Day 4, more snow, a view to remember and a sudden realisation of how far you’d come for a weekend.

Day 4, more snow, a view to remember and a sudden realisation of how far you’d come for a weekend.

I showered hurriedly so that I could get one more bus ride and one more walk around town in before I had to face the inevitable and start the journey home. I looked out the window, it was snowing again/still and it was still dark. Even though I knew that there would be limited daylight at this time of year before I booked the trip it didn't really hit home until you actually experience having a coffee and croissant at midday only to look outside and see the street lights still on, novel but I think it’d take some getting used to !

 I walked back from town along the footpath by the bay that I had discovered the first night, the sun was now properly up and the snow had stopped, I was glad, it was now a clear day and the scarce daylight had lit up the mountains across the water, the view was nothing short of mesmerising, I was truly thankful to Reykjavik for this parting gift.

 It wasn't long before I was packed and on the bus back to Keflavik airport, the Gaslight Anthem played in my ears as I thought about how a weekend can seem to last so long but go so quickly at the same time, I didn't feel the burning of regret that you get when you leave a place you may never come back to and you’re worried you may have missed something you will only ever see there, quite the opposite, I felt I had fitted a lot of things in, I found Reykjavik to be both manageable and not in the slightest daunting, it is easy to navigate and everything I want to do or see was within easy reach and I genuinely felt I’d learned a lot about Iceland, it’s history and it’s culture.

 I found the people that I met to be exceptionally friendly, they all spoke better English than I do but I guess they’d have to, who the hell speaks Icelandic apart from the 300,000 people that live there ? I loved the balance of respect and recognition of the history and origins of the country and it’s traditions and the youth and eagerness of the city. It’s not fair to call Reykjavik a modern city, it’s up to date but it’s not modern, it isn't bristling with technology nor does it have some of the amenities of other capital cities but it has character in spades, I like that and when you remind yourself of the location of the place, it’s not doing badly !

So, I came to see the northern lights. Mission accomplished. What else did I find ? Well I've now visited the world’s northern most capital city for starters, I've been told stories of trolls by people who actually believe them, I've showered naked with some locals, I've been called a Viking, I've been to the “coolest bar in the world” and eaten “the best hotdog outside of New York”, I've taken in amazing views of mountains, I've seen more than my share of snow, I now regard the bus drivers of Reykjavik as absolute heroes as their driving skills easily match that of Juha Kankkunen or  Pentti Airikkala, I've learned that Reykjavik has no trains, nor a Starbucks which is good, nor a McDonalds which is even better and that Iceland itself doesn't have an army, it’s an intriguing and quirky place with an anecdote to every brick, window or door  but most of all I've learned that I like Reykjavik, I really like it.

 If I had to sum Reykjavik up I would say that it is in my opinion the coolest city I have been to with a healthy side order of “what the fuck ?”.

As I settled on the purple plane I chuckled to myself, a total of 2000 miles travelled for a weekend away on my own. 

Day 3. A church, Bill Clinton, getting naked and being a Viking.

Day 3. A church, Bill Clinton, getting naked and being a Viking.

I felt a little worse for wear this morning, nothing that the world's greatest shower couldn't fix. I was soon dressed and waiting at the bus stop for the faithful number 12 to take me into town, I was heading for a decent coffee and then for Hallgrímskirkja a massive and fairly modern church in the centre of town that provides pretty much the only elevated vantage point over the city.

The coffee made me smile and banished the last remnants of the hangover, it was served to me in a small cafe right in the heart of the shopping district, I had asked for a large coffee and what I got was a small cup, a small jug of milk and a thermos flask of black coffee, it was a great idea, I drank and Lou Reed provided the soundtrack.

Onwards to the church, I'm not a religious man but I do appreciate a good church. This one was fairly large but in keeping with the population unlike the French, the Icelandics seem to proportion things, modern looking design with impressive high ceilings, more impressive is the lift to the top, it costs 600isk or about 3 quid and you can spend as long up there as you like and if you're anything like me, that was quite a while.

 Pretty much any photo of Reykjavik you will see on Google is taken from this church so in spending a while taking photos and admiring the view I wasn't breaking any new ground but it definitely a needed to be done.

