Golden Circle Tour, Golden Sunshine!

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Introduction to the Golden Circle Tour and journey to first stop

I'm picked up from my hostel and get transferred to the BSI bus terminal where the tour company I'm going with is based (Reykjavik Excursions). Here we board one of three coaches all going on the famous Golden Circle Tour. We meet our guide Steina who sets out the planned stops for the day, which include a greenhouse farm, Strokkur geysir, Gullfoss waterfall and Thingfellir national park.

On the drive out of the city Steina points out some large water tanks. Water from the surrounding valleys is stored in these tanks for use by the entire city. The water is extremely pure quality drinking water. Snow melts, seeps through the porous volcanic rock and then is pumped out and piped directly to homes. Almost all the population's homes are heated by hot water (a very small minority have to rely on oil or electricity). Electricity is generated from hydro turbines driven by hot water drilled down to 1000m underground. In high temperature areas this water is at 400 degrees celsius so it's actually steam driving the turbines to generate electricity. Later we drive by a power station with steam columns rising into the cold air. The pipes are zig zagged to avoid problems with heat expansion cracking them.

Apparently it is unusually snowy for this time of year. Climate change is definitely making itself known in Iceland. 11% of land area is covered by glaciers but this is getting gradually less each year due to global warming.

We pass a small plantation forest of pines. When they first tried to grow pines it seemed Iceland was the wrong place to try until someone pointed out that they were growing the dwarf variety! Start again! The only other imported tree that seems to thrive here is the aspen which farmers grow as a wind break. There is only one naturally occurring tree in Iceland and that's the northern birch which we see growing as scrub, the winter gales keeping their size down. Icelandic joke: If you get lost in an Icelandic forest what do you do? Stand up!

We have a potted history of the settlers to Iceland. Among the first were supposedly some Irish in th 600s, but they didn't stay as they didn't like living with the pagans! Next came the two columns guy that Eric had told us about on the Reykjavik City waking tour, Ingolfur Arnarson. He arrived in 874, but we learn that it took no less than three years to find his columns! His gods may have done him a favour as Reykjavik where they landed is less plagued by volcanic activity, gasses and lava flows than other parts of the country.

We pass a flat area of heathland covered in snow and can smell eggy sulphur. The landscape is beautiful, majestic, snow-covered and bathed in sunshine. Geological explanations from Steina include that Iceland sits at the top of the Mid Atlantic ridge at 2110m and the tectonic plates are gradually moving apart by 2cm a year. We can see Surtsey Island out to sea and find out it's a very new island formed from volcanic eruptions that took place over four years starting in 1963. Only scientists are allowed on the island which is designated a UNESCO site and it's providing invaluable research into how a newly formed island develops over time.

As we pass through another low, flat area we find out it is like this due to the effects of 25 glacial periods, melts, land lifting and sea retreating leaving highly fertile land due to all the embedded sea debris. Nowadays this is the largest farmed area in Iceland known as the South Plain. Every so often we see groups of Icelandic horses huddled together for warmth or eating from bales of hay (the farmers wrap it in white plastic here - surprised they can find it in the snow!). The horses first came to Iceland with the settlers and, like the cows and sheep, have not had any influence breeding wise from animals outside the country. Farmers have bred certain characteristics into the breed but they are essentially the same as the horses the settlers brought to Iceland. They have even retained the fifth gait - the tolt - which has been lost in other horse breeds. Horse riders from other countries are often surprised when they keep their legs close to the horse's belly only to find them shooting off at break neck speed. Mixed messages.

We pass through a village and Steina points out a school. She tells us that it is now a requirement that all school children should have learnt to swim by the age of 12. Since engineering advances made it possible to utilise hot water countrywide all schools now have thermally heated pools. It used to be that very few Icelanders could swim, the sea being too cold to learn in, and tragically many fishermen drowned as a result.

These days a large proportion of Icelanders are Christians but it wasn't always so. We learn that as new settlers came to the country they tried to convert the pagans to Christianity at the insistence of King Olaf of Norway and this forceful requirement almost resulted in civil war. A diplomatic law speaker engineered a compromise: Christianity would be adopted officially as Iceland's religion, but in private people could still practice their paganism.

