Does anyone know what the road conditions are like in the West Fjords?
I keep finding conflicting accounts.
I keep finding conflicting accounts.
Iceland - Roadtrip - April 2014
- Thread starter Wayland
- Start date
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Whatever you do, just make sure you take some pictures of Thingvellir! Especially with your sense of composition and light!
I already wish you a great trip and much fun planning, which to me is an equally large part of the fun and trip.
I already wish you a great trip and much fun planning, which to me is an equally large part of the fun and trip.
Wayland, if you've not already read it, have a look at Running Blind by Desmond Bagley. Classic British thriller from the 70s. It's set in Iceland and remarkably well observed in terms of both landscape and people, with a few Norse references thrown in.
Look forward to the pics on your return. I want to see Dettifoss - now that's a waterfall.
Look forward to the pics on your return. I want to see Dettifoss - now that's a waterfall.
Thanks for that Doc. I've read a few of his books but not that one. I'll look it out.
Thingvellir is on my hit list and I'll take a look at Dimmuborgir too, looks interesting, thanks.
Thingvellir is on my hit list and I'll take a look at Dimmuborgir too, looks interesting, thanks.
For anybody else planning a trip like this in the future I have found an incredibly useful resource in the form of a travel blog by Mike Powell.
iceland.for91days.com/iceland-index/
Great source of info including some of the more obscure places.
iceland.for91days.com/iceland-index/
Great source of info including some of the more obscure places.
Gary, you'll have a great time.
Lucy & I spent ten days traveling round Iceland ten years ago - the best trip ever!
Everywhere was an experience, chatting to the locals in the hot tubs - most villages have a free communal geothermal spa, just turn up with a towel
Driving round, the scenery was jaw droppingly brilliant and was like my physical geography text book made real. Just stunning. Sometimes we just picked a small road and followed it to see where we'd end up
My biggest tip would be that you can pretty much stop & go anywhere you want. If you want to park up & climb a glacier, go for it! Walk down into an extinct volcanoe? Sure
We stayed at so many places I can't remember now without digging the journal out, but off the top of my head, a couple of the places we stopped at were Akureyri & Húsavík was nice.
We went blue whale watching in the north too - well worth the money. If they offer you the sea sickness tablets, take them, it didn't, and this old salty dog threw chunks - very embarrassing.
Jökulsárlón is spectacular, I shot 10 reels of film just in this one spot!
Gulfoss will take your breath away & you will spend ages photographing Strokkur.
The food is/was expensive, but we found salami, bread & gravalax from the Spar shops was good value. I didn't particularly like the taste of Puffin!
Touristy & a bit pricy, but the blue lagoon was worth it too.
When the kids are older, I will definitely go back.
Have a great time.
Lucy & I spent ten days traveling round Iceland ten years ago - the best trip ever!
Everywhere was an experience, chatting to the locals in the hot tubs - most villages have a free communal geothermal spa, just turn up with a towel
Driving round, the scenery was jaw droppingly brilliant and was like my physical geography text book made real. Just stunning. Sometimes we just picked a small road and followed it to see where we'd end up
My biggest tip would be that you can pretty much stop & go anywhere you want. If you want to park up & climb a glacier, go for it! Walk down into an extinct volcanoe? Sure
We stayed at so many places I can't remember now without digging the journal out, but off the top of my head, a couple of the places we stopped at were Akureyri & Húsavík was nice.
We went blue whale watching in the north too - well worth the money. If they offer you the sea sickness tablets, take them, it didn't, and this old salty dog threw chunks - very embarrassing.
Jökulsárlón is spectacular, I shot 10 reels of film just in this one spot!
Gulfoss will take your breath away & you will spend ages photographing Strokkur.
The food is/was expensive, but we found salami, bread & gravalax from the Spar shops was good value. I didn't particularly like the taste of Puffin!
Touristy & a bit pricy, but the blue lagoon was worth it too.
When the kids are older, I will definitely go back.
Have a great time.
Thanks James, that's all useful info.
I'm like a kid waiting for Xmas at the moment. Every spare moment with my nose stuck in a map or searching the interweb.
I'm like a kid waiting for Xmas at the moment. Every spare moment with my nose stuck in a map or searching the interweb.
Missed this Gary, hope you have a cracking time. For a momento i would pay a visit to Guðmundur Örn Ólafsson
he has a facebook page showing his work and i think he now does smithing courses too
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Horny-Viking/123604961066619
he has a facebook page showing his work and i think he now does smithing courses too
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Horny-Viking/123604961066619
I may just have to look him up on my travels.
Just booked tickets for an interesting band called Hjaltalin who are playing at Harpa on the night we are in Reykjavik.
Just booked tickets for an interesting band called Hjaltalin who are playing at Harpa on the night we are in Reykjavik.
Have to admit, I keep finding references to it but with such a tight schedule I'm not sure I need to go to Iceland to see a building full of plonkers.
I think there's one around Westminster from what I remember...
I think there's one around Westminster from what I remember...
TurboGirl
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
I'm pretty positive it wouldn't be up your street, but I would kill to do the off road glaciers and watch the ridiculously powerful formula off road over there! Dreams, all dreams
[video=youtube;MhjkDEvV3OM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhjkDEvV3OM[/video]
[video=youtube;MhjkDEvV3OM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhjkDEvV3OM[/video]
I'm pretty positive it wouldn't be up your street, but I would kill to do the off road glaciers and watch the ridiculously powerful formula off road over there! Dreams, all dreams
[video=youtube;MhjkDEvV3OM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhjkDEvV3OM[/video]
TOP GEAR had a similar car on their show with a souped up quad bike too, I think their tires were delibritaly under inflated to cope with the volcanic terrain ?
exscuse the spelling
cheers Andrew.
4WD might be another trip in the future.
If you want to get into the interior there really is no other way to do it unless you want to go on foot.
If you want to get into the interior there really is no other way to do it unless you want to go on foot.
TurboGirl
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
yup, gives a better footprint and grippier contact area on the ice and water surface too I believe, we always used to decrease for rock crawling here too
its fun watched them fix the inevitable derimmings with lighter fluid, would love to see it in real life from a healthy distance 
If you get to explore inside a volcano follow the graffiti "A.S." for an extended trip... or a Journey to the Centre of the Earth....
Just re-found this Timelapse which seems to hit a lot of the places we're planning to get to.
[video=youtube;_vhf0RZg0fg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded& v=_vhf0RZg0fg[/video]
Thanks to Copper Head for the original link.
[video=youtube;_vhf0RZg0fg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded& v=_vhf0RZg0fg[/video]
Thanks to Copper Head for the original link.
Just a last bump for this.
We fly out next week so I think we're pretty well sorted but I'm still open to ideas if they're not too far from route 1
We fly out next week so I think we're pretty well sorted but I'm still open to ideas if they're not too far from route 1
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