Flying into Iceland we were met with barren, cracked lava fields with the occasional plume of gas billowing from the earth. As we made our way through the airport way made a quick detour through duty-free (and tax-free in Iceland) where we came across the Iceland survival kit. This consisted of a box in the shape of a book containing two shot glasses and small bottle of Brennevin, Icelandic schnapps. Following the instructions, stating that this was best chased with beer we stocked up on some Viking beer and felt that we were adequately prepared to enter this new country. After the bus dropped us off at the hostel we head upstairs to check in and discovered it was brand new. As a result we were given the choice of going to our 4-bed dorm on the 3rd floor or a 6-bed dorm on the 4th (where the showers, kitchen and reception were), which was unoccupied. Choosing the later, we stowed our gear in our personal dorm before heading down the main strip into Reykjavik.

The first thing we noticed was how rugged up everyone else was. It would appear spending the last few months in a non-heated van had helped us acclimatise quite well. Reykjavik turned out to be a small little city, clean and expensive. After walking for a bit, and being after 12 noon, we headed back to the hostel to sample some of Icelandic's finest (followed by cheap Iceland beer). The schnapps had no taste, went down clean and really warmed our insides. As the afternoon progressed, we headed back down the strip to a local Icelandic pub. It turns out they are pretty similar to every other pub but after the schnapps they were AWESOME!!.

The next day was spent lounging and feeling sorry for ourselves...

On the Saturday, we headed back into the heart of the city, intent on going on a walking tour. Unfortunately, (due to it still being classed as winter season... in spring...) the tours operated infrequently. Already in town we went to the Volcano House to watch the movie about the two most memorable eruptions in recent years, the 1973 Eruption in the Westman Islands, plus the Eyjafjallajökull eruption in 2010 that stopped air traffic across much of the Northern Atlantic.

Sunday arrived and we picked up our hire car before heading off on our tour of the Iceland countryside. As we drove east away from the capital the countryside became even more scenic with lumpy green fields, distant waterfalls and snowy mountains. Along the way we came across the Kerio volcanic crater for a brief stop down to the blue waters within before continuing and a short while later we arrived at the site of Geysir (the first discovered geyser, where the name comes from and the only Icelandic word that has entered the English language). As we walked toward the blowhole we passed boiling pools and steamy streams with the delightful aroma of sulphur. We didn’t expect Geysir itself to give us a display, which only happened during volcanic/earthquake activity, but weren’t disappointed as the smaller (25-35m) Strokkur geyser erupted every 8-10minutes. Next on our tour of the “golden circle” was Gulfoss, the waterfall that reportedly output more water than Niagara Falls. A few kilometres past Gulfoss was a glacier we wished to see, and although the map indicated that the road wasn’t paved we decided to head toward it in the hope of getting close enough to walk in. Unfortunately, we discovered the distance was “as the crow flies” as we came to the final turn off, which was a gravel road and chained off due to worse than usual conditions. Not willing to walk the 10km in we turned around to head back and although the road was bituminised we had to contend with oncoming 4WD’s that could have passed for monster trucks. The last part of the Golden Circle was Þingvellir (pronounced Thingvellir), where the Icelandic parliament had been held from 900AD to 1900AD, the longest running in the world. What was even more remarkable was that the site was between two tectonic plates so you could see where the land was drifting apart creating large crevasses in the ground (and increasing the size of Iceland by 2cm/year). With the day still bright we continued past Reykjavik, north to Akranes. At first this seemed a mistake, as we passed through the tunnel and were hit with a 1000 krona toll fee before arriving to a small uneventful town. The journey was worth it however, as we took the long way back to Reykjavik around the nearby lake and it’s mountainous hills that could be seen to have been violently pushed up out of the ground. The day ended late due to our body’s not realising how late it was with it still appearing dusk outside at midnight.

Our destination the next day was along the southern cost and with a beautiful sunny day we headed off. The first stop was at Seljalandsfoss, a tall waterfall where we were able to walk behind it. The water was crystal clear and very inviting if it weren’t for the glacial water temperature. Next was the bigger Skogarfoss where we could climb the stairway to the top and walk along it to the pools beforehand. After the falls was the town of Vik, the first point in our destination, and the nearby black beach. The beach was remarkable (voted one of the top 10 in the world) and contained pitch black, fine pebbles along the shore, with black basalt formations in the ocean and caves that appeared to be made up of rectangular columns. As we headed home we stopped in at the site of the Eyjafjallajökull eruption in 2010 where, at the foot of the mountain, was the farm that had endured the event. Arriving back at the hostel we tried to have an early night but with the sun still blazing at 10:30pm our bodies had other plans…

Our final day with the car we headed to the Blue Lagoon. It turns out this is one of the locations we had seen the gas billowing from as we flew to Iceland and driving along roads cut between the lava fields we arrived, greeted with milky blue waters along the road. The next couple of hours we spent indulging as we floated in the hot, blue waters, our faces covered in silica (after handing in my man card at the front desk), beer in hand. Feeling amazingly rejuvenated we headed back to Reykjavik to drop off the car before wandering the streets of the city a little further.

It was our last day in Iceland and we had left the best for last. We were picked up at 9am where we were taken to Laxnes farm to ride Icelandic horses. The next couple of hours were spent riding through the Iceland countryside on these unique horses (who have 2 extra gaits than the usual trot, canter and gallop). Our last afternoon was spent preparing for the following days travel as well as planning the week(s) to come.

The day we flew out we were up at 5am (although the sun beat us again!!) to be picked up and transferred to the airport. We had had an amazing time in a spectacular and unique country. The only thing we would have changed is being pampered at the Blue Lagoon after subjecting ourselves to horse riding, but our sore rumps and cowboy waddle just served as a nice reminder of the great experiences we’d had. Our flight back to Luton was uneventful before heading to London for our train ride through the “Chunnel” to Paris.