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The last day has arrived at last!  I must admit the wind went out of my sales a bit for the last few days but I still enjoyed myself despite feeling a bit homesick.  My flight is in the afternoon so I had some time to kill after playing tetris with the suitcase.  Thankfully I squeezed everything back in, and left a few freebies behind at the camp.  I picked some freebies up here on arrival so fair enough, they encourage this. I just headed a little west of the airport to the north west tip of the Rekyanes peninsula.  There's two lighthouse there, one more recent and frankly prettier.  I think they built the new one as the coast was being severely eroded.  Old one is on top. The coast was pretty if a bit choked with devastating seaweed so I had a little stroll.  Then I visited the small museum which has various old boats and engines.  They had an entire ship outside! A final use of my trusty 12v kettle to cook dinner instant noodles and then o...

After yesterday's ordeal I wanted to take it easy.  I figured I'd drive along the south east coast and make a few stops then go swimming. First stop was another geothermal area, this time high temperature which meant there was a cauldron of boiling water pumping out steam, CO2 and Sulphur.  It was pretty amazing.  Walking through the steam cloud was a mistake though, it left me coughing! I then saw a path to a crater not far away so I followed it, only to find it continued towards a lighthouse.  I decided to follow it which perhaps want the best idea as my feet were sure from yesterday but anyway.  It was worth it for the views of the sea lashing away at volcanic cliffs. I watched the sea for a while then walked back. Next stop there was the slightly still bridge between continents.  There area has lots of rifts due to the American and Eurasian plates pulling apart here.  This one is quite impressive so someone had the bright idea to build a bridge to ...

Part of the reason I became so interested in visiting Iceland is watching live streams of their volcanoes erupting and evolving in real time.  I've always loved watching the interplay of the sea and the sand, I think this is similar but on a grander scale. So today I'd set myself the ordeal of trekking to Iceland's newest volcano at Litli-Hrútur.  This only stopped erupting about a month ago, I had hoped it might still be going when I arrived but it wasn't to be. The hike trail takes you past the two previous contenders for most recent eruption, spaced out only a few years apart and still smouldering for it.  They're all fissure eruptions on there same fissure so they're roughly in a line. After a very steep climb with a blasting headwind we cube to Fagradalsfjall volcano, the oldest of the three.   Next is Geldingadalir volcano, second oldest. After even more hiking, ending in a climb up a steep hill we reach Litli-Hrútur which I learnt means little wolf! ...

 Today I set out west along the north edge of  Snæfellsnes, playing on getting to some lava caves along the way.  I had some time in hand so I made a couple of stops along the way. Firstly I stopped at yet another waterfall, Grundarfoss.  It was a short hike from the road and the views along the way were stunning.  The mountain tops had a lick of snow from the stormy weather yesterday and were being lit by the rising sun.  The waterfall itself was enchanting.  There were also some cute Icelandic horses. A little later I stopped at a small outcrop by the sea at the edge of a village, the waves were smashing against the cliff.  I made a cuppa and watched the sea for a little. I didn't have much time left so I headed straight to the cave. As I approached Sæsnessfell itself canned into view.  It is a gently sloping but enormous strato volcano topped by a glacier - a bit like Mount Fuji. The guide for the cave was very nice, he's a young chap who ...

When I woke up Borgarnes seemed like a different place, there was no wind and the sky was clear, gentle waves lapping at the bay by the camp. I first charged there car at the N1 services nearby, they have toilets yay.  When ready the swimming baths were open.  They were great, but as amazing as the others but much better than a camp shower!  I went back to camp and read, then made dinner. Later I went to the settlement center in Borgarnes.  You get an audio guide to lead you through a sequence of displays detailing Iceland's first settlers. Iceland is unusual in having written records going back to the very beginning.  The first part covered multiple settlers, the second half told a summary of the life story of the son of one of the first chieftains.  He was psychotic but had a away with words! Afterwards I continued north, making a stop at a volcanic crater.  It felt rather like the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind!  The final ascent was v...

The forecast for today was lots of rain so it seemed to make sense to be in the city.  I got there a bit early for the museum so I went for a walk around the old town and to see the Cathedral.  It was all quite pretty but the drab weather made the cathedral look very forboding. I went to the National Museum of Iceland in the morning.  It was pretty good but I think I preferred Perlan fun the other day but maybe that's just me.  The national museum concerned itself with human history and artifacts and only made passing remarks about volcanoes and the like.  I don't think you can really separate the history of Iceland from the geology though, the environment here changes so much. Still they told an interesting story with drive amazing artifacts. I was knackered after that, museums are so tiring.  It was also chucking it down so I just holed up in the car for much of the afternoon and read my book.  I did venture out for another walk and saw the opera hou...

