Tag: Waterfall

Iceland Day 2 – The road to Vik 🇮🇸

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Iceland is known as the land of fire and ice… but also ridiculous winds and constant rain even in the summer months. However this morning we woke up to the most glorious sunshine and blue skies. Our first night in the green machine was a surprisingly comfortable one after we eventually worked out how to set the bed up. Being night shift workers also helps with getting to sleep when it’s still daylight outside.

We were going to stock up with lots of traditional icelandic snacks for the road ahead, however it’s mostly liquorice.. and as we didn’t want 10 days of the shits, we settled for Milka, peach rings and Happy Shopper 2D jaffa cakes. Our first stop of the day was Seljalandsfoss – the waterfall you can walk behind. The falls drop 60m and I would highly recommend that you wear waterproof clothing, including trousers to experience this. There were so many people in jeans and hoodies who were soggy doggies as they came out the other side. A short walk from here is Gljufrabui – the falls in a narrow canyon. To access this you have you climb over rocks and cling on to the side of the canyon, but it is well worth it. Again due to how close you can get to the falls you get absolutely soaked- thank god for the wanker hat. Unfortunately there is only one way in and out of these falls, and some people don’t seem to know the etiquette of one in and one out. These were largely the people in the wrong attire, so it was ok to laugh when one slipped and got their Nike trainers soaking wet.

Seljalandsfoss
Wanker hat at Gljufrabui

Next stop was Skógafoss – the waterfall you walk above. As we were lucky and the sun was shining, it created lots of rainbows in the spray which meant we got some fantastic photos. There are some steps of the top of these falls, however I clearly need to do more cardio exercise as my heart was going like the clappers!

Skógafoss

After 2 waterfalls it was time for a change of scenery, and we headed to the Sólheimasandur plane wreck – the 1973 United States Navy DC plane that ran out of fuel and crashed on the black beach. Don’t worry we’re not being morbid, everybody got out alive! It’s a long, and pretty boring walk to the plane – there is a shuttle but that’s at an eye-watering £10pp!! The walk is worth it as you can get some great photos, however another etiquette issue of mine is photo hoggers. We all want that perfect insta photo.. but some people just do not get out of the way, or just stand right in front of your camera! It really grinds my gears…

When certain people finally moved 🤣

4 years ago exactly I was in Iceland with my parents and we had the pleasure of thick Icelandic fog, so today I was beyond excited to finally see Dyrhólaey and Reynisfjara with bright blue sky. The landscapes here are beyond breathtaking and the photos do not do it justice. You could sit here all day watching the Puffins and various other sea birds flying about. It was the perfect end to a fantastic day exploring the Southwest.

Home for the night 🌙

Iceland day 1 🇮🇸

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Back by popular demand… I will try to keep this going daily!

After months of planning, highlighting Lonely Planet guides, watching YouTube videos and trawling the Internet for inspo, the day had arrived for us to head to one of my favourite countries – Iceland!

Öxarárfoss Waterfall

It was another stupidly early start thanks to the joys of an airport at the moment. When we arrived and saw the queue for Easyjet we knew that would be our breakfast time gone.. however it turns out I had booked speedy boarding! This fabulous discovery meant we flew through. Unfortunately I hadn’t done the same for security, but in all fairness that was relatively smooth as well. So it was off to Pret for breakfast, via the Duty Free for a cheeky squirt (top tip.. find the most expensive perfume and cover yourself in the tester 🤣)

Geysir

On the plane and we had another discovery – extra leg room seats! Obviously Mark being the BFG was delighted. I was expecting to find I’d booked a meal with real china plates.. however as this is Easyjet I had to make do with a can of Coke and a Crunchie.

Gulfoss

The airport in Reykjavik was quite simply… a nightmare! Everyone was squashed in trying to get through a tiny gap in the wall to get up the stairs to passport control. Everyone was pretty chill about this.. apart from John (learnt his name thanks to his poor annoyed wife) John was quite simply.. a massive arsehole, who liked nothing more than to moan, try to push in and take people out with his big massive bag. We than had another wait for the cases, and it was a massive twitchy arse moment as mine decided to be one of the last off and I was getting myself mentally ready for the same pair of knickers for 10 days. TOP TIP for anyone heading to Iceland – buy your alcohol in the Duty Free in baggage reclaim.

Home 🏡

It was then off to meet our home on wheels for the next 10 days; the mighty green machine. After getting familiar with all his knobs and gadgets, we hit the road to start with the golden circle. This is a staple for all who visit Iceland and is well worth doing. As it was getting quite late, it was a lot quieter, so we really got to appreciate the beautiful surroundings a lot more. Geysir put in another wonderful performance and Gulfoss was as magnificent as ever.

Burger man

We found a lovely campsite for the night and decided to treat ourselves to a first night beverage in the bar. This will be our first and last if we don’t want to remortage the house 🤣 As its constant daylight here in the summer, we decided to have a super late tea and Mark fired up the BBQ around 22:30, where we enjoyed burgers and much more reasonable beer thanks to the duty free.

Midnight bounce

Pembrokeshire day 4 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

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Today we did a coastal road trip and spent most of it fog dodging! We have been quite lucky for most of the day, but it definitely caught up with us this evening making the coastal roads a total joy to drive on.

