On our clockwise journey around the ring road there were numerous stops for taking in the scenery, seeing the evidence of millions of years of thermal activity, enjoying the wildlife, observing the life of locals, hearing the sagas of yesteryear and being at one with the weather.
Interesting cloud formations
Thingvellir National Park where the American and European tectonic plates are drifting apart.
The two plates drift apart 2cm each year making this space wider and wider.
Pretty waterfalls
My roommate Julie and I by the statue of the District's God placed here by the Paganists of the time.
Small churches on hillsides
The outside
The inside
A shipwreck from the late 19th century
Traditional turf houses
A fishy story
Hay baled up ready for winter.
Most farms are painted white with a red roof.
Colourful houses abound
A fish processing plant that exports fish to the U.K.
The Herring Museum
18th century warehouse and home in a small fishing village.
The harbour
Fish skin handbags
Avalanche protection for the town below
Love heart shapes on traffic lights in Akureyri. Akureyri is the main town in the north with a population of about 19,000.
Whale watching - so much gear to wear
3 humpback whales feeding together
Surfacing for a breath
And then a dive for a mouthful of krill
One of numerous fissures to be wary of
Nearly blown away by freezing 30km winds at a waterfall. Brace position necessary.
A long and winding road
This 1000 year old chunk of an iceberg came floating along in the lagoon of a receding glacier. It got chopped up for us to have a taste.
The ice can take 5 years to make its way to the sea. This lagoon never freezes over as it's a mix of salt and fresh water. But in the James Bond movie, Die Another Day, they dammed the salt water from entering, it froze over within 2 weeks and they were able to film the sequence with James in the Aston Martin.
Then they melt to a small enough size to float out to sea.
A very bedraggled Icelandic sheep. They're direct descendants from the breed brought here by the Vikings and don't have a tail.
Sweaters, jumpers, hats, gloves and scarves are in popular demand with traditional Icelandic patterns.
Garden ornaments with buoys.
It's very disappointing to have missed the puffins as the weather has turned wintry. They've now returned to the ocean for 6 months. But, I did visit the cliffs they come to for nesting.
A bit of a thrill going behind this waterfall.
An aluminium smelter on the fjord. Electricity is cheap here, which helps to make aluminium 3rd in exports.
The biggest geyser in Iceland gives a show every 5/7 minutes.
Other thermal activity
An old turf church we stopped in at on our tiki tour.
The inside
Our guide, Johann, sang us an 800 year old hymn.
The popular Gullfoss (Golden Waterfall) was rushing fiercely the day we visited. With the wind blowing in our faces the water droplets stung our eyes.
The river is fed by Iceland's 2nd biggest glacier. This part of its flow is unique that it follows a fault line then into a deep gorge created by a large open fissure.
The Laki eruption in 1783 created this 26km lava flow, the largest in 2,000 years.
It's covered in a fine moss which looks like a fine woolly fringe.
Part of Icelandic folklore is the belief in trolls, elves and hidden people. Building projects are often altered to prevent damaging the places they live. And one would never throw stones in case of harming them.
We stopped at a remote bakery to watch 'love balls' being made. We weren't the only ones watching.
We were hoping to see the Northern lights, but each night the conditions just haven't been right. Hotels offer a call service if the lights are about. Unfortunately, no call. So a google image photo of what we hoped to see.
