5.11.19

There has to be a term you can use for a person who, although votes for and believes in a democracy, still unashamedly at times, has a fascination for royalty!

That’s me!

I confess I love everything royal! Having been thwarted back in 1982 by not being able to visit Balmoral Castle because ‘the lady of the house’ was in residence, I was determined this time to get in!

It was quite a drive from Kenmore, so we set off early. Loch Tay looked beautiful, and the sky was trying hard to stay blue.

The joy of google of course, is that it takes you the ‘quickest’ but not necessarily the fastest route! If that makes sense! We’ve discovered, to our delight, that in Scotland that usually means the road less travelled.

We even passed some ski resorts that sadly, looked like ghost towns. But it won’t be long before they’re buzzing!

Our tour of Balmoral was actually a tour of the grounds and the Ballroom (no photography). The foundation stone for Balmoral Estate (it’s not really a castle), was laid in 1855 replacing a smaller building that wasn’t big enough for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s growing family. The interior was finished 3 years later. Prince Albert had a major role to play in the design, building and decorating of the ‘castle’ but the poor bloke died in 1861, so didn’t really get to enjoy the fruits of his labour.

So if you are an anti-royalist, read no further!

My first glimpse!

As only The Royals would do, we started our tour with a cuppa and some shortbread before heading to the stables.

When she is at Balmoral for the summer, the Queen still rides every day. Without a helmet!

One of the stables had been turned into a museum of sorts, displaying all kinds of Balmoral memorabilia, from pony traps to uniforms, a map and model of the estate, local flora and fauna.

This is the local butcher’s van, obviously from a few years back, not delivering but taking away from the estate! Being privately owned by the Royal Family, Balmoral has to make money to survive, and their local produce of trout, pheasant and venison is a good money maker. Stamp ‘royal’ on it and add the ££££!

Princess Anne used the pony trap to travel to her 2nd wedding at nearby Crathie Church. She got married in Scotland as in those days, divorcees couldn’t get married in the Church of England, even though her mum was the boss!

Not sure where the horse fits in!

This is the meat cooler,

and this is the wine cellar, (not a secret bunker Jen and Grahame)!

It was hard to choose what to photograph. So I just took pics of everything!

The ballroom was the only internal space we saw of the castle. It was currently set up as a display celebrating 200 years since the birth of Queen Victoria. I found this historical pic on Google, and it is very relevant to our tour of the Ballroom. The Ballroom surprisingly, is used for balls! Twice a year the Queen hosts what is called the Ghillies Ball, inviting all the workers on the estate for a right royal knees up. This tradition has been going since the days of Victoria and Albert. Steeped in tradition, the Royal Family are piped into the Ballroom via the staircase at the end of the room, then take their place on a raised podium, to watch the dancing. And yes, the Queen still joins in – probably the Pride of Erin rather than the Highland Fling!

After the tour we were free to wander around on our own, so we took the time to explore a bit further afield. We found a pet cemetery of sorts, with strangely, no corgis!

Not sure what happened to poor ‘Dash’ who I thought was the favourite pooch!

Completely out of sight of the castle was this memorial to Queen Victoria’s second daughter Princess Alice. She was married off at 18 to a poor German prince and had 7 children, one of whom fell out of a window and died. Alice herself succumbed to dyptheria when she was only 35, a month after her baby daughter had died. Prince Phillip is Alice’s great grandson, making him and Lizzie second cousins, twice removed.

The River Dee runs right through the estate and is chock full of salmon.

The castle even has it’s own cricket oval, hosting games between local teams.

I thought the view of the castle from the cricket pitch was the best. It looked like the castle was just sitting in a paddock!

There are lots of houses on the Balmoral estate and I was astounded to learn we could have rented one for a holiday! What a shame I didn’t research better!

This one however is not rented out. Charles and Camilla spent their honeymoon in it.

Gee, he went all out, didn’t he???

We (read I) reluctantly left Balmoral. I was totally saturated in royalty, enough to last me til I got back to London!

I was glad that as we left, the Royal mail was delivered on time! Isn’t that kind of like sending stuff to yourself?

