Author: keith

My favourite photos from the trip!

To finish, here are our best and worst things from the trip:

Best things…

Keith – Easy, the volcano, which was coincidental to our trip. Otherwise it’s hard to pick. Probably the visit to Dettifoss, to the spot where the first scene was filmed.

Jo – too much to pick from. The volcano was amazing, but so was the glacier hike, the whale watching and the day with Thor. Maybe the cake?!!

Danny – my best thing was definitely the volcano, a tiring and rocky hike but definitely worth the effort. Also the scooters in Reykjavik were epic.

Amelia – I have lots of favourites, but probably the glacier hike and the volcano are top two. And the food. And I really liked Vok baths.

Worst things…

Keith – The weather didn’t spoil our plans, but it would have been better with less wind and rain….but then this is Iceland! And the cost of everything – ridiculous, and it just meant we didn’t spend on the same things we would when holidaying elsewhere.

Jo – food being so expensive. I think we all avoided things on the menu that we would have chosen if it hadn’t cost £40 for some main courses.

Danny – probably not being able to kayak as much as we would have wanted because of the wind.

Amelia – the kayaking was definitely not my favourite, and having a cold wasn’t great either.

Whilst in Iceland we filmed a few videos. Far from professional quality, but should give the idea of how impressive the natural sights were!!

When you travel around Iceland by car you soon appreciate that not all four-wheeled drive cars are equal (actually, you learn the same living in Yorkshire in snow). When we booked, we upgraded our hire car from a regular 4×4 to a “Discovery Sport or equivalent”. Clearly the Icelandic use of the word ‘equivalent’ has an alternative, if not slightly ironic, meaning. Similar to the way they call some eruptions “tourist volcanoes”.

We ended up completing 2,987 km (1,856 miles if you’re American and can’t work in Celsius) so I’ve spent enough time in the Hyundai Santa Fe (that Avis thought was equivalent to a Land Rover Discovery Sport) to offer a short review.

Positives first. It has a big boot. It has air-cooled front seats. The touchscreen allows Android Auto. It had some form of drive assist that allowed you to set your cruise control speed and if it met a slower vehicle it would slow down to sit at the right distance behind. It had a useful heads-up display (though I couldn’t see it with polarised sunglasses on). It had a useful cubby-hole beneath the centre console big enough for one of my DSLR cameras, accessible from both sides. The engine isn’t bad (1.6 litre petrol with a mild hybrid boost means good pick-up) – it’s let down by a horrible gearbox…oh I’ve started the downsides already…

Important negatives first. This is not a 4×4. It has 3 “off-road” modes (snow, mud, sand) none of which made any difference off-road, nor seemed to provide improved levels of control. On gravel roads, of which there are numerous, it slid around in all driving modes – good car for drifting round gravel corners next to sheer drops then. That’s not to say it can’t off-road, it’s just not very good at it. We visited a glacier (or at least tried to) accessed via a long and rough trail – in the process we seemed to detach some of the underside of the car that protects the engine. This remained loose for the rest of the holiday, slowly being ground away!

To evidence required off-road capabilities, here’s a few examples of what the Icelandics drive. Point made.

Some other ‘features’ we enjoyed:

• It made more warning noises than necessary – it binged and bonged merrily each time you got in, with no clear rationale for each tone…you just had to wait for it to sing its song before you could start it.
• It pulled to the right on flat roads – actually this could have been the camber on most paved roads (tarmac to us in the UK) which was quite severe. Still, it loved to wander towards the edge of the road, typically to an unmade edge and then steep drop.
• It had no idea when it should change gear, nor when to deploy battery assist, making for some interesting accelerations (or lack thereof).
• It nagged constantly. Take a break. Put your seatbelt on. Don’t fall asleep. Turn me off before locking. Take a break. Why have you left me on again? Take a break.
• The start-up routine was akin to that a 747 pilot has to endure. A sequence of buttons was required to get it moving, and get that sequence wrong and you need to start again.
• The handbrake was not automatic, despite it being electronic. Who would design a car this way?!?! Put it in park or switch it off and the handbrake should automatically apply. Stupid Hyundai.
• The steering had literally no feel to it. I was mostly aiming it and hoping that my steering input suggested it move to where I might want it to be.
• The suspension was either broken or designed by an engineer who didn’t realise it was a 4×4 and hence shouldn’t hit the bump stops with the slightest hole off-road.
• The lane-keep warning system had to be disabled each time you started the car, otherwise guess what…it nagged you to keep in the lane with vague noises and vibrations that could have been any one of the nags it deployed to alert you to something which might be happening.

Despite all this, ‘El Nos’ as it became to be known did have one very useful feature for the traveller in Iceland…..

We called this feature the “geology shelf”, located just above the glove box – somewhere to store all the rocks we collected as we travelled! It was perfect for the task. So, if you are travelling to Iceland, don’t want to do any off-road (which literally means you’re going to get so far around the main ring road before having to turn around), like being nagged, and you’re going to collect rocks as you go, then this is the vehicle for you.

A Super Jeep is basically a customised vehicle designed for use in snow in Iceland. Icelandic petrol heads love a variety of vehicles, and our guide talked about the different vehicles he would like to own…the problem being the cost. The one we travelled in was 25 million Icelandic Krona – that’s £150,000 – but can cost up to £250,000 for a six-wheeler, or even more depending on the level of customisation.

So, what is it? This one is based on a Mercedes Sprinter panel van with a 2 litre engine. The van is shipped or bought out of the country, fitted with large fixed side windows, the interior equipped with 14 seats (plus the driver), and a step and entrance way fitted to the passenger side. The van is then shipped to Iceland for the important work….

Mechanically the engine isn’t changed, but a triple ratio gearbox is fitted, controlled by 3 computers to interface with the van’s existing automatic shifter. Even then, it still needs various buttons and switches pressed to move between the different ratios, which needs to be done whilst stationary. The vehicle is lifted on much larger rims and tyres – which cost more than 1 million Icelandic Krone alone, and last just 12 months as they do something like 25,000 km each year. However they don’t wear like normal tyres – the sidewalls fail due to constant pressure changing…

Also fitted to the wheels are the remote inflation devices, which use a compressor to inflate and deflate each tyre using a smartphone. The driver can change pressure with a simple press of a button and monitor pressure in each tyre.

The final significant change is the axles and transmission which comes from Ford. Longer axles fitted at a steeper angle mean the vehicle can’t have air suspension, but with air pressure in the tyres being able to be reduced to just 1.5 psi for snow (we ran 9 psi off-road and 25 psi on road) the ride is pliant and soft.

These vehicles are really meant to be used on snow, but of course river crossings are made easier with a snorkel which is around 3m off the ground.

Not too difficult getting through the airport – 90 minutes from arriving to being airside.

No plane photo as there were insufficient windows, but as we got to the plane the pilot was looking at volcano pictures on his phone!! We caught him doing it…

However, once on the plane there are always things to entertain oneself with.

A final view of Manchester from the air, before heading out over the Atlantic for much of the flight.

And we made it! So did the bags…..

The Icelandic volcano that last erupted in March 2021 is erupting again! Our agents are going to find out if we can visit when there. In the meantime, have a look at a couple of reports which have detail and videos.

Breaking news: Volcanic eruption in the Reykjanes peninsula

The eruption in Meradalir could be 5-10 times stronger than last year

Someone has flown a drone over the eruption, with two videos showing some incredible results!

We’re getting ready for another trip, this time to Iceland. Flying into Reykjavik, we will be exploring the Icelandic landmass over a couple of weeks, driving c1,300km anticlockwise whilst visiting a variety of attractions and staying in varied accommodation en-route.