Author: braysabroad

Venice to Lake Garda

We woke up to the fact that John and Ken are both mosquito magnets. It was a glorious sunny morning John was dressed in jeans, long sleeved shirt and a hat pulled down over his ears. Rather than being pleased when Kim found mozzie repellant in the site shop, all he could do was grumble that it cost more than a decent bottle of wine!

Ken and Jacky were towed away by their new friend Lucca, we callously headed up to Lake Garda with a fridge full of their food and beer.

It’s been a short journey, only 80 easy miles, in the hope they will join us here later. It does appear that Ken has settled nicely into the Fiat showroom.

We only had to turn round once on our journey to Lazise and all local cars and buildings remained intact!

Entry to Camping La Quercia was interesting. We were met at the barrier by a uniformed member of staff who radioed our arrival to Reception. At Reception we were put in a golf buggy and taken to choose our pitch before being allowed to register. The van was photographed, I’m not sure if Interpol are on our trail following Thursday’s accident..

The van has been tagged, as have we…

We’ve also been given a lovely set of recycling bags, sustainability is taken very seriously here.

We get to keep these lovely bags but have to return our wristbands on departure!

It’s been glorious here, the afternoon has been spent reading by the van. We did venture down to the beach but, without our partners in crime, weren’t inclined to explore very far. The views across Lake Garda are beautiful.

The campsite makes it very clear that strangers are not welcome, thank goodness we have been tagged.

Ken and Jacky didn’t make it, Fiat want to do more tests on their van before they’ll release it. Apparently all the local hotels are full so they are spending the night in it. We have their wine, beer and, most importantly, their mattress topper. We’d offer to drop it all back but we’ve opened a bottle of wine.

We have everything crossed that they’ll join us at Natter See tomorrow. Please can you cross your fingers and toes too?

Venezia and trouble free (almost)

We waved bye bye to a rainy Florence, without needing a tractor to pull Ken and Jacky out (very disappointed!) The 180 miles to Camping Fusina, Venice were negotiated without detour, deviation or collision! John and I stocked up on supplies at a local Lidl and were booked into the campsite with minimal fuss. Camping Fusina is lovely (despite the unexpected mosquitos), van is on a flat pitch and we have views across the lagoon to Venice

Ken and Jacky arrived ahead of us, in limp home mode! Ken has renamed the site ‘Mozzie Central’ and they are waiting to hear whether their Motorhome can be fixed or the rest of their trip is done in a hire car and hotels. John is beside himself with jealousy. He’d done his best to wreck the van on Day 1 yet Ken managed it without trying.

After a variety of calls to JustGo and Fiat Assist, we took the local ferry into Venice for the afternoon and saw all we wanted in 2 1/2 hours! As you’d expect Venice is a very popular destination and very busy – we can’t imagine what it would be like during the summer.

Apologies to everyone who is horrified by that and here as some photos to try and redeem ourselves!

The ferry raced this gondola across the lagoon

Our first stop was Piazza San Marco

We were distracted by the competing live music from the restaurants around the square.

The prices were rather steep and we moved hastily on to the Bridge of Sighs which is famous for being the last sight of Venice that convicts had before leaving the city. Our source of this information was John who was last here 50 years ago

Our final ‘must see’ sight was Ponti di Rialto, another bridge with shops on! What we did like was the view down Canal Grande

Our walk back to the ferry was far quieter and we found a leaning tower. Sorry, too tired to investigate what it is!

Our final stop was a restorative beer in a quiet street near the ferry terminal.

We wandered back to the ferry terminal and the light went out as a massive cruise ship headed out to sea

I’m sure we could have had a fantastic meal in Venice but the campsite pizzeria had plenty of atmosphere and a jolly good pizza!

We wait to hear Jen and Jacky’s fate in the morning and it’s likely we’ll head up to Lake Garda (With or without them) rather than have a second night here. Will Fiat Assist live up to it’s name?

‘Whoops’ – A poem from Dot and Stan Bray

Oh Dear or dear what have you done?

And you thought going to Italy was fun.

You appear to have trouble finding you way

, whatever you do don’t extend your stay.

Get out quick,

In case you end up in the nick.

Remember to drive on the right,

If  not you might get another fright.

We hope no further trouble you will find,

That will give us peace of mind.

Lets hope the rest of the trip goes well,

and when you get back you will have a tale to tell.

Firenze

We caught the bus into Florence and, with true pioneer spirit, got off earlier than advised when a local market caught our attention.