We drove cross country to Aviemore via yet more gorgeous Cairngorm scenery.

But the daylight was beating us again. By 4.30pm the headlights were on and it was nearly dark.

We sped down the A9 back to our bolthole.

A great day!

4.11.19

The weather looked slightly inclement when we woke up, not so much cold as damp! No worries! We set off from Kenmore heading south over the mountains along another exceptionally pretty sheep track. Descending into Glen Qualch was gorgeous.

We drove for 40 minutes before joining up with the main road, without passing a single car! We felt like we were the Lairds of Loch Freuchie!

Just after driving through Crieff, we noticed a sign off to Dunblane.

Those old enough would have the name of this little town etched in their memories as the site of a horrendous shooting in 1996 at the local primary school where 16 children and their teacher were killed by a lone, crazed gunman. A further 15 people were injured. We wondered how a small community coped with such a tragedy. The little children were only 5 and 6 years old at the time. About the same age as our own kids.

There are several memorials in the town, but the one we wanted to see was in the Cathedral. Created by sculptor Richard Kindersley who was a local, the monument is simple, yet absolutely perfect. The memorial is supposed to represent a standing stone, common in Scotland. Richard was inspired by a Celtic stone already on display in the Cathedral, and I tried to take a pic of the new memorial with the inspiration behind it in the background.

Along with the individual pew sculptured handrails, the cathedral also had another feature I’d never seen before, but which I thought was really apt. Perspex silhouettes of people sitting in the pews were placed strategically in the nave. It served as a reminder that this was a house of worship and contemplation, not just a another tourist attraction.

We left Dunblane glad we had made the detour.

Perhaps it was time for something to lift our spirits?

Doune Castle!

Can you hear the coconut shells clicking as the Monty Python knights approach the castle in search of the Holy Grail? How about Jamie and Claire entering Castle Leoch?

Oh dear, here I go again. What a movie tragic I am.

For an unimposing looking castle, Doune Castle packed a punch. We spent a couple of hours there, totally enthralled. The self-guided audio tour was a clever mix of Monty Python’s Terry Jones, Outlander’s Jamie, and some random historian telling the real tales of the walls within.

It was interesting to compare the two productions…. Monty Python used both the exterior and many interior rooms for filming, very frugal, quick and time constrained, whereas Outlander, lavish from start to finish, no expense spared, only used the castle for exterior shots, specifically the inner part of Castle Leoch. Although they did recreate the enormous fireplace and kitchen scene in a studio to portray Mrs Fitz’s domain! The difference 50 years makes in the funding of film world!

We loved it!

We loved the gift shop too. Particularly the customers!

Completing our circular tour of the day, we skirted the Trossaks via Loch Lubnaig and returned to Loch Tay via Killen.

Having sampled the salmon on Saturday, it was time to sample the pub.

Good choice!

Scallops and Haggis….no guess as to who had what!

3.11.19

What luxury to have a Sunday sleep in! Plus baked beans for brekky. We’re loving having some ‘down’ time in our little lochside cottage, ‘Pier View’.

Aberfeldy is our nearest ‘big’ town, and was made famous by Scotland’s beloved national bard, Robbie Burns, in his poem/song ‘ The Birks of Aberfeldy’.

I guess if you look at it another way, maybe it was Aberfeldy that made Robbie Burns famous??

Birks is the Scottish word for Birch (trees), and in Aberfeldy, they line each side of a beautiful valley, with a babbling brook in between. This was the inspiration for RB’s poem.

I confess to knowing nothing about Robbie Burns. My education in high school English lessons was limited to Shakespeare and John Donne. So it was time to do some research.

From what I could learn, RB was certainly a character! He fell in love and first started writing poetry at the age of 15, and from then on continued to do so! He must have had an amazing libido. Fathering 13 children to 5 different women (including 2 sets of twins), marrying only one of them, openly falling in love with another 2 women as well, phew! And he died at age 37! In between all that he managed to write over 700 poems and songs. Not hard to see what he died from- the poor bloke must have been suffering terribly from RSI!

It was a strenuous walk up through the ‘birks’, eventually passing several waterfalls. For the most part, we were alone, except for happening upon the occasional contemplative poet.

