In case you haven’t read Part 1 of this post, it is here. If you have, read on!
On my latest trip, I finally had a go at the North West Circuit. This involved a fast water taxi ride from Golden Bay, just south of Oban on Paterson Inlet, westward…
THE Vikings had a constant sense of foreboding, whereby the violent tendencies of their society might destroy the world. The only thing that prevented this from happening was the limited power of their weapons, which — so far — only consisted of things like swords and shields. But the gods…
AS I recall, I had been driving for almost eight days now, stopping off here and there and staying wherever I pleased. I thought that I could have quite easily spent three weeks in Iceland just sightseeing and hiking. …
A STRANGE and goggle-eyed dwarf named Andvari, which means the wary (vari) or watchful one, lived under a waterfall, where he guarded a soggy hoard of gold. Andvari had the power to turn himself into a pike, a fast, predatory fish, at will, and this is how he subsisted for…
AFTER Djúpivogur, the roads formed something of a network. But there were basically two main options for getting to Egilsstaðir; one that went inland, and another that hugged the rugged coastline. The beaches below were covered in ink-black sand bordered by high rocky cliffs. I felt I had seen enough…
THE sagas are great epic poems that tell the history of Viking communities in ways that vary from the factual to the fanciful. The word saga means ‘saying’, in the sense of oral history. They’re written down now, of course, and indeed they have been since the Middle Ages. They…
MY first stop was a deviation off my route. A short twenty-minute drive to the south of Reykjavík were the Blue Lagoon hot pools. The Blue Lagoon pools are considered by some to be one of the 25 top wonders of the world, though they are not a natural wonder…
THE VIKINGS were probably the most notorious folk to have inhabited the Scandinavian realm. The word conjures up images of warriors sailing forth to wreak havoc on the world. There is a lot that remains from that time: I’ve seen old Viking longboats in museums across Scandinavia.
As I’ve mentioned…
I HAD not really been keen on the idea of hiring a car to drive myself around Iceland, but it seemed that was going to be my only option. There were no train or bus services that went to the area I most wanted to visit: the Icelandic East Coast…
IF you catch a plane to Iceland, the airport at which you will most likely arrive is Keflavík International Airport, on the Reykjanes Peninsula near the capital city of Reykjavík. This is the airport that I arrived at in Chapter One. Three other airports, Reykjavík, Akureyri and Egilsstaðir also take…
A Maverick Traveller: Kiwi adventurer, author of twelve books of travel stories, a blog, and a website (a-maverick.com).