Next stop Duomo, it took us all of 20 minutes to walk around it, we admired the architecture before moving on.

Uffizi Gallery and Da Vinci’s Statue of David, tick., all done and dusted in 20 minutes.

David is photographed from the waist up to prevent embarrassment….As you can tell, we don’t really do culture so observing from the street suited us fine!

Ponte Vecchio, tick, an old bridge with shops on it like many in Italy. There was a minor delay as the sparkling jewellery shop windows caught Kim’s attention.

Our final destination was the Boboli Gardens. The gardens date back to the mid 16th century and are laid out behind the Pallazo Pritti, the main home to the Medici family in Florence. It was a hot day but the walk to the top of the garden was amazing – we could see across the city, all the way to snowy mountain tops.

Continuing our reptile theme, we found an obelisk similar to Cleopatras Needle resting on four tortoises. If anyone knows the history of this, please let us know

Exhausted, we caught the bus back to the campsite and treated ourselves to a visit to the local wine shop on our way past. We thought it might help us get up the hill to the van!

We’re off to Venice tomorrow which is just as well. The campsite is filling up with healthy looking people who are for the Florence half marathon

Our ‘Durrell’ moment

Breakfast in glorious sunshine, amongst the olive trees (and electricity pylons) and we have company……

This takes Kim right back to being 4 years old – you’re likely to have heard this before! On holiday in Switzerland her Dad taught her how to pick lizards up properly, by the tail! Cue lots of screaming as the lizard escaped and she was left with a wriggling tail in her hand, convinced she had just murdered it. Re-telling the story never failed to make Ken laugh and bizarrely installed a lifelong love of reptiles in Kim.

Day 2 – San Gimignano to Firenze

Leisurely start and the sun is shining, the views from the campsite are stunning.

San Gimignano was this morning’s destination.

We managed to remove the motor homes from the campsite without incident and caught the bus into town. We shall never know how the bus driver didn’t knock anyone over as he made his way round narrow streets not designed for vehicles.

San Gimignano is a medieval city of towers. At its peak, in the 14th/15th century, there were over 70 towers which were built as fortresses and signs of wealth and power.

The town is beautiful and it’s amazing to think it’s survived intact.

Kim and Jacky splashed out 5€ to go up into the Sylvestus Tower which has been converted into a very stylish, modern apartment. At no point we’re the rooms larger than 9ft square. It’s amazing what you can achieve over 11 floors.

The view from the terrace at the top was rather lovely.

Today’s attractions included a display of firefighting equipment, including a very ‘Dad’s Army’ Landrover lookalike (Fiat!)

We also found a novel use of an old pallet

After lunch, Jane and David headed for Siena while we aimed for Florence……. and we arrived safely with only one minor detour. Quite a success, we think!

The campsite is tired (as are we), but the sun shone and we explored the area. Not much to say about that, a 10 minute walk had us on a main road with not a bar or restaurant in sight. On top of that, Ken and Jacky’s van is stuck on their pitch. It’s been raining a lot here and the site is very soft and muddy. It looks like a tractor may be needed to pull them out on Sunday which would be fun. We’re feeling a little smug, we got stuck on a pitch but managed to get out (without damaging anything). We’re now parked between two electricity pylons but you can’t have everything in life.

Our day ended with a proper camping meal, cooked on minuscule gas stoves and eaten at a picnic table

Night night, we’re catching a bus into Florence in the morning.

The Italian Job 2018 – day 1

Where to start, we have had a whole adventure in one day!

The day started brilliantly. We left home at 04:45, arrived at Heathrow just after 6 and flew into sunshine at Pisa.

Despite the taxi driver getting lost and needing to use Kim’s phone for directions, we were introduced to our new homes and left the factory about 3. Plenty of time for shopping at the supermarket and getting to our campsite by 5pm!

A leisurely evening in Sam Gimignano was within reach and then the adventure started (or it all went horribly wrong, depending on your view of life!)

We took a wrong turn, leaving the supermarket, the satnav recalculated and within 20 minutes this is what we saw…..

By the time we had turned the van around,here is a sample of the damage we had done. It was just awful.

A very helpful Italian detangled us from the mess, JustGo advised on leaving a note for them to deal with insurance claims and the local pharmacy lent pen and paper for writing a note. Kim used a mixture of mime and pidgin English to acquire said pen and paper, it was very stressful.

