Staying in the North

May 2003 saw me enjoy a five day break in Iceland, timed to be at the same time as the Annular eclipse of the moon that occurred in the early hours of 31st May.

Five days is enough to see most of the usual touristy things that one can do from Reykjavik. We did manage to get up onto a glacier, though that was the only ice we saw. We saw some stunning waterfalls and also had a most enjoyable day trip with "Mountaineers of Iceland" in their 'Super Jeeps.


Don't worry - they are most definitely not into animal cruelty. One particular lamb seemed to take a particular liking to our white vehicle while driving down a river. It would seem that it's mother wasn't as big as the one with four wheels that had suddenly made its day. The only way to get it out of danger from being mangled was to scoop it up and deposit it a couple of hundred metres away!

By the time we left our hotel in the early hours of 31st May 2003, the weather had taken a bit of a turn for the worse, so eclipse viewing from South West Iceland seemed improbable.

Fortunately our contingency plans included a chartered Fokker 50 aircraft which took off from Reykjavik Domestic City Airport at 2.45am. After a fantastic flight that involved flying round in circles 60 miles north of the Arctic Circle (and some champagne), we eventually landed back to a rain sodded airfield at 5.15 am.

Not the most environmentally friendly holiday ever, but still great fun!