Category: Trail Blog

Friday, May 29 – After I signed off and published Thursday’s blog at 11:15, Pam stepped out on our hotel room patio and snapped the cover photo for today. That is an 11:30 pm sunset and the sky never got any darker.
We enjoyed another fantastic breakfast buffet at our hotel, but discovered after leaving that we missed an experience. We didn’t realize that you could cook your own egg over the steam vent in the parking lot. The kitchen provides a raw egg and a small mesh bag. The bag is attached to a stick and you lower it into the steam vent to cook it. It looks a little like fishing from a distance.

Our flight home didn’t depart until nearly 5 pm, so we had time to take in some of Reykjavic before we headed to the airport. Our first stop was to fill up the car and we decided that was a good excuse to visit the local Costco. Gas was “only” $6.12 which was way cheaper than we had experienced in England. But Iceland has recently intoduced a mileage tax on rental cars that added another $28 to our 404 kilometer drive.

After filling the car, we decided to go into Costco to see how it compared to shopping at home. It seemed remarkably familiar – except for all prices being in Icelandic Kronas (123 krona to the dollar makes for some big prices). The store had nearly the exact layout of my Costco in Tigard. The food court had a few local variations, but the infamous Costco Hotdog was there for only 299 Krona or about $2.44 USD.

The main thing we wanted to do before heading to the airport was to visit the Perlan Museum, Reykjavik’s natural history museum. A relatively new facility, it features some amazing multi-media/multi-sensory exhibits to help understand the tectonic volatility of the country. Photos were not allowed in some of the exhibits, but we were able to shoot while walking through a 100-meter long ice cave. For anyone considering a visit to Iceland, I highly recommend going to Perlan on your first day so that it can prepare you for some of the amazing natural wonders you will see.

Our only issue with getting home was getting through border control at the Keflavik airport. We fortunately arrived early because we hadn’t seen the warning email from the airline that the border agents were short-staffed and that we should expect long lines. Long lines indeed! It took us over an hour to get cleared and by then the “extra” time had been burned up.

For the second time this trip, I had inadvertently booked seats in the only row without a window. This didn’t seem like a big deal until the pilot came on the PA as we flew over Greenland that it was one of the clearest days he had seen there. We were able to snap a photo via the window in the row behind us.

We are now home safe and sound. We had a wonderful time and I plan to post one additional blog entry about some of our observations and things we particularly enjoyed.

I hope you’ve enjoyed following along with us.

Thursday, May 28 – Our hotel, the Frost and Fire, featured a very nice breakfast buffet. We enjoyed a hearty meal and then set out to explore the Golden Circle, a 200-ish mile loop around many of Iceland’s key natural attactions.

Our first stop was Kerid Crater, a cinder cone with a collapsed crater now filled with bright blue water. As we walked along the crater rim, the wind was howling and we decided to shoot a few photos and head back to the car.

Stop two was an unplanned stop at Faxi falls. It wasn’t originally on our agenda, but a large tour bus was right behind us and I decided I preferred not to show up at the next stop as 40 other people did. Faxi means “horse mane” and supposedly describes the look of this falls. Puttig on a few more layers before exiting car – and bringing my gloves and wool hat – made for a more enjoyable view. As we headed down the hill from the car park, there was a large fenced structure that is used by the local shepherds to separate their flocks. Sheep free range the hillsides and as many as 14,000 sheep have had to be sorted in this giant coral.

Our next stop was our favorite of the day: the Geysir Geothermal Area. Today, Geyser is a word used to describe any hot spring that occasionally erupts hot water into the air. But originally, was one specific hot spring: Geysir. That hot spring is mostly dormant, erupting only a few times per year and typically in association with earthquakes in the area.

The big geysir may be sleeping, but the area around us is full of smaller hot springs, some of which can put on a show. The most prolific is Strokkur, which erupts every 5 or so minutes. We waited for it to blow, with me recording video. I’d record for about 30 seconds, stopped, then started another recording. As luck would have it, I started one the instant an erruption started. Sadly, the erruption startled me enough that I double-tapped the record button stopping the recording. I did capture another erruption about 15 minutes later.

The fourth stop on our journey was Gullfoss Falls, a much more impressive falls that reminds me of Shoshone Falls in Idaho. The river has cut a deep, narrow gorge into which the river disappears out of site for a hundred yards or so.

We next drove through Thingvellir National Park, and then cut the loop short by driving around Lake Thingvallavatn, the largest lake in the country.

The full Golden Circle would have taken us back to Reyjkavik and added about 40 unnecessary miles to our journey. Our shortcut not only saved time, but put us on a nice quiet road along the lake where we only saw a handful of cars in over 20 miles.

Once back at the Frost & Fire, we rested for awhile before finding a nice Danish restaurant for dinner. We took a short after-dinner walk, crossing a river footbridge by our hotel and climbing the hill on the other side to see the steam vents. Just across the bridge there was a pool of boiling mud sputtering. Pam was trying to figure out how to take some home, as it makes a very expensive skin cleanser. Then back to the hotel for a long soak in the hot springs-fed tub. I’m writing this at 11:15 as the sun sets.

Iceland is stark and rustic and full of natural wonders. Both Pam and I were reminded several times of areas around Prineville and John Day back home. And speaking of back home, tomorrow we finish our journey and fly back to Oregon. We’ve had a marvelous time, but I think we’re both ready to return home.