Our lovely, supportive friends had abandoned us and headed towards the Sosta at San Gimignano so we played catch up. It would be lovely to have a photo of the beautiful Tuscan hills we drove round but the reality was that we were lost, despite the satnav! Phone calls from Jane and Jacky followed, they were lost too. 5 minutes later we passed them, going in the opposite direction, there has to be a cheesy comedy film in there somewhere…..

Anyway, we all ended up at the planned Sosta, and it was revolting. Showers were shut, electricity was off and waste bins overflowing – could our day get any worse?

Thank goodness for Facebook, 5 minutes later we were all booked into Camping Boscetto Di Piemma with showers, a restaurant and trees.

Good food and wine and the stresses of the day are starting to fade, cheers….. hic

Homeward bound

We started early so we could visit Het Keringhuis, the storm surge barrier protecting Rotterdam, on our way back to the ferry. We wandered through some of Haarlem’s lovely back streets for breakfast in Barista Cafe, which appears to be a Dutch Starbucks but far nicer.

We’d tested out their hot chocolate, yesterday, complete with whipped cream and salted caramel syrup. It was really very tasty!

John continued his healthy breakfast theme of yoghurt and granola. Kim continued her challenge to have cheese with every meal since we came away.

Before checking out John managed to take a photo of the hotel’s best feature, a decorative spiral staircase leading up to a beautiful stained glass dome.

The Netherlands are trying to dissuade the use of motor vehicles and one of the ways is at the expense of parking. We practically had to remortgage to retrieve the Beetle from its underground car park where it had been abandoned since our arrival.

Het Keringhuis is part of Holland’s Delta Works, similar to the Thames Barrier but a very different design. Consisting of two massive gates which fill with water, they swing into position to protect low lying land from seasonal storm surges which have the potential to devastate communities while keeping the busy port of Rotterdam safe and operational. Did you know that Holland’s lowest lying town is almost 7m below sea level?

That’s all from us, we’re on the ferry home and hope you’ve enjoyed our ramblings

Our last afternoon in Haarlem..

This afternoon, we headed for culture and the Teylers Museum. The collection was started in the late 18th century by Pieter Teyler. In his will, he left his fortune, and collection, to a foundation created to promote arts, science and theology. The museum is the first in Holland and is still housed on its original site. It’s an eclectic mix of fossils, art, books and scientific instruments,

Our next stop was Haarlem’s De Adriaan windmill. The original windmill dated back to 1779, burned down in 1932 and was rebuilt on the original site in 2002. It didn’t seem right to come all the way here and not have a photo of a windmill!

We couldn’t find any mice with clogs on so perhaps they only live in windmills in old Amsterdam. We should have checked yesterday….

John’s ideal morning….

We started with breakfast in Bar Wolkers, a straightforward cafe with freshly prepared food and friendly staff.

This mornings challenge was to cycle to the coast at Zandvoort. Our route took us out along the canals of Haarlem and through the wooded suburbs into Zandvoort. We passed some amazing properties.

We finally found the coast and it’s typical North Sea.

We’d earned a break, and a cuppa, and headed for Bernie’s Restaurant in Zandvoort’s racing circuit. John was last here, racing, about 500 years ago…..

The BMW Experience is doing track and drifting training, Motown is playing in the restaurant and we’re out of the drizzle. John is a happy bunny!

Amsterdam

Ok, we cheated and caught the bus back, it was wet!

Marken was very pretty in the rain, it would have been glorious in the sunshine.

We headed back to the bus stop via the wooden shoe factory.

The persistent drizzle had turned into a downpour by the time we reached Amsterdam. We had a plan…. we’d take the bikes to meet their relatives at Brompton Junction. The shop opened in April and John was keen to visit. Apparently, one Brompton is not enough particularly if there’s a lightweight titanium frame on offer. Our bikes were welcomed in with open arms, despite dripping water on the stylish wooden floor, and we were warmed up with tea and coffee. An added bonus was the offer to carry out a recall on Kim’s bike – that’s saved a trip into Hitchin when we get back.

By the time we left, we’d dried out and daylight was fading fast. We decided we needed to see ‘the prettiest street in Amsterdam’.

Next stop a coffee shop, while we decided whether we’d head back to Haarlem or send Kim into the red light district. As we debated, we noticed there was something wrong with the houses opposite….

We cycled past the long queues of people waiting to get into Anne Frank’s house. Our final stop was De Wallen, the medieval city centre, which is crossed by canals, little bridges and narrow alleyways and a real contrast to all the lovely villages and towns we have seen in the last couple of days. The red light district, which is a large part De Wallen, felt sordid and unpleasant which was a shame because the city is so pretty……. and flat which is a huge bonus for a lazy cyclist.