John had an attempt at telling the Bard that his poetry was rubbish, as the rhyming was a bit ‘sus’, but the response was disappointing.

It was a very peaceful and atmospheric little valley and the autumn colours were beautiful. Every now and then, a breath of wind would stir the leaves into action and they’d flutter down in front of you.

Exploring Aberfeldy further, we found an amazing bridge over the Tay River, built in 1733 to ward off and ‘threaten’ the Jacobites. In those days, Aberfeldy was nothing but a few thatched cottages, so to have this massive bridge built literally in the middle of a flood plain and farm paddock, was certainly sending a messsge to the Highlanders about Royalist power.

Not far from the river bank is the Black Watch memorial, a special and reverred Scottish Regiment of soldiers, born in the aftermath of the first Jacobean Rebellion of 1715. The soldiers wore black tartan to distinguish themselves from the Royalist redcoats.

The statue and where it was sited overlooking the Royalist built bridge, was very imposing.

We drove along the north bank of the river from Aberfeldy to Ballinluig, absolutely beautiful, then headed north to Pitlochry. Our destination was the site of the 1689 Battle of Killiecrankie, one of the few the Jacobites could actually call a victory. The Visitor’s Centre was closed for the winter, but we wandered around the wooded paths, incredulous really that this terrain could sustain any kind of battle. It was very steep, rocky, and heavily wooded.

‘Soldiers Leap’ is purported to be where one of the government soldiers, Donald McBean, leapt 5.5m across the Garry River at a fairly precarious spot, to avoid capture. (Pic from google).

The modern bridge over the Garry River now hosts bungy jumping.

Was I weird in thinking that not much had changed in 300 years? The ultimate highland fling!

We still had one important stop for the day, and it was getting late. We drove at a healthy pace alongside Loch Tummel to Kinloch Rannoch (what a great name, saying it even without an accent sounds so Scottish), then back past Dunalastair Reservoir.

I didn’t want to overdo my enthusiasm for film sets that some may have thought I’d done in Iceland, banging on an on about them every paragraph.

But I’d held it in all day!

I walked around the hillock in absolute rapture!

Of course the standing stones don’t really exist, so I had to weave a bit of Katie’s magic.

2.11.19

Did I mention somebody said Glen Lyon was one of the most beautiful Glens in Scotland? Everyone we met today said the same! We’re no experts, but we think it would be hard to beat. In fact, it is also the longest, loneliest and loveliest Glen in Scotland, according to the sign! But I’m getting ahead of myself!

We’d arrived in the dark last night so had no real idea where we were. Our Airbnb is right on Loch Tay, with a road between the cottage and the loch. We have a one bedroom hideaway on the end of the main cottage, with an upstairs lounge. Very warm and comfy. Speccie views of Loch Tay.

The loch frontage belongs to the house, and is like their back/front garden. We could see evidence of a well-used holiday home. Canoe shed, badminton court, fire pit, welly boot display.

Oh, and a Zen Garden! Truly eclectic!

Our mission of course, was to find Glenlyon House. We knew it would be closed for the winter but hoped we’d get permission to take some pics of the outside. We found it easily, just on the edge of historic Fortingall village. There were several cars around, but no people. We knocked on doors, no answer. So we just wandered around and happily snapped away!

You judge…I know where I’d prefer to be!

Glenlyon, Sydney (a few years ago during renos, best we could do).

Or Glenlyon, Glen Lyon!

If, indeed, Alfred Mount had come all the way from the Glen Lyon area to Petersham, I can absolutely understand why images like these would be etched in his memory!

I felt like I’d found a long lost relative! It was a gorgeous “biggish” house, stables out the back and an ornate front door at the base of the turret, with a marble inlaid entrance foyer.

Beside the house was a roaring stream, the noise thundering in a scene that was otherwise overwhelmingly silent.

The statue at the front of the house had a Latin inscription on it that had me puzzled. I did Latin at school, and believe it or not, my teacher was Scottish, 75 year old Mrs McInnes! She would be ashamed of me! But 50 years of inactivity had left me rusty.

Horas nonnum ero nis serenas.

