Day 3: Reykjavik to Hvergerdi

Started off this morning with a solo walk by the bay - completely gorgeous sunny Saturday morning with most of Reykjavik out running or cycling.  The view across the bay to Esja is beautiful.

Loved this lighthouse:

We were collected by the camper van company and taken to our home for the next 10 days.  Lots of difficult decisions on extras for the van - camping chairs (no), guitar (no, steel strings no good apparently), frisbee (yes), cafetière (hell yes), extortionate but fully gilted insurance (absolutely), WiFi (yes, otherwise the children would have applied for legal emancipation).  After a few safety checks we were setting off and I had to get togrips with driving an automatic massive van on the other side of the road.    

First stop was the Bridge between Continents near Reykjanes

I was the only one in our family to humiliate themselves with the touristy shot:

The black sand is really beautiful and the surrounding area feels other worldly - sort of what I imagine the moon surface would be like.  (Topical reference - has everyone seen 8 days: To the Moon and Back on iPlayer, its an OU/BBC coproduction don’t you know... Highly recommend.)

Leo looking very much at home in the back of the van:

Back on the road and I felt able to deal with musical distractions, so we started off with Eve’s Iceland Spotify playlist which is superb (The Oh Hellos, Cosmo Sheldrake and Kero Kero Bonito were stand out artists).

Traffic is non existent 

We arrived in Hvergerdi and set out for the Thermal River.  It was a one hour steep hike but completely worth it.  We have become used to seeing steam coming out of the ground as if it is completely normal.

First waterfall sighting:

My darlings disappearing off into a bridge covered with steam (had a brief moment of parental panic):

Finally we reached the thermal river, it is incredibly hot, like a really hot bath, but flowing.  Really amazing.

Obvious quandary about including that last photo as my fringe game is suffering. If you continue reading over the coming days then I fear it will get worse, so brace yourself.  

Now we are back at our campsite.  Somewhat anxious about how much sleep we will get.  It is fully light until about 1am and then goes vaguely dusky until about 4am. The van “blackout” blinds are like gauze.