Snaefellsnes and Grundarfjordur

Left Hotel Laxnes today and drove 160 kms to Grundarfjordur on the Snaefellsnes peninsula. 

Stunning scenery along the way and some challenging driving conditions.

 Made it safe and sound to The Hotel Framnes www.hotelframnes.is just in time for the Liverpool vs Swansea game. How lucky was that?

Exceptionally happy with our hotel room - especially the view. 

Today I learned some more things:

1. In Icelandic the days of the week and months of the year do not start with a capital letter.

2. A heated front seat in a car is a wonderous thing, especially when it's -8 outside

Alafoss, Reykjavik and birthday no. 1 (0r 51 to be precise)

 28.11.15

Today we celebrated hubby's birthday with a bracing walk into the town of Alafoss. This town was used as a site for a British army camp after we invaded Iceland in 1940. We did this to stop Germany invading them first! It was all about protecting the Atlantic shipping lanes. Britain couldn't maintain the invasion force as our troops were needed on the front lines so the US took over the invasion on our behalf, and bizarrely, at Icelands invitation. 

After our walk we got the bus into Reykjavik. I didn't take any photos there. To be honest I was a little disappointed. There were a lot of very touristy shops which all sold hats, jumpers and socks, of varying quality, all made from Icelandic wool. It felt a bit like being in a very large Edinburgh Woollen Mill shop back home! 

By the way - we found Sven the reindeer from Frozen - oops!

2 weeks and 2 birthdays in Iceland - are we mad?

26.11.15
We arrived in Iceland after an uneventful flight from Manchester with Easyjet.

Picked up our 4x4, complete with snow tyres, from Thrifty only to be asked by the lad on the desk
 "Are you mad - 2 weeks in Iceland, in winter- why?" I wasn't sure how to answer him really but hopefully, after I've shared our adventures in Iceland with you, you'll understand why.

After picking up our car we found our way to the main road in Iceland, called The One, and easily found our way to the Hotel Laxnes (it helps that it is opposite the biggest KFC I have ever seen in my life).

We are in the Hotel Laxnes for 3 nights. It is warm, the staff are friendly and helpful, the beds are comfy, and you can make your own waffles at breakfast! www.hotellaxnes.is

27.11.15
The Golden Triangle

After a leisurely breakfast of coffee and waffles we waited until the sun came up (at 10.30am) before we set off on our drive.
The Golden Triangle takes in the key sights of Thingvellir, Geysir and Gullfoss.

Thingvellir is a National Park and has breathtaking scenery

Geysir is - well - it's one big Geysir really and lots of little ones that just seem to belch and hiccup

Gullfoss (Foss is waterfall in Icelandic) is staggeringly beautiful. Apparently it part freezes in Winter. It was -14 today but that's not cold enough (!)

We were out for about 6 hours. Hubby did all the driving and I did all the navigating. Both were quite challenging at times. Lots of concentration needed for the snowy conditions and icy roads, difficult to know where you are when all the road signs are covered in snow. We survived though and we've learned a few things:

• Always take a coat out with you - somehow we forgot to today. Let's just say we won't be doing that again! We had waterproofs but they were pretty inadequate.
• Anti freeze in windscreen washer bottles doesn't work in -14 degrees. Carry bottles of water for cleaning windscreens.
• The boot of the car is perfect for storing leftover pizza (in the box) when you don't have a fridge in your room.
• 6" of snow is only classed as "light snow" - hate to think what "heavy snow" looks like.
• Sightseeing from the warmth of your car works just fine.

Tomorrow we're walking around the local town and then catching a bus into Reykjavik.