Wednesday, May 27 – The heat in England these last few days has been unprecedented.  Not only are all time high temperatures being set each day, but the overnight low temperatures have been breaking records as well.  And in a country where very few places have AC, that makes for some uncomfortable nights.

We slept on top of the duvet with a fan blowing on us all night and it was still uncomfortable.  We got up early and were itching to get outside before things started heating up.  Our B&B started serving breakfast at 8:30, so at 7 we went for a stroll. 

The River Arun runs through the town and has a dike to help cope with tidal variations.  We walked along the dike top listening to birds sing in the reeds and watching waterfoul along the river.  We have enjoyed using the Merlin app and identifying new speciies of birds.  I’ve added 26 new species to my life list while in England, including eight this morning.

We returned to eat our breakfast and then loaded the car for our ride to the airport.  With three hours to burn before we needed to start our drive, we went for another walk while we waited for the village shops to open.  This time, we headed around a stream that may have once been part of the castle moat.  After about half a mile, we came across a pair of nesting swans with four cygnets, who couldn’t have been more than a day or two old.  They had nested right along the footpath and a section had been cordoned off and a volunteer sat nearby in the shade to help protect them.  We then entered into a wetland area filled with streams, ponds and one larger lake.  We saw three species of mama ducks with ducklings in tow (Mallard, Coot and Mandrin).

We turned around and walked back into town for a little shopping.  Arundel is full of antique shops and specialty food stores.  We made a few purchases at the latter, and decided that it was time to start enjoying the air conditioning of the car.  On to Gatwick.

Our drive was non-eventful.  Pam relished the wide, multilane highways after two weeks of narrow country lanes.  We boarded our flight in London with the temperature about 92 degrees and three hours later, we arrived in Iceland where the feels-like temperature was 39. Our rental car is a tiny Toyota Yaris and we regretted not having something this small in England.  On the wide open highways of Iceland, it feels tiny.

Keflavik Airport sits on  a pennisula about 20 miles from Reykjavik.  We both prefer the country to city, so we had booked a hotel in a smaller town about 22 miles further down the Golden Circle.  The first part of the drive was through barren land, so geolocially new, that about the only vegetation was lichen growning on the rocks.  When we passed through Reykjavik, things were much greener with grass along the highway and medium-sized trees.  A few miles outside of the capital, things became very surreal.  Vents of steam came out of the ground all over the place.  Geothermal energy is the main energy source on Iceland and it is easy to see why. 

We arrived at our hotel in the small town of Hveragardi – which translates to “Hot Spring Yard.”  This town has large scale greenhouses everywhere and we learned that has been the primary industry in town for nearly a century.  As we pulled into our hotel parking lot, we parked a few yards away from a large steam vent over which a brick oven had been constructed.  The hotel had an on-site restaurant that used the heat of the earth to cook its food.

We arrived just as the restaurant was closing, but they seated us by a riverside table and we enjoyed a delicious dinner of baked chad and beet salad. Our room is very comfortable.  There are large robes and sandals to facilitate use of the two hot springs tubs, the swimming pool and the river for those wanting to cool off.  While eating our dinner, we watched an older couple take a plunge into the river – which we later tested to find quite cold.  Thank goodness for the blackout courtains becase sunset tonight was at 11:13 and sunrise at 3:36.  Time for a good nights rest before our day exploring this fascinating country.

Tuesday, May 26 – Today is our last full day in England. Tomorrow afternoon we fly to Iceland for a couple of days before heading home. We had decided that driving back much of the way towards the airport would make our travel day less stressful, so we planned to stop in the West Sussex village of Arundel where we could visit a beautifully restored castle.

Unlike yesterday’s visit to the ruins of Corfe Castle, Arundel has been returned to its glory. Like many other castles in England, it dates back to the time of William the Conqueror. His cousin, Roger de Montgomery was granted the lands for his support to William. The original Castle was nothing more than a stone keep atop a hill with wooden fortification, but it has been remodeled and added on to over the centuries. It has been the home to the Earl of Arundel and Duke of Norfolk for centuries.

The 16th Duke had intended to donate the Castle to the National Trust, but upon his death in 1975, his son, the 17th Duke decided instead to create an independent non-profit dedicated to its preservation. The castle and grounds are now open to the public.

Before heading up to the castle, we checked into our B&B for the night. For the first time in our trip, we do not have an ensuite, but our dedicated bathroom is just down the hall. The hosts provide robes and slippers, so this shouldn’t be too big of an inconvenience.

More of an inconvenience is the weather, which continues to set records. Yesterday in London, the all-time temperature record for the month of May was smashed by 2 full degrees centegrade (3.6 fareheight). It’s a bit cooler here, but nobody has air conditioning, so everyone looks sweltered.

We spent about an hour touring the inside of the castle and another 90 minutes roaming the gardens. The gardens include both formal manicured gardens with fountains and gravel-lined paths and also a water garden when you can walk between ponds and see the waterfowl and dragonflies.

An interesting bit of history about the castle, in 1846 Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited the castle for three days. They gave Duke a two-year head’s up and he used the time to update the castle, including the installation of a six-room suite for the royal couple. I took a photo below of the Queen’s bedroom.

As I write this, we’re hiding out in our room with the heavy blackout draps drawn and the fan blowing on us. We’re waiting for the temperature to dip back into the 70’s before we seek out somewhere for our last dinner in England.