Mar 14: Iceland Day 8

Saturday 8 March

Our flight back was not until 4.15 pm so we had the morning to do a leisurely pack and a last walk round and about.

So we packed our bags, left them at reception and announced that we were going for a walk.  The staff just looked at us and said that we'd be back in 5 minutes!

Outside it was a bitterly cold wind so we decided to walk down past the harbour to look for a cafe somewhere towards the town centre (hardly any distance!)    But first we went to say goodbye to the Giantess...

There was absolutely no one about, the waves were crashing and it was blowing a gale so we decided to go back and watch it all from inside the hotel with a piece of cake and a cup of hot chocolate.  Good decision!

By the time we were ready for the airport it was snowing again and the wind was blowing it nearly vertical!  We said that it was a good day to leave and we were congratulating ourselves on a (virtually - apart from Blue Lagoon) stress-free and smooth holiday.  That would teach us to be smug...

As we walked to the departure lounge we remarked upon the weather outside saying that it was probably not a bad day in Icelandic terms for planes, runways etc - but that if it was the UK everything would probably have shut down by now.

So - our plane arrived - tried to land a couple of times - then went back to Manchester!!

Ho hum...

They then changed crew and came back and we finally took off at nearly midnight.  Very annoying - especially as all the other flights had managed to land but we gave us chance to try more of the airport food with the very generous (not!) vouchers we were given.


So we eventually home at about 3 am, about 8 hours late, and then had to pay further charges in the car park.

But it was still a good holiday - it was...

March 14: Iceland Day 7

A relaxing day at the Blue Lagoon after the long day yesterday...

You can tell that Mike was impressed with the pampering!

But he applied his face mask!

There was also some other mud/algae type treatment that you got in small frozen balls. The idea was that you held them in the water for a few seconds to soften them then you applied the goo to your neck and chest.  

This was the queue for the bar!

As we were getting drinks at the same time the woman put the two balls in another plastic wine glass.

I carefully waded over to the side of the lagoon and put the glass down on the edge of the platform (I was also carrying a glass of wine and my camera - all above the water).  The glass promptly blew over in the wind and shot the balls into the lagoon. I could feel them with my feet and managed to pick one of them up before it melted.  There was no way that I was putting my face into that water!  I didn't get the other one - much to Mike's relief!

I then put the one I'd saved carefully behind some rocks - and when I looked again moments later that had disappeared again so it must have blown off somewhere.  I was destined not to try that treatment...

The meal was lovely and it was ok to eat with the bath robes on...

Nice to experience although we found it all quite stressful really so the objective was not achieved!  But the food was delicious.

And even though it was expensive it's one of those things you have to try.  But next time we will use the local baths...

March 14: Iceland Day 6

Thursday 6 March 

Another early start and a beautiful morning with a little more snow.

And another drive into Reykjavik for the South Coast tour - an 11 hour trip of waterfalls, a hike on a glacier and a walk on a black sand coast!

Volcanic landscape with snow

View from the back of our bus

Waterfall

The spray from the waterfall immediately turned to ice so when you went closer it was like being sand blasted with hail stones - not a place to linger!

There were some amazing icicles and ice patterns on the rocks and plants nearby.

On the glacier

In the hour that we were on the glacier the weather changed from snow to sleet to grey to bit of sunshine and back again - all within minutes.

We had a health and safety talk from our guide.  As the snow was fresh we had to be careful that we only stepped in his footsteps and didn't go anywhere else as we couldn't see the previous tracks and there may have been cracks in the ice.

Some of the others from our group with another guide in the distance and our group following our guide very carefully and being helped over a small crevasse.

 

As we had all been kitted out with crampons and ice picks we felt very brave and intrepid!

We only used the ice picks for knocking the snow off our boots but it still felt very adventurous.

Our guide found one of the cracks in the glacier - it can be several hundred metres deep! He used his stick to show us.

Black beach

An absolutely freezing cold and very windy black beach!

 But some interesting basalt columns...

More waterfalls...

There were several waterfalls here - all very spectacular but not as big as some of the others we had seen.

You could walk behind the larger one here but it was a climb up wet and snowy rocks to get there so we didn't bother.

 

 

 Very cold, very wet but very spectacular.