I think as a reward for surviving the camper van Steph booked us into a castle in the Swiss tourist hub of lucerne - sitting like something out of a Disney movie above the old town (really old) with it's roofed bridges and numerous churches around the lake was Chateau Gutsch with its insane furnishings and view and well stocked bar and restaurant, a lovey way to relax after some hard days in the back of the Berlingo.
After camping at Skogafoss for the night, we headed off pretty early back along the south coast to Geysir. Having never been to the North Island of New Zealand, this was a new experience for me (Steph). The smell of the sulphur was nowhere near as bad as I had imagined (I hardly noticed it), and the periodically spouting hot spring was very cool! It was really strange to see little streams of almost boiling water running through the rocks and it was very difficult to resist wanting to touch it.
Aren't they just so handsome?! These guys were so inquisitive. When we approached the fence from the side of the road, they were on the other side of the paddock but once they spotted us, much to my delight, they came galloping towards us with their very silly fringes and a convoy of flies...
Close to Geysir was the very popular Gullfoss. This waterfall, derived from the Hvítá river which comes from the lake of the Lángjökull glacier, gushes towards a 32m large crevice that creates a lot of spray and is moderately terrifying!
In need of a good soak, we visited Fontana Springs and spent a couple of hours enjoying the geothermal mineral springs (averaging 28-36 degrees), as well as their sauna and steam rooms. Divine!
Photo credit: Grayline Tours
After far too much driving, we finally decided to pull in off the road along a little path that looked like it would offer us a place to stay for the night. A little spinning of the tyres up a small hill later we arrived at a stunning little spot by a lake. Both pretty tired and grumpy, we boiled some water and, yet again, had instant noodles for dinner alongside a bottle of red. We were much more in awe of our sleeping spot the next morning! The colours in the volcanic earth were stunning.
Apparently the most photographed spot in Iceland. The weather was pretty drizzly and grey whilst we were there and we didn't have the time to stick around for better light. To be honest, we were a little underwhelmed after seeing some of Iceland's other natural wonders!
One of the unexpected treasurers we ran into while on the peninsula, a 100 odd metre high extinct volcano chimney. Winding up the side, the stairs made of slightly rusty iron, stood out starkly against the slate grey and black of the lava rocks covering the small mountain. The rocks themselves were unbelievably light and melted into crazy shapes with odd angles that screwed with your eyes. The centre was a verdant little oasis of moss, grass and little birds and from the rim we had a stunning view of the surrounding lava plains.
Onward we went across the lava plains towards the western most point of iceland. The peninsula itself is volcanically active and exists because of the large glacier bound volcano that hulks above the entire place, which lends a fairly ominous glory to everything you look at. It was most cloud topped while we were there but it still dominated much of the viewing along the coast. The volcanism creates amazing colours and landscapes we're rocks have crumbed and various elements like iron and copper add crazy palates to the already surreal valleys and hills.
Beware of trolls and elves they lurk in Icelandic caves or so we were reliably told. The cave itself is 15 minutes down one of the more dodgy unsealed roads you'll come across up to what can charitably be described as a school portable building. However, once you leave those salubrious surrounds and head out onto another stark lava plain, you quickly discover one of the crazier outcomes of lava flows. Once the lava hits the air the top forms a crust, kind of like a creme brûlée, and the hot lava flows underneath. Sometimes when it hits a harder rock, it will begin to tunnel (melt away the stuff in its way) underground, forming giant worm like tunnels. "The Cave" is one such, a couple of kilometres of lava tunnels with crazy walls that looked like they were covered in ice magic and rocks in all sorts of crazy reds and blues.
We returned to Þingvellir National Park to get a view of the Silfra, the point where the American and European continents are slowly pulling apart. The area is full of canyons and small lakes filled with the clearest water you can imagine.
One of the many oddities of Iceland the Blue Lagoon. Made of industrial run off from the creation of electricity from underground hot springs, these lagoons of iridescent blue and white create a totally alien looking landscape. Around 30 years ago some guy looking to cure a skin condition started swimming in it (must have been a really bad condition) and discovered apparent healing properties. Like everything else in Iceland it doesn't have anything around it, sitting alone 30ks from anything but full of tour buses and people. Truely a fascinating addition to the glorious weirdness of Iceland.