Fridheimar Farm - Tomato Greenhouse

So after quite a drive we roll up at Fridheimar farm in Reykholt run by Knuter Armann and his wife. They have created a year round business growing mostly tomatoes in massive greenhouses that make use of Iceland's abundant supplies of thermal energy to provide heat and light, all regulated to the nth degree by a computerised monitoring system. 17 hours of light are needed a day which in the winter means using a LOT of electricity, the days being so short, the equivalent use to that of a town of 3000 people! They have to buy in boxes of bees from the Netherlands complete with queen bee to help pollinate the plants and we are shown one of the boxes with loads of bees crawling around inside. No pesticides are used, just good flies vs bad flies ( Iceland has very few insects compared to other countries). Localism is a big part of marketing for this farm who aim to get produce into the shops within hours of being picked. Packaging bears the name of the farm and there's a photo of the family on the back to provide a familiar local connection to the produce. Some people try some tomato soup and they even have bloody Marys on offer.

The farm also breeds Icelandic horses so those of us not having the tomato soup go to pet some of their very cute horses in a nearby fenced enclosure. They are really stocky animals and quite small, also very hairy, a definite requirement as most live outdoors all year round. Apparently there are around 70 thousand horses in Iceland, that's one for every three people! Think they might be a little horse mad.

Strokkur Geyser

Soon we are back on the bus and it's not far to our next stop, the Strokkur Geyser! We get layered up - it might be sunny but man is it freezing - and set off to wait for the geyser to blow. On the way we see steaming streams and at one point there's a big hole with furiously plopping and bubbling water like some evil stinking witches cauldron. It's utterly fascinating to watch; quite unbelievable really. The area around the geyser is completely icy and it's a precarious slip and a slide to get into position, camera at the ready behind the roped off area. I'm standing next to a group of girls, one of whom is videoing with her iPhone. Big excitement when the water pulses and mounds up before suddenly whooshing up a huge plume of steamy hot vapour into the air. The girl videoing is so surprised she accidentally hits the stop button much to the amusement of her friends.

I see a rocky outcrop in the distance that some people are climbing and decide to go join them to get a better vantage point over the surrounding countryside. It's a difficult climb, not just because it's steep but because it's totally covered in snow much of which has been trodden down making it really slippery. Lots of slap stick comedy moments later and eventually I manage it to the top and boy what an incredible view. Snowy mountains and plains as far as the eye can see, reflecting brilliant sunshine - sunglasses definitely needed! It's great to see the geyser blowing from up here too - it doesn't make you jump when you don't hear it. Photos taken and it's time to slide back down, a lot of it actually on my bum, reminding me of the hilarious sledging minus sledges when descending Mount Toubkal in Morocco. We get one last geyser ejaculation - sorry but that's kinda what it's like - and carry on to the next stop. What an amazing experience. Such an obvious reminder that this crazy planet we live on is actually a massive ball of molten lava ready to explode at the slightest provocation. So elementally primevil, rendering us humans insignificant blips in its epic timescale. Amazing!

I avoid the hoards eating mortgage requirement burger and chips and instead find a bench in the sunshine and eat my picnic. It includes olives, need I say more? Smug! I see a strange troll type figure nearby and wonder who he is. Back on the bus Steina conveniently tells me he is the giant Banther who used to live on the mountain near the geyser. He eventually divorced over a difference of opinion about church bells - he loved them, his wife hated them and he didn't want to move, so divorce.

