Author: Andrew Reilly
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Rolled-up catch-up of Copenhagen, before we go…
I’m afraid that Copenhagen is going to get short-shrift here: I just don’t seem to have found the time in the evenings to write. Hopefully these notes will help me to remember what my photos mean, when I get to look at them, and I’ll flesh this out as I find time. On our first…
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Back in Copenhagen
There aren’t any photos today because I don’t think that I took any. It’s been an odd sort of travel day. Alarms went off in Reykjavik this morning at 05:00, and we were on the road a bit later than our planned 05:30, but not by too much, and yet that was only just enough…
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Reykjavik
Simple day of sightseeing in the “big smoke”, such as it is here. The Cathedral (see feature photo) is much nicer, in my opinion, than the one by the same architect in Akurery. The top was visible at the top of the street our apartment was on, so we just walked straight up to it.…
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Þingvellir National Park
Last Icelandic rural or wilderness visit for us on this trip. Þingvellir (that first part is pronounced “Thing”, not sure about the last part) is east and slightly north of Reykjavik. It’s a big national park, taking in a large lake and all of the space between the dropped floor of a rift valley. Arguably…
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First steps along the Golden Circle
Today we travelled up to the north-east of here, to Gaysir, the big geyser, from which they all get their name. Close to there is Gulfoss Falls. These are the last of the big-name falls on our Iceland tour, which is just as well, because everything after will seem feeble and insignificant. These are great,…
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A loop around southern parks
We had such a late start, yesterday, that we decided to have our lunch at the apartment before heading out. Of the four planned stops, the first was the Raaufarholshellir Lava Tunnels. It’s a commercial enterprise, so costs to go in. We’ve seen lava tunnels, so decided to give these a miss. Second spot was…
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A glacier and several waterfalls
Too late for much here. Hopefully I’ll get back to flesh this out tomorrow. Glacier (Solheimajokull) was the dustiest that I’ve seen: the bergs in the melt pool were mostly completely black. Also possible to walk quite close to the face, which is unusual. According to the histories, the face was once right at the…
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Technical works spanner
So, there I was, sitting on the veranda of the latest digs, resting after a day’s drive with a beer and my phone, looking up something on maps. Screen went blank. Powered back up, and after the “Google” sting, black again. Couple of times. Went for the recovery-mode start-up and that went straight back to…
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Two capes near Vik: Dyrhólaey and Reynisfjara Beach
Dyrhólaey is another free-standing block of tuff, connected to the mainland by a causway. It doesn’t have the Unesco status of yesterday’s, nor the Viking history, but it does have a road up to the top, and up there is a lighthouse and several magnificent views. Also close proximity to what seemed to be a…
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Deep south – Fjaðrárgljúfur and Hjörleifshöfði
Despite dire predictions from the Iclandic meteorology service for today, it’s turned out to be another beautiful day. Wind eased off, no rain, and even a bit of blue sky in the middle of the day. We headed back towards Vatnajokul this morning, through the strange moss-covered larva fields, in order to get to Fjaðrárgljúfur,…