Saturday 5 August 2017. Today we are booked on a tour called The Golden Circle. This is just the name of a tour - there is no place or region in Iceland called that, but it is a circular tour and takes in four main sights: A power station harnessing the warmth of volcanically heated water and steam from below; the large and impressive Gullfoss waterfall; a geyser park - a collection of craters with boiling water, one of which spouts to an impressive height every seven minutes or so; and finally the rift valley between the tectonic plates of Europe and Northern America, which is also close to the site of the first Icelandic parliament set up by the Vikings (Norsemen really, Vikings didn't stay long enough and to them viking was a verb describing their sudden raids).
We'll just cover half of the trip this time, namely the power station and Gullfoss.
It is our last day in Iceland. We were due to dock in Reykjavik, but were told last night that there was no room due to other ships coming in so we docked at Kollafjord, a short distance away.
We were to dock at 8:00am and were up very early as we were on a full day tour which meant we had to meet at 8:15am anyway. We were woken by our alarm at 6:00am - sheesh kebabs! I'm supposed to be on holiday!!! So we were able to get out on the Promenade Deck to watch our approach to the port.
The tour started with the power station. Whilst interesting that by the means of naturally hot water this power station delivers hot water at 40 degrees to every house without need for them to warm it up and that it also powers a huge percentage of their electricity, a collection of basically cubic massive machines is not going to hold my interest for very long...
I did my best to be excited by the collection of rocks, but the best bit to me (and certainly the most satisfying) was the chance to visit the loo... I'm just a philistine I know... But in fairness, I am a philistine on tablets for water retention...
The power station was in a rather remote setting to say the least. Though a large party were riding horses in a circle in the next field until their team leader decided they were all capable of staying in the saddle and they set off away from us. God only knows where they had come from or how they got there... There were lots of places where steam just gushed from the ground. It was this geothermal activity that was being used and captured at the power station.
Our next stop after an hour's run in the coach is at Gullfoss waterfall - a spectacular large waterfall.
You thought that was it, didn't you? Wrong!
It's a long and steep climb down to the falls themselves. We check the time available. Ah well... it has to be done!
First there's a lot of steps. I was starting to wonder how I'd get on climbing back... But then there's a steep slope without the aid of steps. I carried on here on my own. Fran opted to stay at the bottom of the steps.
After this point I have to climb upwards again to the rock platform. To the right people standing on top of the cliff indicate the path down which I have come so far. The steps lead up a slope just out of shot to the extreme right. You can just make out the path of the river leading away from the camera and another smaller fall further on is visible from the tourist complex and car park.
Halfway up the slope to the top waterfall and noting that everyone on the top seems to be no older than 40...
At this point, reached by simply climbing by walking, I realise that there are no handy steps to get to the top, just the natural rock. The lowest step I've found is only the size of my foot and it is knee high...
So I spend a minute or two here, pondering...
But what the hell... The jump down jarred my knees, hips and teeth - I'm not as nimble as I used to be! Then it was the expected breath taking climb back up, Fran forcing rests on me going back up the steps. I didn't argue...!
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