Iceland, we finally meet! After a short flight from Glasgow to Reykjavic, we arrived at Keflavik airport to begin our adventure in a campervan. Anyone who knows us will be aware that it's really not our chosen style of travelling, but nonetheless we gave it a shot.
We met our ride, a Citroën Berlingo, at the Snail Campervan Hire base not far from the center of Reykjavic. At the sight of our 'micro' home for the next week, David was quite fearful and unsure about whether we'd both make it back. They kitted us up with camp chairs, cutlery, a portable stove, pots and pans and curtains for the windows as it doesn't really get dark in Iceland during summer and, after a thirty second test run of driving a left hand manual car in their driveway, we were off... on the wrong side of the road (most of the time!).
We decided to stay the first night not far out of town at Þingvellir National Park. The park sits in a rift valley caused by the separation of 2 tectonic plates, so there are large crevices throughout.
From Þingvellir National Park we headed south along the coast and stopped by Seljalandsfoss. You can walk behind this waterfall into a shallow cave, but you do get very wet! We had hoped to see it in better weather conditions, but it was still pretty epic.
Next stop was Skógafoss, one of the largest waterfalls in Iceland, with a fall of 60m and a width of 15m. This one was ridiculously strong as you can see from the amount of spray it produces. We had the ability to walk up and view the waterfall from above, so after we huffed and puffed our way up the stairs we were welcomed by a gorgeous view beyond. Not only that but we were also welcomed by many sheep, of which there are plenty in Iceland. You have to be careful when driving as they are commonly just grazing in the gutter beside the road when they decide that they'll cross without warning! After our descent we stopped for some lunch and a Mori, a delicious Icelandic red ale.
Just past Skógafoss was Sólheimajökull Glacier. This relatively accessible glacier had a wonderful otherworldly landscape full of ridges and lines of ash in the ice, revealing the many eruptions Iceland has experienced over time.
This one was definitely on my list of things to see but we managed to stumble upon it by accident. From the road we saw a full carpark but couldn't quite work out what for, so we stopped to check it out. We could see a longish path leading to what looked to be a beach and decided to have a quick wander up before heading on. Six kilometers and an hour and fifteen minutes walking along a rocky, dusty, lifeless landscape we could see something white and glistening; maybe it's the ice beach, we thought. As we continued walking, and after we had considered turning around for the tenth time, we could see it was the plane. It was a really surreal sight and totally worth the very long and boring walk!
In 1973 a United States Navy DC plane ran out of fuel and crashed on the black beach of Solheimasandur (nobody was killed).
I'm so glad we made it here, and although I'd hoped for a bit of sun, I'm really glad we had a dark, ominous sky to really emphasise the moody grandeur of this canyon. The scale of this place and colour of the water is hard to reproduce in photographs, but it was amazing. Definitely a favourite for both of us.
Part two with drone footage to come...
During our drive towards our first stop in Spean Bridge, we experienced several bouts of pouring rain and glorious sunny skies; something we really needed to get used to. Unfortunately the worst of the rain hit whilst we were driving through Glencoe (a place we really wanted to stop) so we headed on to Fort William and arrived in Spean Bridge by early evening. We were warmly welcomed by our Airbnb host Margaret and her dog Colonel Mackie and settled in for the night with a typical Dave & Steph meal: chorizo, cheddar, stilton and a bottle of red.
Everything was so lush and green...and dense! There were magnificent mountains at every turn and we were beginning to wonder whether Iceland (our next stop) would be able to beat this scenery.
The following day we headed toward Uig, Skye, where we were to base ourselves for the next couple of nights. We stopped by Eilean Donan Castle, managed to get some photos between the rain and stopped for lunch in Sligachan.
We weren't due at our Airbnb until the evening so we decided to see The Old Man of Stoor up in the north. It was quite a hike to get up there and, as it commonly is, was hidden under cloud but it was still quite majestic and the view from the climb was well worth it.
After Stoor we headed back to Portree, the main hub of Skye for dinner. We stopped at an Indian restaurant where, for no reason we could discern, all of the male staff had it in for David. The meal was still enjoyable, though it really didn't stand up to Machan in Eltham.
Our Airbnb host, David, suggested we see the Faerie Glen the following morning, so we headed out there first thing to beat the crowds of people. Most of the roads to get to these places were quite narrow and precarious. We both adored this place!