On the walk back down the hill from the church I spotted a shop that really interested me and I don't say things like that often. It was a small shop with a window lined with vintage 35mm cameras and some quirky photos, the whole shop was filled with the work of the owner, an accomplished photographer who used only real film and shot only the interesting and slightly out of the ordinary, we spoke for a while and talked of retro cameras before I settled in the photo I would buy......the main street running up to the church, the church in the background, cars lining the road and the traffic being held up by......an astronaut..... all captured in a great vintage hue, I love it.

As I mentioned before Iceland loves to name drop and this time it was over lunch.....the place I was  heading for was called Baejarins Beztu Pylsur  and boasts that it sells the best hot dogs outside of New York, this time the claim is endorsed by former US president Bill Clinton and rock musician James Hetfield from the band Metallica.

 The hot dogs are good but I've never been to New York so I can't really add my stamp to any endorsement but there are good. I had two, they cost about 2.50 each and come best served with "everything" this comprises of a bed of raw onion, some crispy fried onions and a coating of both mustard mayo and their own bbq sweet sauce. Until I tasted one of the beer steamed hotdogs I couldn't see why this place was so highly rated nor why it is such a Mecca for locals, it's a tiny cabin next to a car park but it really is worth the visit, James and Bill know their stuff.

After lunch was over it was time for an afternoon of relaxation, I ignored the lure of the blue lagoon, a surprisingly man made thermal spa that every tourist seems to visit when in Iceland but instead opted for the local baths, the closest being at laugardalslaug, a 5 minute walk from the hotel as opposed to the hour drive to the blue lagoon. It costs around 4 pounds to get into the baths and an extra couple of quid to hire a towel or a robe or if you didn't bother to pack swimming trunks when heading to Iceland then you can hire them too. I think the sole reason more tourists, especially Brits don't use these baths is that you have to have a shower before you go in.....naked....with all the other naked people that want to go in.....and a guard to make sure you are naked and that you are washing properly.....I wasn't fussed so I showered, put my trunks on, winked at the guard and headed in, I swam for a while in the outdoor pool before heading for the steam room then back outside to sit in a big "hot pot" one of the geothermal tubs that is regulated to 42 degrees centigrade, it was amazing, especially as the air temperature was minus 4 ! There wasn't an English accent to be heard and all the local seemed very friendly if a little surprised to find out I wasn't one of them ! One old lady said that she had never seen a tourist in there and she thought I was local because, as she looked me up and down, I was "made like a Viking". I took that as a compliment.

 Tonight I decided to eat at a place called the Road house just up from the Hlemmur bus station....so another ride on number 12....Road house is very much the American grill, it's wooden floor, red leather booths, country rock soundtrack and collection of clichéd memorabilia all added to the Americana kitsch. Why go to an American bar in Reykjavik ? Well because the U.S has had a massive impact on Iceland and has in some ways become very much part of the culture, The U.S army held a large presence in Iceland from the end of world war two right up until the day they left in 2006, evidence still remains, style, cars and of course bars. Reykjavik is a young city on the scale of things so despite the rich history Iceland has as a nation the city itself only really has modern history and most of that has been heavily influenced by the U.S so an American grill in Reykjavik could really just be considered an Icelandic grill. The menu was filled with burgers, pulled pork, deep fried everything and a dazzling array of ribs. I opted for a double stack burger with Kentucky bbq sauce topped with mac and cheese with smoked bacon served with a side of truly amazing twice-fried fries, washed down with a couple of really good draught beers.....healthy, no. Delicious, absolutely ! Highly recommended.

When I was able to walk again I wandered the town and stopped in to see Toffi for a beer. This was my last evening in Reykjavik and it had come around far too quickly so this seemed like a good a place as any to see it out.

Hotel bound and content.

Day 2. Buses, boats, old stuff, lights and common people.

Day 2. Buses, boats, old stuff, lights and common people.

I wasn't up as early as I would have liked but it was still dark. I showered in the best shower ever and dressed for the cold, it was forecast to be around minus 5 in the city today with lots of snow, apparently it hasn't snowed this much in ten years ! In the hotel reception I armed myself with a local map and a "welcome to Reykjavik" card for 2200isk or about a tenner, this card allows unlimited access to the bus network that includes a London underground style map that is really easy to navigate and free entry to all the major museums and galleries, worth the money all day long and if you ever visit Reykjavik I would urge you to buy one.

