For some reason I’d always thought of Iceland as contrary to what the name would suggest – covered in lots of green mountains and flowing rivers. Greenland on the other hand I’ve always thought of as completely covered in ice. It would seem that Iceland in winter is most definitely ice covered with very little green to be seen – really need to check weather reports before we head off! Anyway we were here in search of the Northen Lights.
Late arrival into Keflavik sees us pick up the hire car in darkness and traverse the icy roads to make our way into Reykjavik just after midnight. Not being entirely experienced at ice driving, without chains, in the dark and on the wrong side of the road, it was a little unsettlingly and took a few minutes before I got the confidence to get to a respectable speed. Completely blown away at how a little Golf stuck so well to the roads – special Icelandic ice driving tires I’m told.
Reykjavik is a small city with cute brightly painted houses which are indistinguishable at midnight but are supposed to give some semblance of colour and spirit to the otherwise cold, grey winters. Speaking of winter, Iceland is so far north that the sun doesn’t rise till 11am and happily sets again at 4pm, so we decide to make the most of the dark morning hours to drive to Snæfellsnes, a volcano & peninsula on the western side of the island that gained popularity as the setting for Journey to the Centre of Earth. When covered in cloud there is little to see of the mountains and with no real destination in mind we simply drive along the coastline in search of interesting landmarks and eateries.
We overnight at Hotel Bru (Icelandic for bridge) just across the bridge (see..) from Borgarnes. As the only guests we get premium service from Veigar the friendly owner who serves up a delicious dish of Minke steak (puffin was also on the menu but I wasn’t sure about the accompanying blueberry sauce..). By now the car has developed an annoying and slightly worrying shrieking noise – to be checked in the morning, once we get light that is.. well maybe in the afternoon.
Next morning we start in the early morning darkness (re: 9:00am start) and via a fjord we make our way inland to travel the Golden Cirlce. Not the title of a kinky German porno, this is the name given to the generic tourist route in south Iceland that covers off most of the major tourist sites within a short drive. Along the way we stop off at Þingvellir where the European and North American continents are said to be slowly tearing apart from each other.
Next stop on the Circle was Geysir, namesake of the geysers that we have all come to know and love. Unfortunately old Geysir doesn’t erupt frequently enough to justify hanging about in the cold but the smaller Strokkur goes every 5min – to a height of 30m more or less. The surrounding area is constantly active with small bubbling pits of mud and steam and spectacular mineral coloured streams. But really, really cold!
Selfoss waterfall was another cold stop on the circle, impressive but not quite the Iguazu experience! Tonights stop is hotel Hekla which promises and outdoor hottub where we can watch the Northern lights blaze overhead. Alas we are foiled again by the cloud cover and see nothing but a quick glimpse of a handful of stars.
Day three and we head out along the south coast aiming to reach the town of Vik – home to a puffin colony that we are anxious to see!! We make an effort to do some dog-sledding, high on the girls’ agenda, and as they’re already booked for the morning we make a tentative booking for later in the afternoon. A few spectacular waterfalls along the way and we arrive in Vik – with no puffins to be seen 🙁 They’re said to be high up on the cliffs, far out of view of the native human eyes!! Beautiful stretch of wild beach coastline is compensation enough.
Determined to find our lights, we decide to take shifts watching the skies and plan our roster. Thankfully the hotel was empty and we made use of the extra blankets in the spare rooms to get cosy on the balcony and scan the horizon for any break in the never-ending cloud. I take my final shift at 5:30am and hang out for two hours until my feet are truly frozen before calling it a night and heading back inside. No luck at all!
We make the final drive back towards Keflavik, stopping off at the amazing blue lagoon to relax and soak in the glowing blue waters. Amazing colours, great massages (according to the girls) and squelchy silica mud between you toes! Loved it! Great end to a weekend away. Hope to make it back one day to see this strange land without the icy covering! Oh and also would be nice to see the lights!
