In the last installment of the A-Z of Iceland, I talked about Iceland’s conversion to Christianity at the Alþing in 1000AD (a year that requires the AD because “in 1000” looks stupid). But I wasn’t very clear about what the Alþing actually is. In Icelandic, a Þing (or Thing, if you prefer the Latin alphabet)… More The A-Z of Iceland: Parliament
In today’s A-Z of Iceland, we’re off to the spa. F is for Fontana. Considering its position on the edge of the Golden Circle and the fact that it’s used by tour companies on their “Northern Lights and…” nights and also the fact that it’s amazing, Laugarvatn Fontana is surprisingly little-known. It’s the smallest of… More The A-Z of Iceland: F for Fontana
You may have seen the imminent Katla eruption in the news lately, a huge & deadly volcano about to blow Iceland – and European air travel – to kingdom come. Or is it? Well, we don’t really know. As a species, we still don’t know much about volcanoes and we certainly can’t predict with any… More Is Katla about to erupt?
Since I’m walking the Laugavegur trail in July, it’s time to talk about the time I sampled it. In the summer of 2012 I did a day trip to Landmannalaugar. Just long enough to visit the hot spring and then run across the floodplain to see what else this little oasis had to offer. I… More Walking the Grænagil-Laugavegur loop
I’ve climbed a few mountains in my time. Small ones, easy ones, sometimes only halfway up and always slowly. Sir Edmund Hillary I am not. Climbing Laki was entirely unlike any mountain I’ve ever climbed before. Laki is a volcano. That’s not what makes it unusual. Actually, it’s not “a volcano” in the traditional sense.… More The day I climbed Iceland’s deadliest volcano
Ice-climbing is the most physically demanding thing I’ve ever done. Harder even than extracting myself from the semi-vertical dog-leg squeeze I got wedged in at the bottom of Lionel’s Hole in the Mendips a few years ago. I was in Iceland, I was in Reykjavik and the bit of ice I was going to climb… More Ice-climbing: harder than it looks
At eight o’clock in the morning, having packed up my tent and hauled it across the campsite, I was on a bus. By one o’clock, with an hour’s detour to walk up a canyon formed in Iceland’s most productive eruption in history, I was at Landmannalaugar, an oasis and campsite in the Highlands. The plan… More Landmannalaugar circular walk
I wanted to do this as a video but I just can’t talk to a camera. I pressed the button and sat and stared at it and pulled faces and couldn’t speak. I’m a writer, not a talker, so I’m writing it instead. Let me add that I am in no way qualified to discuss whether… More What is Katla doing and should I be worried?
Camping is great but sometimes a hipster apartment in Hveragerði is better. During the latter half of my trip to Iceland this summer, I found myself homeless. I’d been in a tent for two nights – the campsite at Selfoss is great, with a duckpond and free hot pots (although I didn’t find that out… More The hipster apartment in Hveragerði