I walked into town along the footpath that leads around the harbour offering amazing views across to Videy island and the mountains beyond. The town, I keep calling it a town but it is a city albeit a small one around the size of Exeter, has lots of nice shops, cafes, bars and eating establishments, shoppers and coffee drinkers amongst you would be more than happy, remember though that Iceland is almost a cashless society and cards are king, don't be afraid to spend 500isk on your card it's not an issue.

My first stop of the day was the national museum less than a kilometre out of the centre and the other side of a now frozen lake which was safe to walk on bar the bit the council had broken for the many birds including geese and swans that gathered there to be fed by tourists. A couple of hours of pondering the various exhibits in the museum found me a little hungry, so I headed back into the middle of town to find some food. I found a popular looking bar along the main street called Lebowski's, not only named after but completely styled upon the Cohen brother's cult film The Big Lebowski. The food was good and reasonably priced, the service very friendly and in perfect English.

 After I finished lunch I headed down to the harbour area, still a working fishing port and dry dock this is where all the cod and Pollock are landed and processed, it is also the home of the coastguard vessels that engaged with British fishing and naval vessels during the "cod wars" in the 1970's when Iceland expanded its fishing territories from 5 miles to 200 miles causing uproar, the conflicts were brief but saw boats rammed and fishing nets cut in a bitter row that is still talked about frequently today. The main reason for the visit to the harbour was to visit the maritime museum, small but we'll worth the visit. It was soon time to catch the number 6 bus back to Hlemmur and then the number 12 back to the hotel, less than 24 hours and I was travelling like a local !

The temperature was slightly colder than the day before and I knew the North-westerly wind persisted so wind chill would be a massive factor again tonight so I decided to give mother nature both barrels tonight and wear virtually everything I had brought with me. A thermal base layer, two pairs of socks, two pairs of trousers, a t-shirt, a micro fleece, my parka, two pairs of gloves and two hats should do the trick especially if as the local guide said the wind chill would bring the temperature down to a "real feel" minus 20. I wasn't getting dressed up like this to go out for an evening meal, no, it was time to go searching for the lights again. I left at 8pm and after an hours drive found myself in the middle of nowhere again, in the dark hoping that a troll wasn't about to come and prove its existence !

3 hours went by before anything happened, the sky was much clearer than last night and there is was. A green glow dancing across the sky, it wasn't the strongest of displays and faded after about 10 minutes, I was disappointed to say the least. Another hour of cold and the lights came back with a vengeance, more green, a lot brighter and a lot bigger, this is what I had come to see. I know that I don't have the ability to describe such a phenomenon in words so as ever I thought I would let my camera do the talking.

There was a problem. My camera was refusing to work in the cold, I almost don't blame it. The last hope was my phone, a good camera in itself but unfortunately not able to cope with the dark. A four hour drive, 3 hour flight, another 4 hours of travel and a total nearly 9 hours exposed to some seriously cold weather and I could take a photo of the thing I'd come here to see, frustrating to say the least but worth it ? You bet your life it was.

I stayed and watched for another hour until the display faded and the clouds rolled in, time to head back to Reykjavik and celebrate, after all it would only be 3am by the time I got there.

Reykjavik is famed for its night-life and is home to "the coolest bar in the world" or so it is claimed. As a fledgling city Reykjavik loves to name drop and when it comes to bars there is no exception, this bar in particular, Kaffinbarin, is owned by Daman Albarn of the band Blur, he apparently came here and loved it so much he bought the bar. My opinion is that it is small (but most bars here seem to be) pretentious, needlessly expensive and not all that friendly, I would actually go as far to say that it was the least "cool" of all the bars I visited but what would I know. 

Dillon's whiskey bar is worth a visit, the owner Toffi is very friendly, Lebowski's was rammed but great fun and Bravo was an absolute beauty of a bar, again quite small but amazingly friendly, within a few minutes of ordering a beer I had been invited to join in a drinking game with a group of Icelandic girls and guy from the U.S. It was basically a drinking relay race with the baton being passed after you manage to bounce your plastic cup upright and the first team to finish watches the other one do a shot ! The DJ did his thing in the corner supplying bright but inoffensive songs to this point but he obviously felt the need to turn the clock back.....common people by Pulp. A great tune that reminded me of being at school, so there I was, in Reykjavik, drunk at 5.45 am dancing with common people to common people.

All that was left was the walk home.

9th of January Reykjavik via London Gatwick and Keflavic.

 9th of January Reykjavik via London Gatwick and Keflavic.

