Icelandic Horse Riding, Blue Lagooning and Attempted Northern Lights!

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Ah we had the best sleep last night! We woke up to our alarm at 9.30am and we were both dead to the world cos it was so pitch black outside!! We had a quick breakie downstairs cos the horses were awaiting our arrival! They picked us up at 10am for our Icelandic horse riding expedition but it was absolutely pitch black and made it feel like it was about 3.30am and we just wanted to go back to bed!

They drove us about an hour to Islenski Hesturinn horse riding where we met the loveliest couple! After teaching us about the little Icelandic horses and how they are so disease free they don't even need to have jobs over here in Iceland. But as soon as they leave the country for a race or anything else they are not allowed back in Iceland cos of diseases getting in. They were saying they had just sent a whole lot of horses over to NZ for The Hobbit movie and none of them would be allowed back afterwards! 😞 She told us that they were very calm and placid. I was like 'whew' cos I don't seem to have an amazing track record with horses. They just don't seem to like me! So anyway, we rugged up in full blown blue body suits which absolutely sum on me and we looked sensational! Both ben and I had just bought new gloves and they said that they had some we could use them so ours didnt get dirty. So we put these flimsy, relatively dirty gloves on thinking they must be great! We went outside to meet our horses. Ben had never riden a horse before so they gave him the most placid horse ever and he was lovely. Mine took one look at me and head butted me in the chest...good start! Clearly even horses from Iceland don't take a shining towards me! I tried to pat it and 'get to know' it like we were told to but I just kew there was not a budding relationship between us! We hopped on the hosre and did a few laps of the backyard then started our jouney through the red rock landscape that is Iceland! It was pretty cool. The horses were generally pretty well behaved though mine just didnt wanna listen to anything I was kicking it to do! We were taught how to do the 'Icelandic Tolt' which was kinda of like trotting I thought but neither of us had any idea if we were doing it right. Supposedly when you are doing it it just feels like you are 'gliding'! Mine did NOT feel like gliding! I was bouncing all over the show! About 30 mins in I had lost all feeling in my hands due to the worlds most useless gloves and it was actually incredibly painful. So much so I actually couldnt pull on the reins. We stopped at one point and Ben said his were exactly the same and so we kept trying to do whatever we could to help each other warm our hands up! But unfortunately there wasn't a lot we could do and it kinda took away from the cool experience a bit! We were so grateful to get back inside and warm up! But it was an hour and a half of wicked landscape and pretty cool horses and we would DEF recommend this company if you are wanting to go horse riding in Iceland. The couple who own it were amazing!!

They dropped us off back at our hotel and we had about 20mins to have lunch – which we had prepared earlier! 😊 We had been told how expensive Iceland was so we went to the supermarket on the first night and bought lunch supplies and treats! We had a quick shower to warm up and then packed our togs and boarded our bus to the Blue Lagoon. Unfortunately for us we had a large American woman who was with a group infront of us who did not have an inside voice at all and after an hour and a half on the bus we were ready to push her out of it! But we made it to the pools at about 3 and it was already starting to get dark!! The inside of the building was absolutely pristine! The changing rooms were so clean and nice unlike the pools we went to in Budapest!! It was pretty expensive at £50 for transfers and the blue lagoon cos it is so touristy but I reckon it was worth it! It was freeeeeezing outside and so we tried to take photos that ended up being the snappiest snap shots ever, before we submerged into lovely hot hot springs! They had a bar in the centre so people were drinking around the pools and there was so much steam you couldnt even see much infront of you as you were swimming round! It was crazy it was actually in the middle of nowhere! They had a white cleansing mud at points on the side of the pools that you could smother yourself in which was meant to be good for your skin, and really powerful waterfalls! We stayed there about 2 hours and got out into the freezingness only to find that someone had knicked our bloody towels! So we stole another two of other peoples and headed back inside to warm up and change! We got back on the bus after doing a few token jump shots outside only to find the flippin annoying American woman was on our bus again! Luckily I think she had had a few wines and mixed with heat this had simmered her down a bit as she was much better!

We got back to the hotel and were so relaxed and tired but as we went into reception we saw that our Northern lights trip was on for tonight after it being cancelled last night. So we went upstairs, asked about somewhere we could go for dinner and found 'the best fish and chips in iceland' – At Harry's. And do you know what, they were really yummy! Massive pieces of fish – the plate was exploding! After filling up massively we got on the bus to the Northern Lights. Everyone was buzzing as the trips had been cancelled all week due to bad weather so everyone was very hopeful! They make it so that if you dont see them one night you can continue to go each night while you are in Iceland until you see them which is pretty good. So, some people had been trying for a few nights. We had been told our chances were pretty slim tonight and in 5 days time it was meant to be fantastic conditions for it – great! So off we hopped to stand outside and stare into space for 2.5 hours! And we saw absolutely nothing!! It was so cold that there were periods where I got back on the bus temporarily to de-thaw and then headed back out. So dejectedly everyone got on the bus, strapped in only to hear someone yell that they could see some. So off we all got again and stood for another 30 mins and saw nothing 😞 We were so disappointed but there was nothing we could do! We tried! We didnt get back to the hotel till about 2am so were knackered but it was a great day despite not seeing the lights! 😊

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Too bad no northern lights
Looks like you are trying everything Iceland has to offer.