My every day routine is to start the day with at least two cups of tea, this is normally the kick in the pants I need to get into the groove as they say. Funny enough though this routine will be affected today as after only one cup we have run out of tea bags. A childish mistake we have made by not having enough in stock before we went on holiday.
It’s funny that on holiday my routine changes and the tea becomes coffee, a drink that at home I wouldn’t even entertain until at least elevenses.
So that’s my drinking routine on a standard day, however I guess my favourite is Water, i never seem to drink enough of it, allegedly. I’m not one of these people that carries around a vessel that looks like a small barrel, I’m a chancer kind of person who just takes a swig whenever I’m near a water tap. I do take a small flask in the work van with me but that is never enough to satisfy a thirst.
We all need water so why wouldn’t it be everyone’s favourite? We’d all be extinct without it.
Today will be consumed by just the one activity, we are heading down to the south coast of the island, somewhere we have never visited before. So today will be Black beaches, Volcanoes, Glaciers and Waterfalls. We’ve been looking forward to this one.
On our way we passed the volcano Nick named by those who struggle with the Icelandic language as E15. Why E15? Well it began with the letter “E” and has 15 other letters after it that’s why! Its proper name is Eyjafjallajökull, you will know of it, as it was the one the erupted in 2010 causing all the disruption to European airspace as its massive cloud blanketed Europe. It looked so serene from the bus as we passed by on our journey south.
Eyjafjallajökull from the route one road
Leaving early from the city centre we were heading out on Route 1, the island circular road that encompasses the island, we will be heading south for approx 2.5hrs towards Reynisfjara beach just outside the town of Vik.
From this point on I’m going to post some pictures as written text does not do these places justice.
Reynisfjara beach
Reynisfjara beach
Strong seas at the black beach
Rock formations on the black beach
And this video at the black beach sums it all up. It was shot in normal full colour mode but all you can see is black and white, maybe the odd colourful coat or two on passing tourists.
Full colour, but black and white
After some time at the beach just drinking in its mystical majesty and getting some fantastic pictures we moved on to the town of Vik, about 20 minutes away to have some lunch. A very pleasant Lamb Stroganoff later we moved on to our next point of interest.
Sólheimajökull Glacier
Sólheimajökull glacier is a perfect example of how global warming is effecting the last remaining glaciers in Iceland, that are retreating year on year at quite an alarming rate. However, it is a beautiful site, what is left. They say that within 150 years there will be no remaining Glaciers on this island.
Sólheimajökull glacier
Glacier ice pack
Panorama capturing the glacier decline. Only a few years ago this entire lake was solid glacial ice, now the only remaining glacier can be seen on the far right.
From here we went on to visit our first of two waterfalls we would be seeing today and this first one has always been one I have wanted to visit.
Skógafoss falls
Skogafoss falls are purely wonderful. With a four hundred plus step climb up to its top you can look down onto the river as it makes its descent to the ground below. It is a magical and most beautiful site surrounded by volcanoes and lush green land. (As the snow has all gone)
Skogafoss waterfall time lapse
Volcano
Long climb up the side
Skogafoss waterfall standard shot
From here we moved on to our second waterfall and last point on today’s trip. This waterfall has a uniquely individual twist to it, you can actually walk behind it if the weather is good enough, and today it was fine. Just be prepared to get wet as it’s a constant mist of water all the way around.
It’s been a day of pure majesty and scenes of some of natures finest displays of grandeur and beauty. We haven’t even began to scratch the surface of some of the places we can visit here, there is so much more to see and do. And I’m certainly hoping we are back here again soon as we are both still very much in love with this island.
I won’t be posting a day 5 post as that will be a day of recovery from all the walking, some packing and dinner at the Hard Rock Reykjavik. All pretty boring stuff. I will however do a little recap post with some other pictures when we arrive back in the Uk. So thanks for looking in, it’s always appreciated. Back to boring old fixing stuff next week.
Anyone who’s been to this part of the world has probably been on the golden circle tour, which is a great introduction to what this area has to offer.
However we are not, as we’ve been here before and done that, so the next couple of days will be spent doing variations of that trip to our own agenda. Today was one of those days. We’ve spent the morning after breakfast browsing the area. I always look for an item to take home that will remind me of our visit and today I think I have found the item I would like. It’s a piece of art on glass painted by a superb glass artist named Ella Rosinkrans. Ella is one of only a few glass artists on the island and has been designing and creating these art forms for about the last 25 yrs. it also helps living near the Eyjafjallajökull volcano as all the black portions of her art contain ash from this volcano that caused so much disruption back in 2010 when its eruption closed airspace over Europe for a number of weeks.
Anyway I will be purchasing one of her items as a memento of this visit. We will be back to her studio on day 5 to collect it.
Whilst browsing the shops we came across this one. the shop name loosely translates as “The Golden Cat” it hadn’t opened yet, however patiently waiting at the door for opening time was….a black cat.