This morning we started in Tresaith to hunt down the beach waterfall. As is tradition with this trip, we couldn’t find the car park. If anyone decides to visit here, keep an eye out for the A5 sized sign which is just past the bus stop. I promise it’s a car park and not a building site like we originally thought 🤣 head to the beach and climb over the rocks to the right and you’ll find the fabulous falls that cascade on to the beach. There’s also a burger van with a very enthusiastic chap so it’s well worth spending time here.

Our next stop was the Dinas Head coastal walk. Luckily the fog was clearing by this point so we were able to actually see some of the views! We also managed to bag another trig. It’s a fantastic 3 mile walk which I would definitely recommend. And an added bonus.. there’s a pub at the car park overlooking the beach ⛱

Next stop.. Fishguard and time to wrap up as the temperature had definitely dropped. We had a little walk around the harbour before heading to another watering hole for a delicious burger and a real ale for Santa.

Back on the road and to St David’s- the smallest city in the UK. The fog was particularly thick now, but this meant the cathedral looked a lot more dramatic. Luckily there was a group of lads lads lads making a vlog, so we had a cheeky earwig to learn all about the place. Unfortunately we got there after 5pm so santa was unable to have a mooch around the cathedral. But it was still great to see it from the outside.

The last stop was a walk around Carew Castle, which again looked very dramatic against a misty backdrop. Parking here is free! And even after opening hours you are still able to get a very good view of the ruins.

Santa’s Sesh 🎅🏻 Santa enjoyed Jemima’s Pitchfork. A 4.5% ale named after the Welsh heroine Jemima Nicholas. A man of many words.. he described it as very very good 👍 and he’s currently munching on his 4th Welsh Cake of the day 🐷

Day 4 – Jasper

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This morning we left Banff and began our journey to Jasper, with a few detours along the way. The first of these was a beautiful walk at the Johnston Canyon to see the lower falls; a wonderful display of how nature can make art out of ice. It was however incredibly slippery at times so thank God for the railings of the walkway, which was suspended off the side of the canyon wall. The shades of blue of the frozen falls against the white of the snow was a photographer’s wank bank, so we managed to get a fair few snaps.

Back on the bus to thaw out and we started the drive along highway 1A, which I have to say is probably one of the most scenic drives I have ever been on. The sky and the landscape was constantly changing and it was hard to know which window to look out of.

We stopped at Lake Louise ski resort for a spot of lunch which was absolute torture as I was desperate to go and join them on the slopes. One day I will get to ski in Canada! At least I got to have some of the tasty slope cuisine that is chips and a hotdog.

Back onto the highway and we stopped at another frozen waterfall to watch some crazy people climb up it. I’m all for extreme activities but I think I’d draw the line at that.

We arrived in Jasper around 4pm and I have to say I’m not sure how I feel about the town. The surroundings are beautiful, but walking around the town itself, it’s just got such a odd feeling about it.

We decided to head into the woods again and came across Old Fort Point Trail. This lead us to sunset over the Athabasca River which was wonderful to see. It was such a treat and totally worth being out in the -8 again.

We ate in another brewery tonight (again.. sorry Santa) and watched some ice hockey before coming back ready to do it all again tomorrow. The walls at this hotel are rather thin…. let’s hope there’s no horny people in the vicinity!

 

Iceland day 3 – Roadtrip to Vik

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We started off the morning with a final visit to my Grandparents before they head off again on Azura. The sound of an all day buffet makes me want to try out cruising 🤣

The drive to Vik is a long one, so we obviously had to stop off at Bonus in Hveragerdi to get car snacks.

The first stop was Seljalandsfoss; the waterfall you can walk behind. Its pretty big so you can see it along Route 1 before you actually get to it and it’s such a thrill being able to go behind it, but my god it’s freezing. There’s also a hidden waterfall just along the path; however there was a large tour about so I was unable to wade through the stream to get to it #gutted  I did however get a very nice Icelandic hotdog for lunch #winning

Next up was Skogafoss; the waterfall you can walk above (we were hoping to stop at the Eyjafjallajökull visitor centre located between the two falls to learn more about the famous ash cloud but unfortunately it was closed.. boo hiss boo) The views from the top are amazing but you need a decent pair of legs to get you up there as it’s one hell of a climb up some rather wobbly steps.

Onto Dyrhólaey and for this one you need a decent pelvic floor if you plan on visiting the top car park. It’s a very very bumpy ride but the views (if it wasn’t covered by rain and mist) would be amazing. We however stood at the top wishing the mist to go, which it didn’t, so only caught a glimpse of the famous arch #soggy  We drove down to the lower car park to see what that had to offer, and we managed to see some puffins!!

The final stop was Reynisfjara beach, better known as the black sand beach. Again the weather wasn’t on our side but we were still able to appreciate the beauty of the dramatic landscape. It’s been voted one of the top 10 most non-tropical beaches so is an absolute must if you’re visiting Southern Iceland.

The drive back to Reykjavik was rather ‘twitchy arse’ as the rain cams down harder making visibility very poor. Tea tonight was a cone of sweet potato chips with my new favourite sauce; sweet mustard #fatty