This would be our second trip to Iceland. We'd first visited in 2010. Almost twelve years later we planned a new tour in the height of winter and with a bigger itinerary. We had booked a 4x4 with Sixt, but they let us down at short notice. Thankfully we managed to secure a decent Land Crusier 4x4 with Hertz at limited notice. We eagerly awaited our trip to see what we'd recalled and what had changed, with our new self drive freedom.
We arrived into Reykjavik around brunch and immediately picked up our rental car and drove straight with purpose to the Blue Lagoon for our pre-booked entry. The weather was cold but sunny and pleasant. We'd later find out Iceland had lured us in to a false sense of security. We spent an hour and a half at the Blue Lagoon enjoying the lagoon, drinks, and purchasing body products. Although busier than we had remembered last time we came, it was also larger and you could easily find some space for yourself. In the afternoon we headed on towards our accommodation for the night near the Gulfoss falls so that we could get an early jump on the Geyser's the next day. On route we stopped off at the Thingvelir National Park to see the Atlantic Rift and view the falls in the area. All of these where frozen and the path snow covered which made for spectacular scenery & photography especially in the now setting sun. One of our group unfortunately fell and banged their head, so word to wise bring good snows and take your time.
One of the main reasons to come to Iceland. Geysers and Big (potentially frozen) waterfalls. We arrived at dawn for the Geysers and had the place to ourselves.
Most of the tour groups can't get here till at least 10am as they depart from Reykjavik rather than more locally. It was however bitterly cold and windy on this day especially before
the sun was up. Timing is always key with the Geysers and you never know how long ago the main ones last went off and how long one should wait. We miss-timed a couple with them just
going off after we'd decided to give up and move on to the next one. Eventually we got a good few eruptions on some of them before we decided we needed to retreat back to the car to warm
up. From here we drove on and up to the Gullfoss Falls, the conditions got very treacherous as we climbed up to the top on pass roads. By the time we arrived we had to strategically
park the car due to fear it'd get blown over. We managed to walk across to the visitor centre and started the path out to the top of the falls but the wind kept picking up until it was
physically impossible to stand up even using the guide rope, in part because the path was so icy. The only way to make it back up was to use the grass / snow next to the path. I had to
help several people get back up to the visitor centre as they were defeated by the conditions unable to make their way back up. Thankfully by the time we got back up the visitor centre
had opened and we were all able to shop for souvenirs while warming up with a wholesome hot drink.
From here we departed on route to the Glacier region of Iceland so that we'd be well placed for our two planned hikes/glacier visits the next day. On route we stopped at the Urriðafoss
Waterfall. I don't think anyone thought the conditions could be any worse than at GullFoss Falls, but the ice here was like a pure skating ring as soon as we hoped out of the car. We
were quite literally blown around the car park with limited control. Thankfully the safety guide barrier helped stop us slipping off the hill down onto the falls. It was a lot of fun and
we still had several more waterfalls to go as the weather turned into ice cold rain. By the time we were down with walking up to and around Seljalandsfoss Waterfall, Gljufrabui Waterfall
and Skogafoss Waterfall we were truly soaked through and freezing cold, so cold in fact even in the car with the heater on for a few hours some of us couldn't warm up. Conditions at the
falls had been tough and it was hard to find ways up to them given the thick ice, wind and fresh rain on top adding to the slipperiness. Unfortunately on the drive to our hotel that night
we were running low on fuel and we had to pop out to not one but two gas stations as I got battered by extreme conditions. Even getting to the gas pump and filler cap was a challenge. One
had to hold onto the car roof rails and fuel nozzle in hope one wouldn't be swept off their feet and blown away.
For a video showing just how tough driving conditions in Iceland car in winter, see below:
We had booked a Glacier Heli Hike tour for this morning, but due to the shocking conditions this was cancelled the evening beforehand. Not one to miss out, we
went on a self drive back to Skaftafell glacier to explore on foot up to the edge of the glacier. This turned out to be an exceptional plan as we had the place to ourselves and the morning
sun was out. Despite some wet feet from sinking into the deep snow we had had a good start to the day. From here we headed on route to the base for our second Ice Cave Tour, this time via
a specially modified 4x4 with huge tyres and high ground clearance and foot. On route we stopped off at the diamond beach to see the broken glacier ice and frozen water on the beach / sea.
By this time the weather had started to turn so we spent most the time keeping warm in the car before our tour was due to start.
The Ice cave tour was amazing, even the drive in was exceptional and then we had to strap crampons on and hike with our small Icelandic female guide up to the cave itself. On the drive in
we saw many abandoned wrecks which could not be retrieved until the end of the season when summer would part the ice. After crossing several streams and difficult sections we made it to the
cave itself, it was nice to be partly sheltered from the blizzard that had moved in but mostly the views of spectacular blue were what we were fixated on. It was certainly a once in a
lifetime place and we were just glad that we'd been able to get out at least once onto a glacier and ice cave.
Our final day in Iceland marked a long snowy drive back to Reykjavik covering more ground in one day than we had so far. One particular challenge in Iceland is inexperienced drivers driving too cautiously for the conditions. This can make making ok progress tough. To break up our drive back we had saved a few sights, notably the Black beach, the mushroom shaped frozen Stjornarfoss and the Yoda Cave. In the evening after check-in we explored the sights of Reykjavik before eating one last nice meal in Iceland.
Day 5 brought about the end of our winter road tour of Iceland. It had been such a different trip this time with us self driving and in winter no less. We still hadn't seen the northern lights as well as hoped, stil there's chance if we ever do Svalbard or Greenland. For how bad the conditions had been we were glad to have managed to get in / get out and see most of what we'd planned.