The best I could do was

‘My brightest hours will end here’, but I called on brains trust Chris and I like his version better,

‘Hours that will not end are bright’.

Nearby, Fortingall village lays claim to having the oldest living treasure in Europe in its churchyard, the mighty 5000 yr old Yew Tree. Big call!

But the village had much more to offer. The beautiful churchyard had some ornate headstones, one of which was dedicated to the mother, father and sister of a man who had left the village to settle in Australia.

The imposing Fortingall Inn even shared the main street with an ancient stone circle.

And then there was this.

In the middle of a paddock about 100m from the road, was a stone sticking out on top of a grassy mound. It’s inscription read:

‘Here lie victims of the Great Plague of the 14th Century. Taken here on a Sledge, drawn by a White Horse, led by an old Woman’.

What beautiful words!

It was time to start the drive up Glen Lyon.

The Autumn colours were nearly, but not completely gone.

The Glen closely followed the River Lyon.

At Innerwick there was a WW1 War Memorial. Poignant, in such peaceful surroundings.

The Glen Lyon church boasts the oldest bell in Scotland. I thought it was the one on top of the belfry, but it was actually in a niche in the church portal! The church was very austere, very Presbyterian. But in my book, that’s all you really need if you are having a 1:1 with God.

We had been told by Hilary to look out for the Post Office at The Bridge of Balgie.

The propriotress was renowned for her cooking, particularly her scones. The broccoli and stilton soup wasn’t bad either!

One of us may have indulged in a hot chocolate with loads of whipped cream and marshmallows!

And one of us thought the postbox was a hoot!

It was here, contemplating the meaning of life over scones, jam and cream, that we came up with the momentous decision of what to call our Ford Focus.

Flaunting all previous alphabetical, gender and cultural traditions in our car-naming history, the choice was obvious.

Outlander spelling.

Glen Lyon continued for another 11 miles to Loch Lyon, but as there was no access to the Loch and it was a dead end road, we peeled off over the hills. Following no more than a sheep track really, we passed, well, lots of sheep!

We also passed Lichen na Lairige Reservoir with a very impressive looking wall! Shame it wasn’t the Wall! But you have to admit there are similarities!

Our little road took us back to Loch Tay so we turned right and began a circumnavigation.

Killin was a happening town, with lots of tourists, cafes and a 30 mile Funrun just finishing. The town is joined in the middle by the Bridge of Dochart that guards over the Falls of Dochart.

We parked behind the pub intending to drop in for a wee pint, but found this instead.

Much better choice!

The south side drive of Loch Tay was very picturesque, but light was fading and we weren’t keen to drive in the dark. We made it back to Kenmore just as the sun was sinking over the hills.

We were hoping to sample some pub fare for dinner, but both options were closed for private wedding functions.

There was only one thing we could do. Well two things actually.

Watch the colours on the Loch slowly fade, and gorge!

31.10.19 – 1.11.19

(No pics in this post, sorry! Either travelling in the air or in the dark!)

A 4am start is a big ask in anyone’s book I reckon. Add to that me feeling absolutely lousy with aches all over, and you get travel at its least glamorous!

Leaving Katie and Chris in blissful slumber (they had a later flight back to London), we had to return our beloved Snorri to the hire company office near the airport by 5am and were then shuttled to the terminal. If previous customer service was anything to go by, we thought it would be a miracle if anyone was actually at the car rental office! But there was, along with 10 customers. Trouble was, the shuttle bus only had room for 8! Lucky we were No’s 7 & 8 and weren’t No’s 9 & 10. They were told “The office is shut. Wait in you car until I come back”.

As I said, lucky us!

Our flight was very smooth and we winged our way over the west coast of the UK, even passing the Lake’s District and the canals we had travelled along a couple of weeks ago. It was all clear as a bell. Did I take any pics? Oops! It was such a treat having a window seat, nearly as good as sitting up the front on the top deck of a London bus!

This time we landed at Gatwick, so the above ground train back into Central made a nice change from the 25 tube stops to Heathrow!

Washing done, phone credit topped up, panadol plus x 4 swallowed, and all was well in the world.

