www.theblisspages.com - travel: Iceland
www.theblisspages.com - travel: Iceland 
I went to Iceland to celebrate my 21st birthday. I'd been inspired to go by
listening to Rick Wakeman's 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth', based on Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle's story. To quote the album:
By horse, by rail, by land, by sea, our journey starts
Two men incensed by one man's journey from the past
In Iceland, where the mountain stood with pride
They set off with their guide
To reach the mountain side.
It's better with the music, honest!
The 2 1/2 hour flight to Keflavik airport went uneventfully, and we boarded
our 4 wheel-drive Mercedes bus to drive through the Reykjanes Peninsula, an
unbroken lava field.
Our route round Iceland was anti-clockwise to Akureyri (one of the northernmost cities in the world), returning via the central desert, uninhabited apart from a meteorological station.
At Krisuvik, where a 3,000 h.p. thermal generator powers farms and town of HAFNAFJORDUR,
the steam is visible for miles. The lake near here is KLEIFARVATN - 'The Lake
that Climbs' owing to an optical illusion, and we had an enjoyable swim in a
huge thermal swimming pool nearby.
The mountain HEKLA (1447 metres high) was 27 miles away but it looked much closer
as the air was so clear. An active volcano for centuries, it is one of the most
famous in the world.
Old tales tell of the belief that the souls of the condemned traveled through Hekla's crater on their way to hell.
The whole mountain ridge of Hekla is about 30 miles long and the fissure which splits the ridge is about 4 miles long.
It is thought that Hekla has had at least twenty eruptions since the settlement of Iceland. The biggest eruption was in 1104. Hekla has erupted four times in the 20th century, the last time in 2000.
At HVERAGERDI, 45 km from Reykjavik, steam-heated greenhouses produce vegetables and flowers.
Driving round the coast along the Ring Road, which is Iceland's main highway,
we came across SELJALANDSFOSS Waterfall.
It is 40 metres high and a footpath runs behind it. Access to the waterfall is from the farm of Seljaland.
Although it would be eclipsed in size by some of the falls we would find later, it was still lovely and I remember it well, a quarter of a century on.
The next waterfall we came across was SKOGAFOSS, 180 feet high and 75 feet across.
It was only a five-minute walk from the road and was very impressive.
As you can see from the picture, it is much wider than Seljalandsfoss, with commensurately higher water flow. There was a lot of spray at the bottom.
At DYROLAEY we camped at SKOGAR glacier. Dyrolaey is a very impressive rock formation in the most southern point of Iceland. Below is a beach of black volcanic sand. The total coastline of Iceland is 3,700 miles and most of the population lives on the coast.
The volcanic black sands of MARKARFLJOT had a primeval feel to them. They felt
young and untamed. We drove though fields of lava rocks, covered in a thick
green moss. This lava field was formed in 1783. Although the stones were sharp,
the layer of moss gave them a surreal appearance and they were comfortable enough
to lie on. They reminded me of a Roger Dean cover from a Yes Album.
After we passed a chain of volcanoes 'Laki', which occupy 220 square miles, we drove though the glacial plain of MYRDALSJOKULL for hours until we reached the glacier, VATNAJOKULL, which is bigger than all the glaciers in Europe put together. The top of the glacier, Oraefajokull is the highest point in Iceland.
We
went past a spit, HORNAFGORDUR HOFN, to Lake LAGARFLJOT - sometimes called Jokulsarlon
(glacier lagoon) - where I went for a midnight swim, with calving icebergs floating
in the milky water. Not surprisingly, I didn't stay in for too long, and downed
a quarter-bottle of Southern Comfort round the camp-fire afterwards to warm
up!
Opposite our camp was one of the only forests in Iceland, HALLORMSSTADASKOGUR, which is much smaller than in historical times owing to climate changes and settlers' tree felling. We passed some cairns which were used when the best way to travel to the interior was by mule-pack.
Turning inland, the central route is over the black sands of Sprengisandur, and with only rough tracks as well as unbridged and unpredictable rivers to cross, it can only be negotiated by big four-wheel-drive vehicles, preferably in convoy. The Sprengisandur route threads its way between glaciers to come out southeast of Akureyri, near Lake Myvatn. It was eerie to think the only people within 50 miles or more were the five occupants of a weather station.