I was torn, I needed to be at Gatwick by 8am Friday and it is a 4 hour drive from home, do I get home from work at 11 Thursday night, go to bed, get up 4 hours later and drive to Gatwick with the potential of ending up on the M25 at around 7am.....or....do I drive straight up after work and get some sleep in the terminal but giving myself not only plenty of time but also a traffic free journey ?

 I finally made the decision to drive up after work, as it turns out it was the right choice, heavy rain and the M3 being shut would have hampered the journey to almost flight missing proportions. I arrived at the long stay parking with a full 4 hours in which to get my head down, remarkably easy in the Navara, a great truck that has replaced the beloved Granvia that served me so well on my jaunt across France last summer. I woke almost refreshed and if I'm honest a little excited as I boarded the bus that took me an embarrassing 500 yards to the terminal.

 So, Iceland, in January. I've already had the comments, "Won't it be cold ?" "You know it's going to be dark all the time right ?" "Beer is really expensive there....like 15 pounds a pint" and "how long will it take you to drive there ?". My replies have be as concise as ever, yes, yes, Jesus I hope not and a long time, it's an island dumb ass. I want to go to Iceland for one reason, the same way that I wanted to go to Pamplona for one reason and I'm not naive enough to think that the journey and the destination won't give me more reasons along the way.

 It's all about personal goals for me or "bucket list" items if you prefer and this time it's the Northern lights or Arora Borealis that I'm chasing in a rather restricted 4 days and 3 nights in what I'm hoping will be a precursor to a longer trip to the Abrisko national park in northern Sweden next winter.

 Both of you that read my blog of the France/Spain trip will know that I have a slight disdain for the common Brit abroad and again I hope to immerse myself in the local culture and even if the root cause of the trip is one of the most touristy of all I hope the rest of the trip won't be.

 Wow travel, not a company I'd ever heard of before, not surprisingly as they have only been in existence for 2 years flying from various destinations in Europe and the US exclusively to Keflavic in Iceland a small airport some 100km south of Reykjavik. The check in, departure and all the bits in between were as smooth as can be expected from a travel company who paint their planes purple with big smiley faces on the front. There was a fire alarm that forced the whole of the south terminal of Gatwick outside, everybody coped well, which surprised me and the last thing before I left was a phone call which ended with me not only smiling but promising not to eat a puffin, not something I'd ever said before.

A buffety three hour flight into a strong headwind saw us finally descend from warming winter sun, through clouds and into a snowstorm,  from what I could see of the ground we were about to touch down somewhere just north of "the wall".

 The immigration officer refused to stamp my passport, clearly he was bullied as a child.

 The bus transfer was very efficient and easy to use, dropping at the hotel cabin with a couple of hours to spare before my first outing to find the lights.

 It hit me, I didn't have my bike. How was I to embark on the as of yet still not in common usage cytour ? Guess I'll be walking then. It wasn't far to the centre of town, the walk was level, the footpaths were generally free of too much snow and traffic respected pedestrians in a very civilised manner, taxis seemed almost non existent and the bus seemed to be king in the absence of a rail system.

 I didn’t have long to spend on my first foray, it was soon to be properly dark and time to searching for the lights but I did manage to find a foot/cycle path that ran the length of the bay from the edge of the city right around to the fishing docks that afforded some pretty spectacular views even in the dwindling “daylight”. It was easy to familiarise myself enough on this first outing to have a good idea of where I wanted to go tomorrow and what I wanted to see. It’s always nice to have a plan even if it’s only something to judge how wrong things have gone against.

 Again the efficiency of the local company Reykjavik excursions was impressive, they effectively pick you up from your hotel and dump you in the middle of nowhere about 90 minutes drive from the centre of town where it will certainly be dark, away from the orange sodium light pollution that any urban area offers and if you're lucky the sky will be clear and the solar winds will be blowing and you will be treated to a luminescent display that previous generations believed to be the gods coming to take the dead to sit alongside Odin in Valhalla or the gods coming to help fend off the trolls depending on your denomination. I was not lucky and after 3 hours in an exposed environment in air temperatures of minus 9 and a wind chill factor taking it down to nearly minus 20 I really wasn't feeling lucky. Time to call it a night. The only plus side is that if you don't see anything they won't charge for the bus ride should you wish to try again.

Time to hit the sack, the room is small but clean and importantly, warm. I had decided that I could survive on only hand luggage for the trip and it was all I could do to unpack it before I crashed out.