Several months ago in Sydney, a neighbour brought down some research he’d been doing into the house names in our street. He didn’t find anything out about his own house, but did discover that our house was first documented in 1890, belonging to Alfred Mount, a local Stationer. By 1894, the house had been given the name ‘Glenlyon’.

I was on a mission! Knowing that people often named their houses after the place they originally called home, a few minutes on Google told me that Glenlyon was in Perthshire, and was “one of the most picturesque Glens in Scotland”. I didn’t need anymore persuading!

So today we set off to see what we could discover. Flight to Edinburgh, train to Perth, hire car to Glenlyon, just west of Aberfeldy.

We drove in the dark and mist from Perth for about 1 1/2 hours to our Airbnb home for the next 5 nights, right on Loch Tay. Our hosts Hilary and Dougie were there to greet us and are just lovely. After a bit of a nervy drive, it was great to finally reach our destination and see some happy friendly faces. Hilary had put the essentials, wine and milk, in the fridge ready for us!

Oh, and I did take one photo today, or rather John did.

Front seat, top deck!

30.10.19

We’d run out time yesterday to see a nearby glacier, so today we retraced our steps and headed back down the coast.

Sólheimajőkull glacier unfurls from the main Mýrdalsjőkull ice cap and from the main road is only about a 5km drive then a 800m walk. The walking track follows the edge of a glacial lagoon.

There were lots of school groups preparing to do an organised climb up onto the glacier, the only way you are allowed to venture onto it.

And yes, of course, this scenery also featured in GOT when the Night’s Watch are taken unawares by the dreaded White Walkers!

We left just as the rain started, and felt a little sorry for those school kids (or rather their teachers), being stuck up on the glacier in such miserable conditions.

We made a quick stop at the Eyjafallajőkull Visitor Centre which is opposite a farm that was directly impacted by the 2010 eruption. It’s hard to imagine the family having to be dug out of the ash when you see the farm today.

Iceland is a country of contrasts, and on our way back towards Selfoss, we happened upon two unusual sights.

Steinahellir Cave was used by the local farmers to house their sheep but these days it is empty. A sign on the door warns people not to use the cave as a toilet! Ghosts and spirits are said to loiter around the cave and one tale warns of not picking the enchanted ferns inside as bad luck will befall anyone who does.

Nearby, the ‘bra fence’ is quickly becoming a popular stopping point. Apparently a couple of locals stole some bras from a neighbour after a rather raucous party and tied them onto a roadside fence. Since then, people passing by have added to the collection! Considerably!

Lunch at a bakery in Selfoss was delicious, with these cute marzipan creatures adorning the counter. Very Icelandic, apart from the elephants???

The weather was really closing in, and there was not much to see because of the rain and fog. We made our way back to Reykjavik via Reykjanesfólkvangur National Park, an area of raw countryside. Three sights stood out. Kleifarvatn, a deep lake sitting on a volcanic fissure, is Iceland’s answer to Lock Ness, as it’s supposed to be inhabited by a giant worm.

Graenavatn, a crater lake with gorgeous teal coloured water, caused by the minerals and warmth-loving algae within.

Lastly, Seltún, a geothermal field scattered with bubbling mud pools and steam vents.

Our Iceland adventure was coming to an end. Back in Reykjavik, we negotiated the intricacies of getting into a rather complicated Airbnb apartment thanks to the millenials with us!

What a fabulous 10 days!

Totally spent!

29.10.19

Sunny blue skies had all but disappeared. We thanked our lucky stars the weather had been kind to us for so long, and packed the umbrellas, raincoats, gloves, scarves and beanies.

Our plan for the day was to visit the two waterfall biggies Seljalandsfoss and Skógafoss. But before we headed down Highway 1, we did a little bit of local exploring around Hvolsvőllur and chanced upon some treasures. The cute little church at Ninulundur led us off the main road. I loved the steeple and how ornate it was, compared with the simplicity of others we had seen.

On the way back to the main road, a farmer was carting his goats out of the farm gate, we think they were headed for that big chevre in the sky.

Sure enough, once we had passed, he continued down the road to where a truck lay waiting…..