The cat patiently waiting for the shop to open
We then popped around to the original Reykjavik cathedral just down by the old government building.
The old Cathedral The Cathedral interior Cathedral roofCathedral organ Cathedral exterior The old government building “Alping”
As with a lot of Reykjavik this cathedral had a big connection to Denmark. it was built by the Danish king at the time, built for the people around a time of great hardship as a place where they could all congregate for safety.
We then moved on to our next activity.
The Blue lagoon here in Iceland is on the to do list for many. Based near the town of Grindavik the scene of recent volcanic activity, this is a geo thermal spa where the water is pumped from the local power station. The area has been subject to emergency closures and is still under such an order due to the unpredictability of the seismic activity in the area. We’ve visited before so this year we have decided to try another lagoon closer to the city centre. We have found one just 15min drive out side of Reykjavik called the Sky Lagoon.
Sky Laggon Reykjavik (Picture Skylagoon)
Only opened in recent years this is a custom built lagoon / Spa where the order of the day is to take in the Skjól bathing ritual a seven stage experience that relaxes and invigorates you inside and out. I was sceptical but I must admit it’s a worthwhile experience although the cold sessions were quite horrendous seeing the outside temperature was -6. As I said it was a worthwhile experience.
Lovely hot water.
Sauna view
Various locations around the lagoon
The day finished with us all feeling refreshed, we then headed back to the city where we convened at a bar for some dinner. One of our party is a football fan whose team were playing and fortunately they won so the day came to a pleasant happy ending.
Twister cocktail
The Twister cocktail was a nice way to finish the evening, I believe it consisted of Rum. Peach schnapps and other bits. Oh, and an ice lolly on the top. Good stuff!
My mother on her death bed bless her, turned to me and my wife whilst we were beside her and said, “You are a wonderful couple”
The last few words this beautiful soul ever spoke and they were to the both of us. It is the most precious memory I hold and the finest gift I have ever received. It was like a moment of full flowing love and appreciation, we were in her thoughts at the very last moment of her existence.
Some gifts do not come in a physical form, sometimes a gift is given in a form that just cannot be replicated, a real one time special offer, exclusive just for you. And this was ours.
Often talked of by us. Never to be repeated, but forever remembered and cherished.
The last words of a much cherished and kind hearted soul who made and shaped my world. My mother. ❤️
The gift of words, original and heart felt, and very much exclusive.
Well we are actually on day three but I’m writing this in past tense. I’m struggling to find the time to be honest, we’ve kept ourselves very busy.
Day two has been a quieter day, it’s Sunday and we had a late night last night, so today we are relaxing as we have a couple of busy days ahead. The plan today was just to saunter around, stay local and chill, and that is quite easy when wind chill is taking temperatures down to minus eight degrees Celsius.
So we did chill we went to a local museum/exhibition centre called Perlan
Perlan is an all exhibition of all that has made Iceland, its natural wonders, its wildlife and its people. It’s a fantastic place to spend a few hours learning something of the history of this island. It’s an immersive exhibition with a number of shows about auroras, volcanoes and glaciers, it also looks into global warming and the issues of protecting this fragile environment. There is also a 100mtr ice tunnel at minus 15 degrees that replicates an ice tunnel found in a glacier. The 360 degrees view from the observation deck are superb.
Ice tunnel Coldest seat in the house Views of the city from the viewing deck
And another thing, the Icelanders love their signage, no messing about, straight to the point they say what they mean. Here are two examples, one is found on a sealed off door to a shop, the other is in a bar.
The closed off doorAnd the sign on the door
And here is the one in the pub. No messing.
We get the message
So we finished the night at a new bar called Skor that we found, based on darts where you play different games. You hire the board in a way similar to how you hire a lane in ten pin bowling. This was a nice way to finish the day.
Darts games
After that we wandered back to our hotel, look what came out to greet us for the second night on the trot.
Two nights on the trot. We have been blessed.
And what a way to finish the night. Two nights in a row, we were truly blessed.
To be honest I think I’m pretty good at budgeting as long as I don’t have my wife beside me when I’m making a decision on how to budget.
Bless her she seems to be one of this group of people that sees the word “Shop” and then she’s off.
And if the shop mode is in full swing then all thoughts of budgeting are out the window.
It’s the same with home improvements, I’m the practical one who will size a job up, get it planned and priced and she will come in at the last moment and add her requests and all of a sudden a perfectly decent price will now double because she’s probably added some unnecessary upgrades that weren’t really needed.
It’s different but you become used to it. I’m absolutely sure that in a previous life she was a lady of the manor, however I am not unfortunately on the earnings of a lord.
So I am quite good at budgeting, however nine times out of ten I don’t bother as it’s a pretty impossible task.
Are you patriotic? What does being patriotic mean to you?
