Iceland

After forming a fierce distaste for Dutch liquorice I was convinced to give Icelandic liquorice a try. It's usually covered in chocolate but despite that, I think it's much, much nicer than Dutch liquorice! 😋
Finally managed to get some cardio in and ran up the majority of the stairs at Grábrók Mountain, only managed to almost slip and fall into the creater twice (yay for travel insurance? 😅)
As impressive as the photos seem they're actually disappointingly underwhelming (like most of the images I've shared in the last 6 days) in comparison to the natural beauty and vastness of the crater and surroundings. The last eruption was less than 3000 years ago. There is a university below, the dorms are currently used for Ukrainian refugees 💛💙
Stopped at another geothermal bubbling puddle with some really pretty green moss and red rock colours, then on to the last waterfalls - Hraunfossar and Barnafoss. They run along the same river as Gullfoss (visited on first day).

And with that the Ring Road is complete 🥺 Iceland has set the standard for the rest of Europe very high 😬 ..goodbye 4-5 star hotels/restaurants, hostel life here I come! 🤣
Had one last dinner with most of the group at Seabaron in Old Harbour (where they serve shark 😬 had lobster soup #2 - So. Yum.) and was sad to say goodbye to a couple I've formed a very close bond with.
Back to Luton and on to the next adventure - Derby!

**Misc Iceland facts that if I don't put here, I'll forget: 😅
*Sheep roam free over the majority of the island, it's not unusual to encounter a "lambvalanch" (sleep crossing the road), there are very few fences for both horses and sheep. And if there are fences, they're usually on the wrong side of them 😂 Keeping to tradition, farmers only move sheep once a year (mid Sept), they use horses and sheep dogs to collect them from highlands, take inventory, and herd them into barns for the winter. After the winter they're released again from April. Icelanders use the sheep for lamb only 😢 and wool.
There are around 800,000 sheep in Iceland - still not half as many as NZ 😅

*Icelandic horses are mostly free roaming like sheep but there aren't so many - around 80,000+. They're smaller, fluffier and more sturdy than other, usual horse breeds - designed for tough climates and rough terrain. They even have an additional gait (5 - usual horses only have 4?) to navigate through some harsher terrains. Some fields the horses hang out in are covered in lumps - the lumps are grass and moss covered lava rocks. While they look like it, apparently they get offended if called ponies.. 😂

*Icelandic horses and sheep happily roam freely as they've no natural predators.Read more