Our final challenge of the day was returning to Haarlem on a rush hour train. We survived and Kim decided Thameslink trains were probably nicer. Who’d have thought that?

Haarlem to Marken by Bike…

Obviously not all the way by bike! We started out, before breakfast (!!), with a short train ride into Amsterdam Centraal and the free passenger ferry across to Buiksloterweg.

There was no way Kim was going any further without food and caffeine so we headed for the nearest cafe and a very welcome breakfast. There were only two choices on offer, luckily they suited both of us!

According to the Cycleways App, we had 13 miles to go to he little island of Marken. Our highest elevation would be 30 feet but at least half of our route would be up to 20 feet below sea level!

Negotiating our way out of Amsterdam was interesting, stopping every few minutes to work out where we were and retrace our steps, tempers were fraying and we’d only managed a mile.

We persevered and found ourselves on quiet roads or dedicated cycle routes through the villages of Waterland. Kim now wants to live in Zunderdorp, where all the little houses have water at the bottom of their gardens, or Broek in Waterland, where the bridges across the canals are raised to let the boats through.

We stopped for lunch at Taverne De Oude Visscher in Marken and the rain started, so we stayed and had a local beer before deciding whether to be brave and cycle back or catch the bus. What do you think we did?

An Evening in Haarlem

We’re staying in the Amrâth Grand Frans Hal’s which doesn’t have parking. The cost of parking the Beetle is dearer than Luton Airport or even eating out in Reykjavik ….we didn’t think it was possible!

Haarlem is looking pretty in the dark and it would be lovely to see it dressed up for Christmas.

Anyway, we had a lovely meal at Cafe Collette and here’s a picture of the birthday boy to prove it..

John’s highlight of the evening, however, was the restaurant’s urinal, complete with built in iPad for entertainment. I’m sure there’s a pun to be made there. I was too scared to see what was on offer in the Ladies.

John’s Birthday adventure

John has everything he could possibly need, if you exclude our unreasonably small garage from his wish list. He has chosen a trip to The Netherlands for his birthday.

Last night, the Beetle was packed with the Bromptons and we set off for the overnight sailing from Harwich.

We docked at 8am and set off for our first stop, Afsluitdijk Dam. It is a 20 mile dam, constructed between 1927 and 1932, that connects the North Holland Province to Friesland Province.

It dams the North Sea inlet and has created a fresh water lake. It has two claims to fame. The first is that it was the initial demonstration site for the 130kph speed limit in The Netherlands. The second is that, in May 1940,it was the site of the Battle of the Afsliutsdijk. This was one of the few successful defences of the Western Front and was held until Dutch forced surrendered later that month.

Our route back to Haarlem, where we’re staying, took us on a round trip across the Houtribdijk and into Edam for a late lunch. Edam is a maze of little streets and canals. Kim is rather taken with it and will be checking out property prices later. John has noted that none of the houses Kim likes have garages….

We stopped off at a cheese shop and a quick lesson in the difference between local, farm produced Edam and that made in a factory for export.

Guess which one tastes the best? Later in the week we’re planning on cycling from Amsterdam to Edam so that we can sample the local beer at 8.4%.

We’ve covered about 200 miles today so we’re aiming for a quiet evening in Haarlem which might be a challenge. Our hotel is right by a very large church, which might be a cathedral, which plays a tune every 15 minuted….

Final thoughts from Iceland

Hiring a car is always a challenge, you think you’ve covered every eventuality, then the hire company find another to take your funds. In Iceland, it is trying persuade you to take extra insurance cover against damage from sand and ash. Usual insurance doesn’t cover this and you take a risk if you drive on the south coast which has unpredictable winds. We chose not to take it and, luckily, Avis were happy with the state of the car when we returned it!

Our apartment was a good choice, we’d stay there again. We were a 2 minute walk from the bus station and all of the tours picked up from the hotel around the corner from us. Now that we’ve see the Northern Lights we probably wouldn’t hire a car again. It was extremely useful being able head to out as, and when we wanted, especially on clear nights.

Several of the sights we visited has signs banning drones which was a hazard we hadn’t considered. That didn’t stop some inconsiderate, lazy people using them to save the walk or climb. The noise a sort of high pitched buzzing was extremely irritating and felt very intrusive.