It’s nice to see patriotism being shown all across any nation in the world. It’s good to show a love and a belief in all that your country and its people stand for. It allows everyone else looking in to know that its people can’t be walked all over and pushed around, they all stand together.
However in the Uk a good majority of its own people hate to see anyone showing any pride. You quite simply get labelled as being, far right, fascist, racist you name it. It’s just not fitting the current climate of opinion or agenda to show any patriotism.
What’s the point. Am I patriotic? Yes. But just like discussing religion or politics, I just keep it to myself. My business.
Label me if you must, but I’m not the idiotic one, take a look in the mirror and make a change.
I’d be a liar if I said no. And so would a large percentage of everyone else.
The Uk is full of laws. Bye laws, little sub laws that we all fall foul of from time to time. Whether it be parking on a kerb in a hurry, accidentally dropping litter, allowing your dog to foul in a public area we are all guilty.
Come to Leicester and the quality of driving will shock you. There are probably third world countries (I don’t like that term) who have better road behaviours than what you witness up here. No one pays any attention to traffic lights, and by the way, Leicester have more traffic lights per mile than any other town and city in the Uk! Thanks for that you town planners.
Red lights here just mean go faster, you really do take your own life in your hands attempting to cross a road up here. Add to that everyone’s journey is more important than yours, and then that’s what adds to all the speeding and racing on open public roads. It really is utter madness.
Petty theft is high up here, shop owners lose an absolute fortune, however this seems to be a trend across the whole Uk as certain members of the general public decide, “ Damn, why should I pay? Nothing is going to happen to me anyway.” So under the coat it goes and then it’s away. The Police forces here are struggling to address this epidemic that is spreading across our entire country.
Personally it’s something I’ve never knowingly done, but if I did get away with not paying with something for some obscure reason, i very much doubt I’d go back to correct the situation. They’d have been a time when I would have, but I probably would not now. How times and attitudes have changed.
And this is it. It seems that petty crime, the breeding ground for more advanced crime has not been nipped in the bud and the consensus is, if they can get away with it then why can’t I?
Bang – there’s the problem. It needs addressing urgently.
So yes I have broken the law unintentionally on many occasions and I guess that’s the way it will be for the foreseeable future.
Attitudes and perceptions of right and wrong have changed, and in the good old fashioned way of following each other like sheep, that’s the way it will continue going. We lack guidance from the authorities, we have no shepherd to guide us anymore.
We have no law makers or politicians that have the necessary backbone anymore. And without good leaders you will never have committed followers.
Right, I’m off to probably break some unknown law or bye law. And I haven’t even risen from my bed yet. It’s a crime to be awake at this time.
We are safely ensconced in our prison on the Bath Road at Heathrow Airport. Luckily it’s only a one night sentence prior to moving off to Icelandic shores on the morrow.
Our view from our prison window for the night
To be totally honest we have a nice hotel room, it’s clean and comfortable and has all we require. The view to the front is right on the runway, however we are looking into the centre of the hotel.
View from the front
I’m only joking using the HMP and prison title, it’s been a good journey down from the East Midlands to West London with only minor delays on the way. We did it in good time.
If you are familiar with British Motorways I have a question. I Have lived between Hertfordshire and Leicestershire all my life. I use the M1 motorway more than I’d like to, I have all my life. So why is it I have never seen the M1 motorway without major works and speed restrictions my entire adult life? I have never seen it open at its full speed potential. What’s that all about? And don’t get me started on so called “Smart Motorways”.
Anyway we are in our room all comfortable contemplating dinner. For the moment it’s a coffee for me and an English breakfast tea for the wife.
If there was a biography about you, what would the title be?
Mañana man
Procrastination, thats me to a tee, or should i really say it used to be. I don’t know, ill tell you what, ask me tomorrow.
That’s me that is 👆
I used to always work in the future, always putting off until tomorrow something that could be done today. Even my bosses knew that i could be relied on to do a job, they just didn’t know when though.
They tried getting me to do daily to do lists, this worked for a while until i turned them into daily tomorrow lists. They gave up in the end and just subtracted 24 hrs off my weekly schedule to make it look like i was being productive on a daily basis. It made them feel as if they’d achieved something. Losers.
It’s probably why i loved visiting our friends in Cyprus so much. The procrastination levels there are through the roof and i thought i fitted in well. My mate would tell me he had a Plumber coming Wednesday, however the key thing he omitted to find out was just on what Wednesday they would be arriving! The levels of procrastination were skill level 2000, these guys were ultra professional.
Over time i have gotten better, but do you know what? It’s never really caused any issues and on many occasions my putting off doing things has fitted in extremely well when there have been changes made to plans along the way…I hadn’t wasted any time, unlike others.
And as for my wife and her numerous 6 monthly reminders..
Ill do it tomorrow
I always tell her it will be done tomorrow. And we all know that never comes.
Foxes Den 
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