Last night as I was about to go to bed I noticed lights in the sky, which turned out to be a really intense aurora!  It was much brighter than last time, I could even make out the pale green glow. I stayed up a while watching it directly overhead.  I took some photos with my camera but I can't get them off until I get home but they looked colourful if nothing else! So by morning I was running a little later than I thought I might do I skipped the geyser and decided to head to Thingvellir National Park. This bit I was interested in is a rift valley, slowly being pulled apart as the Eurasian and American plates pull apart.  The land in the area is consequently riddled with rifts. I followed a trail which crossed the rifts above, they are very deep and quite wide to step across! In the afternoon I headed to Reykjavik and went to Perlan which is a museum with lots of audio visuals, including an aurora themed planetarium show and an artificial ice cave they'd made from actual ...

This morning I visited Vik black sand beach since I hadn't had time to see it after arriving yesterday.  It was very picturesque with a pretty church sitting above the village and a headland out to see. The story goes that the headland was formed when a troll got stuck trying to pull it's boat out of the sea. Then the sun rose and both were turned to stone because as everyone knows trolls turn to stone in sunlight. There was also a monument which is allegedly facing and identical one in Hull!  It commemorates trading links between Iceland and Hull.  I wonder if I've seen that at some point. Anyway after Vik I continued west and stopped off at another waterfall.  It was very impressive but rather thronging with tourist.  I think things are getting busier as I approach Reykjavik. I continued west and decided to cook lunch at a road side picnic spot overlooked by since pretty hills next to the plain.  Bacon tomato pasta yum! I stopped to charge somewhere borin...

The cave that looks like baby Yoda is going to steal the show today so here you go So how'd I wind up here? Well first off there was another glacial outlet just up the road from camp so I thought I might as well pay it a visit.  It wasn't as grand as yesterday's but it was much closer and I did get to see a (small) iceberg calve off. I then continued west asking the ring road.  The town I stopped to charge at turned out to have since hexagonal granite that they'd called the church floor (in Iceland obliviously) so I had a quick look.  The granite fractures as it cools creating hexagonal it thereabout blocks. I continued driving west, where the road crossed and enormous blocky lava flow which has been colonized by moss.  This results in a strange bulbous green landscape. This stuff went on for miles.  Eventually the terrain changes to seemingly endless plains of black volcanic sand and gravel, edged by mountains covered in greenery. This led to my next stop, the ...

Today I set off for diamond beach. This is a black sand beach, black because it's created from black volcanic rocks, onto which small icebergs wash up from the nearby glacier.  It was quite magical I took many pictures as did everyone else!  I walked along the beach for a fair way and saw some seals.  The ice peters out the further you go from the river outlet carrying the icebergs. I headed back to my car and made a picnic.  I've used the "frunk" (front storage under the bonnet) as my pantry. It isn't connected to the cabin and this time of year is stays pretty cool.  There's also a false lid to the boot where I can store things like the burner and washing up stuff. After lunch I followed the path along the side of the river outlet.  This quickly leads to a sizeable glacial lake which contained many icebergs, mostly small but since pretty sizable.  They created many beautiful random ice sculptures. I thought I'd see how closed I could get too the glac...

First thing today I went on a short hike up the hill near where I was camping the night before.  The weather has cleared up so although it was cold the were great views over the snow topped fjord. I then followed the road further southeast, which is an amazing route skirting around one fjord then the next.  I stopped at a black sand beach for a short while. Later I stopped for a coffee break at a small town shopping the way.  I tried an Icelandic donut which was nice.  It's less sweet and the dough is heavier. They had built an eggcellent tourist trap in this village, stone eggs showing the different eggs itf birds from the region. Later I came across another beach where I stopped for lunch.  There was black sand, pebbles and rock pools, lovely. It was actually relatively warm in the nook I found as the sun was ahead and the cliff provided shelter from the wind. By the time I got to Höfn I decided I was too tired for any more driving so I stopped here. I found a...

In the morning I had a bit of a spring clean. I washed some clothes since dirty fat outnumbered clean.  They are arrayed around the car and hopefully the aircon will dry them out eventually.  I removed the rear carpet, it is velcroed down, and knocked out all the crumbs that had been accumulating. I finally attempted to find the leak in my air mattress but no luck.  I figure it's very small and should it get better it'll be easier to find. I cooked mountains of eggy bread for breakfast. I decided to head over to Seyðisfjörður which is a port town in a fjord, the same pet which the only ferry to Iceland stops at.  I was wondering about getting this ferry here but it seemed a bit too impractical as it leaves from Denmark and takes several days to get there. The road there it's a very high mountain pass.  The weather has turned colder now and as I went higher I was excited to see sleet then snow but the excitement quickly turned to fear!  Would the snow get wo...