Gullfoss - 'golden waterfalls'

The next stop is at Gullfoss or 'golden waterfalls'. The falls were saved from being trashed by a proposed hydro electric project by the amazing Sigridur Tomasdottir who's father (you'll have worked out his name if you know the Icelandic naming system!) owned the farm and land, including Gullfoss, in the 1920s. She mounted numerous protests, walking all the way into Reykjavik to enlist the help of a lawyer. She even threatened to throw herself in Gullfoss if they went ahead with scheme. All her environmental protests worked as the project was never allowed to go ahead and the government bought the falls in 1975 making them a national monument. The falls are incredible, vast torrents of cascading water crashing over different drops created by rock formations. One section near the top looks almost blue while the lower section alternates between grey and white. Amazingly there are icicles clinging to some of the rocks that escape being broken off by the mighty rush and bluster of water rushing by. Thank you Sigridur you amazing eco-warrior. What a brilliant 'save' for Iceland and for us tourists too.

On the way back to the bus the lecherous old bus driver sidles up to me and, with his stinky cigarette breath stenching the air, says 'beautiful, beautiful, beautiful'. Yeah whatever - you stink!

Pingvellir or Thingvellir

On the way to our next stop, Thingfellir National Park, we pass a dormitory High School. When students are on holiday the school becomes a hotel, bit like our UK university accommodation rented out as B&Bs. We also learn a bit about the way the Thingvellir rift valley was formed. It involved tectonic plate action and resulting eruptions exploding out of a crack along the meeting of the American and Eurasian plates. The rift valley created is 7 miles wide and we see a line of ragged rift mountain ranges marking the boundary of the valley on each side. A lake has now filled much of the valley and is approximately 114m deep. Anglers love to come and fish here for arctic char and brown trout. The water comes from underground and picks up minerals and micro organisms along the way. It's crystal clear and can be drunk straight from the lake. The resulting flora and fauna of Thingvellir is pretty unusual compared to other lakes around the world.

Alpingi

You would think all the geological and ecological special qualities would be the reason for the area's national park status, but it's actually the unique social history attached to the area that has given Thingvellir UNESCO world heritage status. This is where Iceland's parliament, Alpingi (pronounced Althingi) was established way back in 930 making it the world's oldest existing national assembly. It's purpose was to set new laws and rule on judicial matters, but without a a central executive body. Every year all the chieftains would travel to Thingvellir from all corners of Iceland, their journey sometimes taking many days. Merchants, craftsmen, entertainers and travellers also used to attend the 1-2 week annual event. The chieftains sat in a circle around the law rock with farmers encircling them in front and behind. The punishments meeted out for breaking laws were sometimes not obeyed or followed through. If this happened the person who had been done wrong by had the automatic right to kill the villain, BUT in turn the sons of the villain would then also have the right to kill someone else from the victim's family! Many feuds ensued!

Anyway, all this said, it's the scenery that has me captivated. Such beauty all around with the snow-covered rift mountains framing the blue iced lake bathed in blinding sunshine with blue skies all around. Stunning. It makes my heart sing to know that awe inspiring places like this are being protected. I feel so lucky to be here. As we walk further on we come to a board walk and I realise there is a geocache hidden under one end. With so many people about I go for the brazen search option. Usually most people are so wrapped up in themselves they don't notice other people doing odd things, those who do just dismiss geocaching antics as mild eccentricity and the odd person asks if you've lost something, at which point you tell them about geocaching and let another person in on the secret. I find the cache and write up my log in the book. I also drop off the UK travel bug I'd been hanging on to for my Iceland trip and a Broads National Park pin badge and replace the box. Yay another brilliant geocache find - IN Iceland no less!

Talking of hidden treasures, on the drive back to Reykjavik Steina tells us of an old Saga tale whereby this guy Egill Skallagrimsson accumulates many silver coins. He keeps them in two coffins. His family prevented him from taking the coins to Alpingi to throw to the crowds, so instead he manages to sneak off with the coffins and gets his slaves to hide them in the mountains near Reykjavik. He then murders the slaves so they can't tell anyone where the stash is. Some think Egill's silver filled coffins are still buried waiting to be found.

A final treasure is getting to see a glimpse of the Snaefellsnes peninsula way off in the distance . It's such a , sunny day and is the first time our guide has seen this view in such a long time she can't even remember when. The Snaefellsnes peninsula is where I'm headed tomorrow so this is a fitting end to my amazing Golden Circle Tour.

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