We did try Icelandic Skyr (and, yes, we know you can buy it in the U.K.!) Its a cross between yoghurt and cheese and comes in a variety of unusual flavours including liquorice. It was very thick and smooth and made a nice change at breakfast time.

We decided not to try roast puffin, whale or horse steaks.

We definitely need to come back to do a glacier walk. There are many museums, art galleries and geothermal pools and we didn’t visit a single one. Neither we did we see any Puffins except as ornaments in the shops. We were too late in the season so that’s on the list for next time too.

Our last day in Reykjavik

We went our seperate ways this morning. Matt disapppeared for a 2 hour private running tour with Bjorn, who we’d found via Citywalk tours, while John and I headed out to the Botanic Gardens.

After the last few days looking at quite alien scenery, the Botanic Gardens were lush and filled with familiar looking trees and plants.  It was surprising to see them surviving in a climate that must be quite hostile at times.

We also saw a traditional Icelandic turf house. Reykjavik started life as a small settlement of turf houses back in the 9th century. There are preserved houses and villages dotted around the island which would be worth a visit on another occasion.

Matt’s running tour took him 9 miles around the city and its suburbs. He learned about curing shark meat. When first caught, sharks are cut up and, because it’s poisonous, the meat buried in the sand for three months. It’s then hung up to dry in the wind before it’s eaten. Here’s the shark drying shack!

We met up for a quick lunch, before heading out to Grotta Lighthouse. Grotta is accessible at low tide and high tide was approaching rapidly. Matt disappeared over the rocks to take photos, just as everyone else was coming back, while John and I stayed safely on dry land. The water came higher and eventually Matt decided he ought to come back. Guess who got wet feet today?

Next a sculpture walk along the harbour took us to the Sun Voyager. Although it looks like a Viking long boat, it is intended to be a dream vessel and ode to the sun. However you view it, it’s a striking piece of art and visible from the top of Hallgrimskirkja.

Our evening entertainment, at the Harpa Concert Centre was….

We thought it would be a fitting end to our adventure and learned how to walk, talk and behave like an Icelander.

Waterfalls and Glaciers

Yesterday’s challenge was to visit Iceland’s highest waterfall and a glacier.

We started with a quick trip, after breakfast, to Braud & Co to pick up provisions for our trip. Customers were queuing out the door and the shop was jam packed, a complete contrast to yesterday’s early morning visit.

This wouldn’t have been a problem but it was pouring with rain and only Matt had been bright enough to wear a waterproof. Luckily we were able to reward ourselves with freshly baked cinnamon buns which were as delicious as the reviews promised

Iceland’s highest waterfall, Glymur, was our first stop after leaving the city. We drove along the fjord that had rewarded us with last night’s light display, up an unmade road, worrying about damage to the hire car and our insurance excess. We found a car park and a 3.5km hike to the waterfall – not quite what we had in mind. We only really wanted to spend 10 minutes there, taking photos, before heading to the Snaefellsnes Peninsula to get up close to a glacier.

The waterfall might be the highest but it wasn’t as spectacular as the others we’ve seen. We couldn’t see it all without hiking along quite a hazardous track so we made do with crossing the river at the bottom which was hazardous enough! We’d scrambled down through a cave before crossing the river by holding onto a metal cable while walking across rocks and a tree trunk.

We all made it across safely but guess who slipped and got very wet feet on the way back. Was it Matt (never pays attention), John (expert on hazards) or Kim (terrible sense of balance)?

So bad luck tends to come in threes. Matt dropped his lens cover, John managed to twist his ankle on the walk back to the car and Kim had shoes full of water!

Next stop was the Snaefellsnes Peninsula, a two hour journey but we were aiming to drive across a glacier. As we headed north, the weather became revolting. It was wet and windy with visibility becoming increasingly poor, we could barely see the road let alone the beautiful coastline, amazing lava fields and towering volcanoes. According to our research, you can see everything Iceland has to offer here. Our experience says that’s fog, wind and rain.

We drove out as far as Hellnar where the glacier should be easily visible and accessible. This is what we were hoping to see…

Here’s what we could see…

We arrived back in Reykjavik at 8pm, after 300 mile drive, and decided to treat ourselves to another meal out despite plans to eat more economically. We headed out to The Old Iceland restaurant which looked a little different to some of the others. We have tried to stop converting the cost of everything into sterling, it is too distressing. We worked out dinner would be eye wateringly expensive and got on with ordering (£12 for John’s local beer and £55 for Matt’s langoustines – oops shouldn’t have done that!). We had a delicious meal, John’s starter of Icelandic cheese and fruits was ‘the best salad ever’

There is always water available in restaurants which is helpful when you consider the cost of beer, wine is even more expensive so we’ve avoided that. Icelandic tap water comes straight from the ground, into the pipes and out of the tap. It is so pure it needs no filtering and literally tastes of nothing.