But, he had a great waterfall right in his back yard and said he was happy for us to go and look at it as long as we were careful of the electric fence.

Ouch!

We have no idea what the waterfall was called, but as it was a totally unexpected find, it was beautiful!

Just up the road we found one that did have a name, Gluggafoss. It was magnificent, and, no tourists!

After climbing the first cascades you reached the upper drop, falling into a deep pool. The frozen icicles around the edges made it look very pretty, and very cold!

Back on Highway 1, Seljalandsfosss soon came into view. This is the waterfall you can ordinarily walk behind, but as the path had iced over, it had been closed. We jostled to try and take a pic of this beauty without thousands of tourists in it. Hard going!

One of us was a bit silly…

We were not so lucky grabbing a pic with no tourists 100m up the road at Gljúfrabúl. The waterfall cascades over the escarpment edge into a very narrow gorge, almost a cave really.

Everyone was slipping and sliding on the ice to get through the crevice to see what it was like inside, and Chris managed to peep through. He said it was very wet!

Another 20kms along the road was my favourite, Skogafoss. Falling over the cliff and plunging into a pool at the bottom, GOT fans should recognise this scene as the one where Jon and Danny have a bit of a pash after riding the dragons together for the first time. With a little help from CGI of course!

Beside the waterfall was a steep climb up to a lookout that allowed you to get up close and personal with the power and spray of water.

We travelled further down the coast to a little village called Vik, famous for its volcanic black sand beaches, powerful waves and dramatic basalt sea stacks called Reynisdranger. These also featured briefly in GOT as Eastwatch by the Sea (for those who are interested)!

The little church at Vik was in a stunning position above the town.

And it might have just happened to have a cache as well! Clue: you will find this cache under the only bush on the hill!

The light was fast fading, so we hightailed it off to our last stop, Dyrhòlaey, a huge stone arch next to a rocky plateau. The sand was the blackest I’d ever seen.

We’d had a huge day, and all agreed it was time for some R&R. John and I went to the local thermal pools for a soak (when in Rome….), then picked up pizza for dinner. A pool challenge was called for.

The results?

What happens on tour, stays on tour!

28.10.19

We were staying on a horse riding ranch, right?

Although the official horse riding season was over, we asked our host if there was any way we could go for a horsey ride and Stefania was more than happy to oblige.

So as not to inflict those little ponies with undue stress, John and I acted as official photographers while Katie and Chris cracked the whip! Well, it’s nearly Melbourne Cup time, so a little training was called for.

First up was to get fitted for helmets.

Then it was up in the saddle, Katie on Diljá and Chris on Stől.

After a few practice runs, sorry walks, around the indoor arena, Stefania announced they were ready to face the outside world.

The barn door was opened and the horses bolted.

Or rather sauntered out into the sunlight.

As they cantered, sorry walked, into the distance,

John and I poked our noses around the farm.

John found a friend to play with.

And I found some wet noses to pat.

The riders returned and we reluctantly left these beautiful creatures to move on to our lunch destination.

On Jane’s recommendation, the restaurant du jour was on a tomato farm at Reykholt, so obviously the soup du jour was….tomato! The place was surreal. Fine dining amongst thousands of tomato plants, in a greenhouse!

The greenhouse structure combined with a constant temperature inside provided by the geothermal water made for a perfect growing environment. Imported bumblebees from the Netherlands hovered above the plants, doing their pollinating ‘thing’. Ingenious.

The gin and green tomato ‘Happy Mary’ cocktails were pretty good too!

The soup and home baked bread was delicious, fortifying us for our next adventure.

Flúdir was just up the road, and is home to The Secret Lagoon (much like The Secret Bunker, Jen and Grahame)!

Not much of a Secret! But totally wonderful.

We wallowed around in the hot water for about an hour, which was great timing, as just as we got out, a bus load of schoolkids got in! Lucky escape!

Check out the lifeguard! Apparently there was a sign up inside asking people not to humiliate the lifeguard by taking their photo, but gosh, I didn’t see it!

