. The test of a company is when all does not go as it should. Admittedly the volcano erupting near Grindavik is nearly as predictable as Manchester United not winning the league (although I hope that changes very soon), but they were great. Julie rang us immediately, discussed various options and organised alternative accommodation as our last hotel was now closed and the refunds for the activities that we could no longer do were on our credit card within 48 hours. It was as smooth as the whole planning and booking process.
• Finally to my dearly beloved husband, co-editor and driver, Steven. I’m so pleased we didn’t need to add to your non-existent blog of “osteopaths around the world” although as there was one opposite our hotel in Akureyri it would have been considerably easier than in London, Tel Aviv, Bangkok, Verona and Jaipur. Thank you for helping me up and down rocks so I didn’t break my neck and not rolling your eyes too much when I refused to look at you/take photos of you doing what I considered to be dangerous. I know you are far braver and more capable than me and that me looking at you when you do these things won’t make anything bad happen. More importantly, I am very grateful that you concentrated on driving when the car was being buffeted by the wind and the rain even though I incessantly drove you mad by exclaiming “look at that”. Thank you for not being mad at me for too long after “those two drives” when I almost completely lost it. And for putting up with my endless lupine lusting, moss musings and puffin patter. As your birthday card from my parents said “there are so many things that make you the ideal husband for our daughter – the brains of a professor, the good looks of a model, the body of an athlete . . . But more than anything, the patience of a saint!”