4 July - First day in Iceland

I was awake at 3:45am, before the alarm was due to go off, so John and I got up and away in very good time to catch an early train to the airport. It was quite a novel experience stepping outside into bright sunshine at 4am, and witnessing a bewildering array of people exiting nightclubs and heading homeward. Once we'd checked in at the airport counter, we powered through some self-filled rolls for breakfast, with leftover fillings from our meal on the ferry last night. 

The flight to Iceland was full but the four-hour duration seemed to go pretty quickly. I slept for half of it, and J a bit less. We had fantastic luck with the weather and had sunny skies as we first flew over Finland, then Sweden and Norway before finally flying in over Iceland. The low-lying waterlogged landscape of Finland was a real contrast to the forested ranges of Norway. However Iceland was the most dramatic. We could easily see the ring road around the coastal edge that we would soon be driving. It was quite stunning.

Huge glacial dome inland

The excitement of our arrival in our 'bucket list' Iceland was a little dented by the non-appearance of our rental company shuttle driver until 45 minutes. He was supposed to be waiting for us. However, when we finally got to the rental headquarters to pick up our booked Hyundai I20, we were given a Dacia Logan. It's a rubbish car. It drives like a dog, has no power, no basics like even a clock or outside temperature gauge, and is all round very disappointing. We couldn't remember the last car we drove with wind-up windows. As with any rental booking, the company says it can provide the car you booked or similar, but unfortunately we don't think the Dacia is similar in any way. It didn't set things off well, but we didn't have any choice and wanted to get on the road because we had an itinerary all worked out for the day, and the next 9 days for that matter.

It wasn't far to the nearest grocery store, where we stocked up on a range of food to tide us over for the next few days, including cooking a dinner or two. Off we set for our first destination - Fagradalsfjall Volcano. It wasn't too far away and by midday were on the walking track to see the fresh lava fields. It is this volcano that was in the news 6-8 months ago when it was erupting and sending tracks of lava down its slopes. A bonus was the lovely bright alpine flowers on the older ground. It's now possible to walk right up to, and onto, said lava. It really was a pretty special sight, and one we haven't seen before. The lava field is very extensive, and in some places it is still smoking! It took a fair amount of huff and puff to get there and back, and there weren't many tourists on the track with us.

Fagradalsfjall Volcano - lava flow from about 8 months ago

Nice wee alpine flowers sprouting everywhere

The predicted high for today was just 12 degrees but it seemed more like 16 or 17. We seriously needed to find some water (having not been tempted to buy bottled water at the supermarket) and thankfully came across a good supermarket on the way to our next stop. We realised we needed to buy some bottled water to ensure we always have plenty in the car. The adjacent cafe was also frequented to check out what a local cappuccino was like. It was expensive but tasty and definitely recharged my flagging energy levels. 

Onwards to Kerid Crater and lake, and a walk around the crater rim. It was formed by the volcano erupting, then its sides collapsing inward. The lake at the bottom is simply the current groundwater level. The rich red of the scoria around the site reminded me of the soil on the slopes of Pukekohe Hill where I grew up in Auckland. There it formed a very fertile volcanic soil for market gardening. By contrast, the bulk of the landscape we have driven through so far here is obviously infertile and is basically lumpy crunchy lava on which nothing grows but clumps of lichen and a little grass. It's incredibly foreign-looking. No animals would be able to survive on it. Further inland towards Kerid, the landscape is covered by a greater depth of soil and is capable of supporting a few sheep and for making hay. We've seen the famous Iceland ponies in a few paddocks. 

Kerid Lake

It had been a very long day so we were very happy to arrive at our booked accommodation by 4pm, an hour or two earlier than we expected. It's a nice hostel and we've used the first hour to reorganise our bags so we can store some gear in the car during the next week, instead of dragging it in and out of our accommodation each night. 

We had booked all our accommodation for this trip, because there is a very limited supply of it, and much seems to have closed because of Covid. We had to make significant changes to the itinerary we'd imagined, simply because accommodation wasn't available where we would have needed it. Prices are horrific, and we have mostly booked in what are called hostels, but are mostly double rooms in a house or sometimes a larger building partly designed for tourists. Toilets are mostly shared, as having an ensuite more than doubles the price of the already expensive room, if ensuites are available at all.

Our meal tonight is going to be homemade salad and, after jumping in the hot spa the owner has on offer here, we are planning an early night.