But by far the most bizarre find of the day was our Airbnb. Originally our host Eysteinn’s ‘mancave’, his wife told him it was needed to bring in some more cash for the family. So it was converted into accommodation. Totally weird, filled with all sorts of ‘stuff’. A stuffed albatross, Whirlitzer jukebox, an organ, illuminated darts board…..

And a pool table, of course!

27.10.19

We were off to an early start to pick up our partners in crime, Katie and Chris, who had flown into Reykjavik late last night. We weren’t anticipating a -11° morning, and the ice on the windscreen was hard to shift. As soon as we poured water on it to clear the ice, it instantly froze again. It was like watching a Laurel and Hardy comic act! Pour the water on, take the water container back in the cabin. Come back out. Water had frozen. Go in the cabin to get more water……. It took us 20 minutes to actually clear the windscreen enough to be able to drive. But the morning light indicated it was probably going to be a sensational day!

The Golden Circle is the tourist trail for those doing the ‘Iceland in 3 days’ trip. It covers 3 major sites, and boy, was today busy! After seeing very few tourists for the past 5 days, it seemed they were all doing the Golden Circle today! The weather was magnificent!

Our first stop was Thingvellir National Park, Iceland’s most important historical site, where the Vikings established the world’s first democratic parliament in AD 930. The site has a superb natural setting, in an immense fissured rift valley, caused by the meeting of the North American and European tectonic plates. It was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004.

For GOT fans, Thingvellir was the stomping ground of the White Walkers and also the trail of the Wildlings, north of the wall.

You can take an easy walk up one side of the river to the Oxararfoss waterfall.

Walking back down the other side of the rift brings you to Thingvallakirka, site of the original 11th century church, with the current church built in 1859. What a cutie!

It was time to move on to Geysir, the original hot water spout after which all other geysers are named. Geysir has been pretty quiet for the past 100 years, so luckily, right next door is Strokkur, who ‘goes off’ every 5 minutes or so.

I’m not sure which was more fun…waiting for Strokkur to blow or watching the people watching Strokkur, mobiles and cameras poised at the ready!

Our last stop for the day was Gullfoss, Iceland’s most famous waterfall. It is a spectacular double cascade, dropping 32m and thundering down a narrow ravine. It was partially frozen and truly magnificent.

Our Airbnb for the night was a cottage on a horse farm. Very cosy and spacious!

Clear skies and Katie’s new camera produced the most amazing light show yet!

Thanks Chris for those amazing pics!

26.10.19

8am. Sunrise.

On the most perfect of days, blue skies and NO wind, we took some time to explore our surroundings.

Snaefellsjokull clear as a bell. Wow!

Budir church.

And Budir hotel. It cost so much, it was worth a few pics!

Borgarnes is one of the original settlement areas for the first Icelanders, sitting on the edge of Borgarfjordur. It is also the home and heart of one of the most famous Sagas, Egil’s Saga.

Briefly, (maybe not), Kveldulfur who fled Norway after a falling out with the king, (sound familiar?), died on the voyage back to Iceland and instructed his son Egill Skallaggrimur to throw his coffin overboard. Wherever the coffin came ashore would be their family home. Yep, Borgarnes!

Egill grew up to be a fierce and creative individual. Killed his first adversary at aged 7, raided Ireland, England and Denmark and in between all that wrote eloquent poetry. As I said, sound familiar?

Seems to be a theme running here….violent men who have a soft creative side!

Anyway, this is where Egill’s nanny Porgerdur bit the dust after she tried to save him from his father who was trying to kill him!

She threw herself into the fjord, never to be seen again.

And this cairn marks the final resting spot of Egill and his dad. Apparently!

The Sagas are so weird I’m starting to think the Northern Lights may have caused these guys to hallucinate!

We took the long route to Laugarvatn, pretty much circumnavigating Hvalfjordur, where both the British and USA had naval bases in WWll. R&R must have been interesting!

As we hadn’t seen a waterfall today, it was timely that we stumbled across Porufoss, totally hidden from the main road.

For GOT fans, this was where Drogon felt a bit peckish and devoured a few goats (Season 4).

Our little cabin for the night overlooked a wide valley with Burfell far away in the distance.

As it was a completely clear night, we were hoping for another light show.

Thank you mother nature!