Home...but we will be back

Last night we saw the arc of the Northern Lights but alas, there was too much cloud. Guesthouse Gardur is fabulous, it would be lovely to spend a few days there. Alas, time to say goodbye to Iceland. Ali had the end of holiday blues...big time. The 10 minute drive to the airport was rather sad. We love Iceland and would love to live there, in the countryside. We have about 2-3 trips scheduled for the future. We want to explore the highlands in central Iceland, the Western Fjords and Langjokull. We will be back.

Even though Iceland is expecting over a million visitors this year, the airport is still as quaint as ever. Arriving back in the UK, we were sweating! Off with all the layers, it's spring. The journey home was an hour of figuring out what side of the road we drive on, surprise at how high trees are and how small Eric the fiesta is. Marj the 4WD was huge!

Looking back, what an amazing trip. We managed to avoid the crowds. A real highlight was the Lake Myvatn. The summer trip tainted my view, the swarms of flies put me off and I was nervous about returning. My views have completely changed and I would go back tomorrow and finally get to the top of the crater. We've visited some amazing museums, are rather sick of eating bread, cheese and pepperoni, and seen some amazing volcanoes, lakes and waterfalls. We have been knee deep in snow, in multiple pools and stayed on an island. And the biggest thrill, standing under the Northern Lights at Lake Myvatn. We didn't expect to see the Northern Lights but they lit up the sky so much that it felt like daylight. Something we will never forget.

We are home...but we will be back

The aurora explained

The day started with rain and it never ever stopped. One rainy day out of 14 isn’t bad though. We drove to Aurora Reykjavik to find out the science bit behind the aurora. I thought it was something about the sun and energy, but not quite sure why. A great video explains pulses from the sun, that emits plasma, which goes past Mercury and venus, but it doesn’t do the same with earth because we have a buffer. So the energy goes around the earth and because of the magnetic field it is drawn to the poles. Simple.

The main feature of the exhibition was a panoramic video of Northern Lights photographed in Iceland. It was fabulous. You could clearly see the blue (more nitrogen) and red light (more oxygen). Half way through, a tour group joined us in the room and the guide was speaking in English. So, we just stayed an pretended we were part of the group. Including the masterclass of setting up your camera to capture the lights. He set up Ali’s camera to capture them.

The panels explaining the different reactions to them around the worth was interesting. In North America, the Northern lights were thought to be shadows of dead relatives. In Sweden it was thought to be really dangerous to be outside when they are visible, so you must clap your hands. In Finland, they were reflections of great amounts of fish in the ocean. In Iceland, if you gave birth under the Northern Lights, the child would be cross eyed.

Time to get out of the big city, via a few churches. The churches at Hvalsnes and Utskalar are great. We are staying in Gardur tonight so stopped at the lighthouses before heading to our guesthouse studio. The tall lighthouse is the highest in Iceland. The smaller one is older and being renovated. It’s the first stop for migratory birds when they return to Iceland. Alas we spotted Eiders and gulls only, we are a tad early for bird watching.

Every time we have visited Iceland, we have gone to the Blue Lagoon, it’s tradition. We have visited in all manner of weathers. The time we visited in the wind was painful, it was like a thousand pins being stuck in your face and there were waves in the lagoon. We’ve also had calm sunny weather. This time we had rain which is a little surreal, but we were wet anyway. Previously we have just rocked up and went in. Now you have to pre book an allotted hour to arrive. There were people everywhere, but as soon as you leave the bar area in the pool, you can find your own quiet spot to sit and ponder in the warm water. Ali had a silica mask. I just watched, I learnt my lesson on the first trip when I put it on my face and then my face felt like it was on fire.

We stayed so long that it announced the lagoon was closing in 15 mins! A skyr smoothie in the café and then back to our lodge for our last night in Iceland…on this trip anyway.

