The land of ice and snow (and an engagement!)

February 2018 

Iceland had been on the list for a long time. In February 2018, we finally knocked it off. And in spite of the absence of the Northern Lights, it did not disappoint. Quite the contrary in fact!

On Sunday 18th Feb we touched down in Keflavic Airport and picked up our wheels for the week. 

Meet "Ik". Name inspired by her number plate.

After finding out apartment in Rejkyavik, we sought out what turned out to be our only dining out experience in Iceland. Hot dogs! We knew that Iceland was going to be very expensive so our plan was to do a big grocery shop at the beginning of the week and be self-sufficient. This was a big change in mind-set for us, when our usual mantra is "Eat all the things". The two hot dogs came to a very reasonable (by Icelandic standards) £6.50. Supposedly made with lamb, they weren't much to look at but they were delicious!

The following morning we set off to see the Hallgrímskirkja Lutheren Church, the Sun Voyager sculpture and oddly, the Icelandic Phallological museum. Because how often do you get to see the world's largest collection of penises and penile parts? A lot of people seemed to feel the same way, because it was packed. Mainly whale pieces. And the odd human. Very strange.

With penis

Penis

Penis

Next stop: Bónus. This supermarket has a bit of an odd following thanks to it's rather unusual mascot.

Our shopping consisted of rye bread (big in Iceland), Skyr (soft cheese/yoghurt), avocados, apples, bananas, butter, long-life milk, hummus, cheese, crackers, pasta, pasta sauce and pot noodles. Sorted!

We began a tradition of finding a neat little spot for lunch and rifling through the Bónus bags in the back-seat until we found what we wanted. Thanks to my awesome foresight, I had pilfered a bunch of plastic forks, knives and spoons from a Pret-A-Manger before we left the airport. Genius, I know. Theft, some (Mike) might call it. Resourceful, I say.

I've always wanted to ride an Icelandic horses ever since I learnt they had a fifth gait; the tölt. They can walk, trot, canter/gallop, do a flying pace and tölt. The tölt is a four-beat gait that allows a rider an almost bounce-free ride even up to 32km/hour!

We were joined by a young Asian couple. The woman could speak very little English but her husband could translate. When asked about our previous experience he translated that she was "very" experienced. I relayed my cowboy-esque style having grown up with Welsh ponies and Mike let them know it was his first time horse riding. We were given horses according to our experience and suited up in waterproofs.

In freezing, gale-wind conditions we set off on our beautiful ponies. They stand at an average of 13-14 hands, but the Icelandic people staunchly call them horses. Mine was called Ellidagur and Mike's Gjafar, two strapping young geldings. For the life of me I can't remember how either of them were pronounced phonetically but mine sounded like it started with an "Eg" so I nick-named him "Eggy".

We set off on a two hour trek through an ancient lava field which was dotted with lakes and pseudocraters. These distinctive landforms are created when flowing hot lava crosses over a wet surface such as a lake or a pond, causing an explosion of steam through the lava. The explosive gases break through the lava surface in a manner similar to an eruption and flying debris builds up in a crater-like feature. Whenever we came to a flat straight, our instructor encouraged us to tölt. It transpired fairly quickly that the other woman on the trip had, in fact, very little experience at all! Her mare had a sprightly pace on her, much to her riders' alarm. Despite her limited English she knew the word "Dangerous!" and shrieked it repeatedly. In the end our instructor asked me to ride beside her to block the narrow path so the mare was encouraged to keep pace with everyone else.

Tölting in action! You have to sit deep in the saddle,
push your feet forward and keep a tight rein.

It turns out that Mike is a natural and really enjoyed riding. I was slightly affronted that I had to spend years jostling around on ponies until I mastered the rising trot, and straight out the gate on his first horse ride, Mike got to experience a smooth tölt! Buzzing and invigorated we made our way to our homestay for the night in Eyrarbakki.

The next day we were on our way to Vik with a few stops scheduled along the way. First up, Gulfoss! The Hvítá river plunges down in two stages; 11 meters and then 21 meters down. The average waterfall is 140 cubic meters per second in Summer and 80 cubic meters in Winter. Very impressive.

Gulfoss

A stop at Geyser was on the agenda to witness it hurl boiling water into the air. It's been active for approximately 10,000 years!

A fine stop for a spot of reading.

Up next, Seljalandesfoss, a 60 meter tall waterfall.

