Between a Rock and a Hard Place

At 4.30am the alarm went off and at 5.10 we dashed out to Heathrow, checked in bags , cleared customs- all the usual stuff. Navigate by internal train to correct gate- had about 10mins of down time until boarding.
The flight got away just a few minutes late and all was looking good- except for the breakfast on British Airways (see photo).
We arrived pretty much as per schedule at Reykavik and as we emerged into the arrivals hall, the promised car rentals people with a sign were nowhere to be seen.
This was a cause for concern as we had a reasonably tight schedule- a 1pm snorkelling booking at Silfra ponds, which was 1 hour 20 minutes drive time.
After a lot of running about back and forth, phone calls and checking of my watch, eventually the rental guy turned up. THEN we had to be shuttled to their off- airport office, paperwork etc- it was 11.40am by the time we actually drove away.
The car is an absolute dog.
It’s a Suzuki Vitara with 220k on it and a transmission that makes more noise than forward motion. It can maintain a steady pace on the flat, but I’m getting overtaken by farm tractors and council graders on even very gentle inclines.
I have my doubts that it will make it through the next 4 days without totally dying.

We’d had no breakfast to speak of and now it looked like no lunch either- except Loss had the presence of mind to ask the guys at the rental place for some boiling water to fill up our thermos.
We had intended to buy some provisions enroute and had very little with us except a few sachets of instant porridge as well as some hot chocolate and instant coffee.
Picture the scene as Loss is making up porridge and literally feeding me and herself Quaker Oats as I’m trying to coax the Suzuki over the next hill, washed down by a hot chocolate/ coffee mix drink as we had no milk either.
We made it to the snorkelling rendezvous with 2 minutes to spare.
Fortunately the car was already going slowly enough that Loss could simply step out of it as we saw the ‘Troll Snorkelling’ van then I continued on to park 150m down the road and run back.

Now it was time to relax and enjoy the 4 degree water temperature as we snorkelled in pristine, transparent glacial meltwater between the North American and European tectonic plates. At one point we had the obligatory photo taken touching both sides of the divide.
The dry suits kept us dry and warm enough, but lips and fingers felt cold as they do get wet. It was a thoroughly enjoyable and unique experience.
Next it was off to the nearby Oxarfoss waterfall and lookout, followed by a half hour drive to the Geyser National Park to see the thermal pools and geysers. Fingers were freezing as we poised with phones ready to capture the unpredictable water eruptions.

20 minutes further up the road was one of the most spectacular sights - the mighty Gullfos waterfall- truly phenomenal.
We bought some groceries at a little store, coaxed the car back to life after the engine stopped while idling, then drove on to Fludir for our overnight accommodation, arriving there at 8.30pm.
Loss has just rustled up an amazing dinner from the skillet and we enjoyed that at 9.15pm.
I think it’s fair to say that was a pretty big day.Read more