Today we joined the Reykjavik protests

Our day started with a morning walk around Reykjavik before our 'I Heart Reykjavik' walking tour. We walked along the sea front to the Harpa concert hall. I’m not an expert on architecture but gosh the use of glass is amazing and well worth a walk around. We had a quick walk around Hallgrimskirkja before starting our walking tour. It was a really informative tour, we were taken around the nooks and crannies of central Reykjavik. After five times in Iceland, we have realised that we have spent little time in Reykjavik so the walking tour was great for us. The little characters above street signs are just one example of something we would completely miss if we weren’t on the tour. Also, the street art and colourful corrugated iron houses. We walked by Government House and the Alpingi, which wasn’t covered in barracades…yet.  

We met Lea and Jay, our friends from Virginia. We are Iceland addict twins. We met on a super jeep tour on wedding eve, their picture from our wedding night of the Northern Lights is on our living room wall, the last time we were in Iceland, we met again at the airport and it was both of our fifth visits to Iceland. We met at Reykjavik roasters for coffee and a cinnamon scone. So good to see them and catch up.

After afternoon tea, we walked to the settlement museum via the Alpingi again but this time the police were putting up the barriers, ahead of the fourth day of protests. We first visited the settlement museum under Hotel Centrum, which we stayed in 2011. Below is a longhouse with interactive displays which are fun to play with.

We joined the protest at the Alpingi. Protesters were hitting barrel drums and a gentleman in cloak and woollen hat was blowing a horn. There were bananas hanging from the trees and the protest was building. We needed sustenance so visited Beztu Pylsur, aka the best hot dog stall in town. We asked for ‘one with everything’ and was a hotdog with crunchy onions and sauces. Just what we needed before a protest.

It’s been a strange week for Icelandic politics, and Icelanders aren’t happy. Protestors brought kitchen pots and metal spoons to bang, hammers to hit the metal barricade and if they didn’t have either, they kicked the fence with their boots. People held pieces of red card in the air. Toilet roll was thrown at Alpingi and lots of bananas. The police just walked through the protestors. A brass band showed up too which I’ve never seen at a protest before.

A quick walk around the lake before we were frozen and then we retired back to the suburbs to our warm apartment to thaw.

Churches and Egil’s Saga

I stayed up to see the Northern Lights again. Not too bright this time, but a rather stunning setting in Blonduos with the waves lapping against the shore. We checked out of Guesthouse Kiljan and had a peak at the oystercatchers in the estuary, before setting off. We didn’t have to go far. We visited Blonduos Church. It’s so unique, designed by Maggi Jonsson Construction began in 1982 and it opened in 1993. It’s circular and has lots of angles. A very modern design. Lonely planet doesn’t rate Blonduos highly, which is rather unjustified, especially if you are addicted to looking at Icelandic churches.

We started the long drive back on the ring road, so not much map reading for me this time. We spotted churches as we drove through the mountains and valleys. We stopped at Borganes to photograph the church, and visit the settlement museum. We aren’t that into museums but this was excellent. We were given an audio guide for the first 30 minute exhibition about the early settlers, Viking long boats and nature. It was very interactive. You had to push buttons, put your feet on pads to start videos. The second part of the tour was the Egil’s saga. It was pretty gruesome. He has quite a temper and a thing about killing people. A lovely soup and salad for lunch, then on with our journey south. A quick stop at the bakery in Borganes, as recommended by Lea and Jay. The bakery has the most wonderful cinnamon swirls, a key feature of our daily diet in Iceland.

Tonight we are in an apartment in the suburbs of Reykjavik. There are protests in the centre of town so resting tonight, for a big touristy day tomorrow.

Thwarted again by Hverfell crater

It was really rather sad to say goodbye to our portacabin on Lake Myvatn, we have thoroughly enjoyed our stay. The view of the crater was absolutely fabulous, I will miss it. When leaving, I walked through the snow thinking that this is likely to be the last time we walk in snow. How wrong was I. More on that later. We had a drive around the lake, stopping at Rekjahid church which escaped the Myvatn fires. We aimed to climb the mountain to the West of the lake but the pathway was completely impassable so we drove on, passing the filming of Fast 8 again. This time they had the helicopter above the lake.

