ICELAND RING ROAD, Conclusion (July 14-25, 2018)


Well...the morning after winning the English Pubs wheel of fortune was a foggy one, both outside and within my head! We ate breakfast in the apartment then headed off for a hike/spa day, perfect. We drove back down the Ring Road about an hour, almost to Selfoss where we spent our first 3 nights. Our research discovered the Klambragil River hot spring area in Reykjadalur. When we arrived at the parking area it was packed, even the road leading to it had cars lining it. Usually we would avoid such a crowded looking area, but we did it. Once at the trail head we joined a line of hikers that included many beautiful horses!













The 3.5km trail to the hot springs was easy, but the first 3/4 is up, up, up! My fog cleared nicely during this slog! The distance, although only 2.3 miles, was deceiving and we noticed people giving up and turning back, they really shouldn't have done that! After rounding a few switchbacks with beautiful vistas we came to an upper green valley where the steam was rising all around and the smell of sulphur was in the air...kept walking!










Once we crossed through the dense fog at a small bridge with boiling water all around we saw the hidden gem lined with a small boardwalk. We were told the warmest section of the natural geothermal stream, about 105 degrees, was at the end so that's where we went. They have open air changing stations, so the shy types beware! These people won't see you again, so drop those drawers!!












With our bones still warm from the long soak we began the trek back to the car. During the hike we were starving! We read about geothermal "Earth Cooking"...let's find a place! Depending on where you read it, as much as 99 percent of Iceland's power is generated from renewable resources and of that 30 percent is from geothermal, cool. Found a great restaurant and tried very traditional items, food was great, but the fact that it was cooked by the earth's tremendous heat source was pretty cool!










Now it was time to try one more spa and a very famous one at that! The Blue Lagoon was about 30 minutes away so off we went for our 4PM pre-booked time slot. We waited until we were in the East Fjords to book this, but many recommend booking before you arrive to get the time slot that best fits your schedule. We asked around about the Blue Lagoon and the consensus was that you have to try it at least once.













We probably spent 2-1/2 hours at the lagoon. It was crowded, they served beer and wine in the lagoon, I was comfortable. My true opinion, we did it, once! An advertising genius has made the recycled waters from the visible mammoth geothermal plant into a money maker!!! Oh well.. When in Rome....







Back in Reykjavik we parked the car and since we showered at the lagoon we were quickly off to find dinner around 8PM. I know I've said we enjoyed the traditional food around Iceland, but it really is quite good. We found the Salt restaurant down on the waterfront had an available table, cool. Our daughter had Salt fish and beware they really mean SALT FISH! I had tasty Cod...again. My wife was the winner with her risky choice of lamb shank, she had never had lamb before!! A good thing for our daughter was that we had extra sauce to tame down her SALT! and my wife's portion was enough for 3!! FYI...I am literally typing this tonight with the smell of lamb shank simmering in our Dutch oven, yum!










After we finished dinner there would be no bar hopping, we were exhausted! Our final morning before our flight was spent drinking coffee, last minute shopping and walking yet some more. Reykjavik, especially Old Town, is truly an amazing little capital city.










Iceland as a whole was more than we had expected, a jaw dropping experience around every corner. At 40,000 sq miles the island nation is roughly the size of Maine or half the size of the UK and in the end we drove a total of 2,100 miles...shew! When my wife and daughter threw out the idea to visit here we knew it would be fun, but I didn't expect we would want to immediately return to keep exploring. We always find sayings that we like to repeat...Positive Is How We Live, Not all who wander are lost, take the path least travelled etc, but the windshield of an Icelandic Land Rover said it all....One Life, Live It!









The end. Until next time!!