We met the river JOKULSA A FJOLLUM again as it roars over DETTIFOSS, the largest
waterfall in Europe, into a 200 feet deep gorge. This river feeds the glacier
lake where I'd braved midnight hypothermia, a few days previously. The waterfall
dwarfs everything we'd seen before. At 140 feet high and 300 feet in width,
the water flow is 200 cubic metres a second!
There are hot springs at NAMASKARD. Some of these springs are tapped for industry. Diatomite is used as a filtering agent. It's taken from Lake MYVATN and purified with steam. We admired some mountains nearby.
Lake MYVATN is the fourth largest in Iceland. This is an area used for moon training with DIMMUBORGIR or 'Black Castles' dotted around. We went for a swim in some underground grottoes called GRJOTAGJA and STOZAGJA.
The water was hot and the driver of our bus rigged up an electric light so we could see as we swam around. The largest gas explosion crater in the world is HVERFJALL. It was awesome.
GODAFOSS is the 'Waterfall of the Gods', so called because when Iceland converted to Christianity in 1000, a priest threw Odin and Thor into the river, and the two rocks in the centre are said to be them.
AKUREYRI is the second largest city in Iceland and is one of the northernmost cities
in the world. There are some lovely gardens in Akureyri with 400 plant species, and the Botanical Garden is the most northerly one of its kind in the world.
When I wandered into the park, there was a large car with the door open and
a key in the ignition. I thought this showed a high level of trust in the honesty
of Icelanders but was gob-smacked to find out that the car was owned by the
president, who was walking through the park. In England, the whole park would
have been closed down for Tony Blair to wander through, with security everywhere!
It's sad that we have lost this honesty and innocence. In London we can't even
walk down Downing Street.
Driving on, we came to another hot springs area: an oasis in the middle of the
desert called HVERAVELLIR.
In between LANGJOKULL and HOFSJOKULL, we saw GULFOSS, 'The Golden Falls', fed by the glacial river HVITA.
Travelling on, we arrived at another hot springs area and saw the geyser STROKKUR
which formed in 1294.
It regularly spouts from KERID, 'The Bowl', unlike the original geyser GEYSER which is much bigger, but only erupts infrequently.
A most unusual campsite awaited us at LANDMANNALAUGAR as it featured hot and
cold natural running water!
Two rivers ran nearby, one thermally heated. You could choose your ideal temperature for a soak. Bliss!
It was pretty muddy near the banks, though. We saw some wild horses nearby.
Nearing the end of our holiday, we arrived at REYKJAVIK, the northernmost capital of the world. I found the people very friendly: in fact, several times we were offered spirits in the street by complete strangers - and alcohol is very expensive in Iceland.
A few years ago, in Scarborough, someone asked me for directions. When he pulled a bottle of vodka from their pocket and offered it to me, I said "Are you Icelandic?" and he replied, "Yes, how did you know?"! I suppose it's lucky you can't get drunk as a Lord in Iceland as titles are illegal.
I was also astonished by the relaxed attitude of the banks, with waist-high counters and open safes visible - one member of our party took the wrong door and ended up in the vault!
The next day, we went to Lake TJORNIN - heated by natural hot water. And saw the Parliament building - where the Altling meets. I believe Iceland was the world's first democratic republic - though it hasn't always been independent.
Lastly, we went on a trip to the VESTMANN ISLANDS.
The journey in a six-seater plane was exciting with fantastic views and a very short landing strip of volcanic rock.
The capital of the main island HEIMAEY is VESTMANNAEYJAR. On 23rd January 1973, there was a volcanic eruption which lasted five months, creating a new mountain ELDFELL. The inhabitants made heroic efforts to save their town, diverting lava streams with levees. The harbour was nearly overwhelmed by lava, but ironically it is now better-protected than before.
Walking around half-buried abandoned houses was eerie. Through battered garage doors, with volcanic debris up to the windows, you could see cars rusting. The ground was hot to walk on so you had to keep moving.
On the coast, new beaches of black sand were being formed. The setting was primeval and it was easy to imagine that we were the first people to walk on it.
I thoroughly recommend Iceland as an amazing destination and want to visit it again.
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: © Mike Bliss 2008