Hverfell is the tephra crater we could see from our window. The first time we visited in the summer, we couldn’t get to the pathway as the road was so bad. I wrote on my blog that we would do it next time. We tried two attempts a couple of days ago but couldn’t get close. Third time lucky. We parked on the main road and walked the road to bottom of the crater. The road had a sign at the entrance to say that it is closed, and if you attempt it, being rescued will be very expensive. Three cars ignored that, to their peril, we found one jeep buried in deep snow. It was a long walk to the base of the crater, through deep snow but at least it was compacted so we could walk on it. That’s where the compacted snow stopped. We turned to climb the crater and oh my gosh, ever other step, we dropped and the snow was up to our knees. It was fine one minute, then the next step we were up to our knees again. The snow was a very deep blue colour in the holes and all I could think of is that it’s the same colour as a crevasse, my biggest fear. I just had to keep reminding myself that you don’t get a crevasse on a crater. It was getting steep and pretty scary. Alas, two thirds up the crater we have wanted to climb four times now, we had to stop and admit defeat. We sat on the crater for a bit, it was getting too dangerous and the descent wasn’t looking too much fun. There was nothing else for it, down on my bum I went. It was fine when the snow was iced on top, I got up quite a speed until the soft stuff stopped me in my tracks and I had to walk down the rest.

Thrilled to reach the bottom in one piece, we met the French couple staying at the portacabin. We made the long walk back with them, chatting away. We had another drive around the lake, lunch at the viewpoint looking at the frozen lake and then we said goodbye to Lake Myvatn, the furthest point of our trip this time. We had to retrace our steps back, through mountain passes, spotting churches along the way. Iceland suddenly has colour again. We have been in black and white for so long, the colour is so striking. Back at Blonduos we stopped at our lunch pull in spot. It’s amazing the difference a week makes. Last week it was covered in snow and ice, today it’s completely gone and back in full colour.

Standing on a pseudo crater watching Fast 8 being filmed

A lie in after such an eventful night watching the Northern Lights. Brekkie overlooking the lake and then on with some more exploring. Our first stop was Krafla power station which doesn’t sound fun, but is. It’s a geothermal power station and the river running from it was steaming! Hot water pipes also go over the road instead of under it. We walked to Viti, which we visited in 2010. It’s a lovely turquoise caldera. Unfortunately it was covered in snow, so we had to imagine instead. Yet again, tourists were making their own routes and ignoring the signs. I wouldn’t walk beyond a sign that said ‘drilling in progress, no entry’. We walked on the top of the crater but alas it was so muddy, my crampons felt like lead and I couldn’t lift my feet, so we only walked a bit of the rim before heading down.

Down the road to Hverir, listed as one of the most dangerous places for tourists and I can see why. We walked over steaming soil, trying to avoid the lighter colour mud as that can mean a vent. Lots and lots of steaming sulphur vents, with a huge cloud over it. It was scary enough walking over the soil but while we were trying to clean our boots, Ali jumped on one foot to clear the mud and the ground echoed under her! It sounded hollow. We made a sharp exit.

At a viewpoint to Lake Myvatn, we cleaned our shoes. Having so many books on Antarctica paid off, I remember reading about explorers washing in the snow and that’s exactly what we did. Ourselves and our boots. It works surprisingly well. Lunch back at the portacabin and then on with our afternoon excursions, which started at Hofoi for a walk in the woods to the lake. We saw great lava pillars coming out of the lake, crystal clear water, noisy swans and eider ducks.

A little further around the lake, we stopped at Skutustaoir because I have a fascination with Icelandic churches on this trip. We walked to the pseudo craters and walked around the tops of them. The lake was frozen by the side of the pseudo craters and is where Fast 8 is currently being filmed. It has been in the press because two diggers have already fallen into the lake. We spoke to the search and rescue person stationed at the top of the crater. He talked about the film and why the lake is so frozen that it can take the weight of all of the vehicles on it. There must have been over 50 vehicles, including two Lamborghini’s! We watched the tanks and then the gun shots, before making our way along the path, which actually goes through the filming quarantined area. Alas photo’s aren’t allowed, but it was rather fun walking past the third orange Lamborghini, the cast trailers with music blaring out (wonder if that was Vin Diesel in there?), and then past the tanks and helicopter.

Last full day at the lake, tomorrow we head South and get more colour, we’ve been rather buried in snow.