Luckily, the sky was cloudy, we therefore found no need to hunt down the Northern Lights and, for the first time since we’ve been away, we went to bed the same day we got up.

Result!!

On our third night of trying, we were treated to a spectacular display by the Northern Lights. We drove out along Hvalfjard, which is fed from the Greenland Sea, and found a nice dark spot to park. If it wasn’t for eagle eyed Matt, we’d have dismissed the initial sighting as clouds and given up. He insisted there was a green tinge and took a photo to prove it. By 11:00pm the sky was dancing with light before fading around an hour later. We were very lucky, the rain has set in today and we’re unlikely to see a clear sky again

Cinnamon buns, Golden Circle and Green Energy

The answer to yesterday’s challenge: it’s a photo of where the wing attached to the fuselage on the DC10.

We needed to be ready by 8 for today’s tour so John and I were out at 7am to buy breakfast – freshly baked cinnamon rolls from the Braud & Co bakery. We were so early the cinnamon rolls hadn’t been baked so, heroes that we are, we made do with warm almond pastries and cinnamon croissants. They were well worth the trip and might be a reason to move here!

We’re a little sleep deprived and there was muttering from all of us when the minibus didn’t turn up until 8:40. To be fair, we did only have a 2 minute walk to our pick up point or, if we were all a little more agile, climbed over our balcony straight into the minibus. Our guide for day was Ardis from Sterna Tours, a lady with a passion for her home country and an ability to drive a minibus whilst waving her arms around to illustrate her point and looking anywhere but at the road. She was brilliant.

We started at the Hellisheidi Geothermal Power Plant Exhibition. This is built at the base of the Hengill volcano and is just round the corner from yesterday’s mud spitting hole. We won’t give you the history of the plant, or green energy in Iceland, there’s a whole web page devoted to it. What is impressive is the care that’s being taken to protect the resources from over-harvesting and that water leaves the plant, through heavily insulated pipes, at 85 degrees and is still at 84 degrees when it enters homes, in Reykjavik, about 30km away.

Next stop, Kerio crater which, for any geologists out there, is a large scerio crater. All you need to know is that we walked around the top of a volcano and down into it.

Faxi waterfall followed. It is situated on the Tungufljot River which is a surface water river rather than a glacier water river. Apparently it’s easy to tell the difference between the two. Surface water rivers are sparkly and clear, glacier water rivers aren’t – who’d have thought it? Anyway, this is a popular river for salmon fishing and we learned all about the salmon run (just visible on the photo)

Our lunch break was at Geysir where we able to watch the Strokkur geyser spout water every 4-6 minutes. The area is full of boiling mud pits and you are kept well away from them. There are warning signs every few metres reminding you that the water, and mud is 80-100 degrees. There is also a very strong smell of sulphur hanging around the place!

Next was the 32m high Gullfoss waterfall. It was saved from becoming a hydroelectric power station by Sigridur Tomasdottir, the daughter of a local farmer. She campaigned tirelessly to save it and we were rather pleased she did! It is fed by the glacial Hyvita River, can you tell the difference in water colour from the earlier picture?


A short stop Fontana Spa followed. Bread is baked in the thermally heated sand and the water at the edge of the lake is boiling in places. Ardis is the lady in the hat, I think it’s specifically chosen we don’t lose her.

Pingvellir National Park was our last stop of the day. This is where the Eurasian and American tectonic plates are slowly pushing apart at the rate of 2cm a year. Give it a few thousand years and Iceland will be massive! The area is full of fissures where the ground drops as a result of the movement and surrounded by lava fields. There is very little vegetation on many of the lava fields because it is grazed by sheep , cattle and horses. It became much greener when we entered Pingvellir but it’s obvious plants struggle to survive – it’s mainly mosses and a few low growing grasses and shrubs. Any trees you see have been planted, they don’t grow naturally.

Gosh, we seem to have done a lot today and we still have the evening to go. Time will tell if we attempt another viewing of the Northern Lights. We have been really lucky with the weather so far. The sun has shone every day and it looks like there might be clear skies tonight…..