From Faerie Glen we headed onto the Quiraing which was absolutely mind blowing! The wet weather again descended on us, but we were spared a few moments of magical light.
On our way back to Uig, we stopped by the ruins of Duntulm Castle which were situated in a really pretty spot. You can see the ruins in the drone footage, but I was more interested in the lovely views.
We drove on from Durnham castle towards the Fairy Pools, but on the way it looked more like a drive into darkness - the Black Cullin are well named, dark and ominous looming over the part of Skye we were entering. As we arrived, and as with so much of Skye, we were blown away by the depth and scale of the place, the valley containing the Fairy Pools is framed by the first mountains of the Cullin with sharp faces of broken rock and sheer cliffs. However as breathtaking as the mountains were, as we walked (scrambled) our way down to the river that contains the pools, your eyes were pulled from the mountains and to the luminous colour of the waters flowing down through the pools, deep greens, almost technicolour blues Steph couldn't stop taking photos of - as you can see below!
After driving 444 miles (715km) from London to Glasgow via Keswick, we are finally reunited to begin our honeymoon! We had a delicious dinner at Ubiquitous Chip in West End Glasgow, Dave says I was more engrossed in my bowl of mussels than I was in him...or the wine - they were seriously good!
We stayed at an Airbnb in the West End which was actually a room in the back of a massage studio. We weren't really sure what to expect but were pleasantly surprised with a huge, delightfully decked out room with high ceilings (we didn't think they existed here!).
Despite never hearing anything good about visiting Glasgow, we found it to be pretty neat! We spent the morning exploring the botanic gardens, home to The Glasshouse and then wandered around Glasgow University and the Huntarian Museum before jumping in the car and heading toward Skye.
I Spent most of the day driving from London towards the Lake District. Unfortunately, I went to the wrong Hertz to pick up my rental car, but they were so kind and chauffeured me in the back of a brand new Mercedes to the correct one in Marble Arch - thank goodness because I don't pack light. I had a lot of rain on my way up, which isn't uncommon, but a touch unnerving on their motorways with other cars flying past at an average of 80-90 miles.
Got to Cockermouth, which is on the edge of the Bassenthwaite Lake, in the late afternoon and took myself for a good walk. I ended up driving into Keswick, a beautiful little town full of cobblestone paths and hanging flower baskets then spent the evening wandering about taking photos. The fact that it stays light until almost 10pm caught me out and I missed the end of kitchen service at most of the pubs so ended up with a Tesco salad and a tiny bottle of wine for one back at the hotel.
With the idea of being able to catch the sunrise over the lake at Keswick, I got up at 4.30am and headed out there to set up. Much to my disappointment, the sky decided to cloud over and I only got a hint of sun through the clouds. A little bummed, I decided to drive around and see what else I could find. This is where I stumbled upon Honister Pass and the slate mine. I did get caught in some strong wind and horizontal rain, but I also managed to capture some great views. With my jeans and shoes absolutely soaked, I decided that I really did need a pair of waterproof boots!
Made it back to the hotel in time for a hot breakfast. The Brits seriously know how to do bacon!
Met up with Kristie who has been living in London for the last year during her lunch break in Holborn. After lunch and lots of catching up she offered to show me through her office. Sure, I thought, why not? Little did I know she works in the most awesome office space I've seen, Atlantic Swiss at High Holborn House, decked out by the director James Gallimore. Seriously cool.
It was great to finally see some of Crewdson's work in the flesh. "Cathedral of the Pines (2013–14) was made during three productions in and around the rural town of Becket, Massachusetts. In images that recall nineteenth-century American and European paintings, Crewdson photographed figures in the surrounding forests, including the actual trail from which the series takes its title. Interior scenes charged with ambiguous narratives probe tensions between art, life, connection and separation, intimacy and isolation.
English summer - it looks cold and wet but it's 18 degrees and the humidity is at 94% which is a rather strange feeling; not hot, not cold, kind of sticky and just altogether weird.
My abode for the next few days in pretty Notting Hill. My room has the most darling english windowsill and squirrels in the trees in the yard below.
Had breakfast at Farm Girl Cafe in Portobello. Not sure I could have chosen anywhere more Melbourne! Seriously yummy baked eggs were had. Oh...and the cake window was just wow.
They seem to have a thing for pink doorways around here.