Seljalandesfoss

'Secret Lagoon'

It was so cold, a soak in a geothermal pool was on the cards - at the 'Secret Lagoon'. The lagoon itself is the oldest in Iceland and it was divine. Even as it snowed!

As we arrived at the 'Secret Lagoon' I got a text from our host for the following nights' accommodation, Dynjandi Farmstay warning us of an impending storm. They kindly let us know that if we didn't make it they would cancel our reservation without charge.



On our way to our nights' accommodation in Vik we made a pitstop at Skógafoss. Legend has it the first Viking settler in the area buried a treasure in a cave behind the waterfall. The legend continues that years later locals found the chest but were only able to grasp the ring on the side of the chest before it disappeared again. The ring was allegedly given to the local church.

On the road to Vik

When we arrived at our guesthouse the owner had bad news. Due to the huge storm on its way it was likely that the roads would be closed the following morning. Travel was ill-advised. However, being the Kiwis we are and armed with our "she'll be right" attitude we decided to delay our start the next morning by a couple of hours to allow the worst of the storm to pass and go anyway. We had an ice cave tour booked for Thursday morning so we needed to get to Hofn. The bad weather meant that evening was our best opportunity to see Vik's black-sand beach and basalt columns. We also made a trip to a road-side car park to try to see the lights but to no avail. However, the beach didn't disappoint.

Church at Vik

A touch of NZ; baked banana full of Whittakers and
topped with Icelandic yoghurt. The envy of the guesthouse!

Wednesday dawned fairly average as expected (read: gale-force winds and driving rain/sleet/snow). Fortunately the roads in the direction we wanted to go were open. Unfortunately during the long drive, we had a message from the ice cave tour operators that due to the heavy rain, the cave was flooded and our tour scheduled the next day was cancelled. Never mind, we still had Jökulsárlón to look forward to - a massive glacier lagoon!

The road towards Jökulsárlón 

A turf Church

We parked up and climbed over a bank. The wind there was SO strong, it made the driving rain feel like hail. After a short look around we carried on to the next vantage point.

We hiked up to the top of a bank and admired the huge floating icebergs that had broken off the main glacier and were slowly making their way out to sea. So cool. Mike asked me to turn around and look out toward the lagoon so he could take my photo. I turned back around and there was Mike, down on one knee, asking me to marry him! I was incredibly excited and of course, said yes :-)

At Jökulsárlón

When we arrived at our farm-stay our host was fairly incredulous that we'd made it. A friend of hers had sent her a video of the same stretch of road we'd driven only an hour earlier than us. About a foot of water and huge chunks of ice were rushing over. We were very lucky! We spent an evening excitedly calling our families and celebrating with pot noodles and Icelandic beer.

With the ice cave tour cancelled we had a bit more time up our sleeves, but still a 5 hour drive to Snotra Hostel between Vik and Reykjavik ahead. Following a hearty home-cooked breakfast Inga proudly showed us her mares, foals and sheep in the nearby stable. She could have talked the hind-legs of an Icelandic horse. And every word was fascinating.

A Viking parliament banned the importing of horses back in 982AD following an unsuccessful breeding attempt with Oriental breeds. As a result, the breed has been bred in isolation for over 1000 years, significantly reducing the number of contagious livestock diseases. Horses could be sold and exported but could never return. There was also a very strict rule on bringing riding gear or clothing to the country. It was all going pretty well until 2011 when a German guy came to Iceland to complete a shoeing course. He brought riding gear with him and a respiratory disease that affected nearly the entire 77,000 strong population. The country still struggles with this today and without treatment within the first couple of days, the horse will likely die.

Another fascinating thing we learnt was the process for breaking in horses. After a couple of years the young horse will be brought into the stables and saddled daily for a fortnight. Then they're released back to the herd for another year. Then, when they're introduced to the saddle again, somehow they remember it and they're fine with it. Their docile, willing nature is bred into them. However. Should there be a horse that bucks, bites or tries to throw their rider... their days are numbered and they're sent to the slaughterhouse. And wind up on Icelandic dinner plates with a side of mashed potato and gravy.

The drive to the hostel was so much more pleasant than the drive out. We could see so much more of the landscape! The bad weather broke and we saw ice chunks washed up on the shore of Diamond Beach, huge glaciers and gorgeous mountainsides. We spent our last night in Þykkvibær and then headed to the airport the next morning. A very, very memorable trip indeed!

Another glacier lake near Jökulsárlón 

Our lunch stop