Narrowboat Firecrest

The itinerary for our 3rd day in Iceland was a gentle hike to the Valagil falls,  whilst Borealis was held at anchor in the bay at Ísafjörður. Despite it being midsummer, we looked out at snowcapped hills, and although I hadn’t intended to, I wonder if captured some dolphins in my photo, or perhaps nessie had joined our holiday

Ísafjörður is a fishing town and the farms were visible from the ship,

This was the only port where we had a tender transfer to shore.

No need for waterproofs today, but we both wrapped up well in our hand knits

Is it wrong to bring your own Icelandic jumper to Iceland,  if it is I apologise. Traditional Lopi yarn is usually exported to the UK, but for some reason there has been a shortage, so our sweaters were knitted in another Scandinavian yarn called Drops Alaska, Amanda’s is a traditional icelandic design called Riddari and mine is a modern variation called Telja. We did visit some local yarn stores and saw both yarn and completed knits for sale but I decided not to buy any more.

After my mini photo shoot, our guide pointed to the head of the valley and sent us on our way

Thankfully we didn’t have to climb to the top

I also had chance to enjoy some of the many flowers in bloom, many were familiar to me, but the white flower with yellow middle is Holtasóley, Icelands national flower.

Valagil was probably the least dramatic of the waterfalls we’d seen  but having the opportunity to stroll and have enough puff to chat to our fellow travellers made it a very enjoyable day.

It also meant that we had the opportunity to have a stroll through the town before we returned to Borealis ,  Many of the Icelandic towns have embraced inclusively and taken to adding a rainbow street to mark Gay Pride.

Iceland did feel a very welcoming place and we got an overwhelming sense of pride in the country, its history and heritage, as a whole, from our tour guides.

And I saw some colourful Iceland poppies growing in a garden

But it was time to return aboardand as we couldn’t swim that far, we got squashed onto the tender like sardines,

For an exhilarating speed ride – it probably wasn’t all that fast but it was close to the water and felt it

Luckily for us there was a boarding platform but at the end of the day the tenders were hoisted back to deck 3, where they reverted to becoming lifeboats again

We had time to lounge by the pool

Enjoy a curry for dinner

Before an evenings entertainment from a Neil Diamond tribute act

Before we headed up to the observation lounge for some late night dancing

while we watched the midnight sun.

A perfect day that never ended

(And no apologies for the number of photos today, Emma has asked for lots more,)

We woke to find ourselves docked in Akureyri, in total contrast to Monday’s steep sided Fjord, the landscape seemed quite flat.

Although we quickly realised that we couldn’t see the full view, we weren’t sure if we were in the rain, the cloud or a thick mist, probably all three. But nevertheless we donned our most waterproof clothes and braved the days excusion. Our first stop was at the Lake Myvatn visitor center for a bit of a geology lesson about this surreal landscape of thermal springs and mini volcanoes.

We discovered that the “mini volcanoes” were actually a very rare phenomenon only found here in Iceland called pseudocraters.

They are not true volcanic craters made by erupting lava, but are effectively the burst bubbles made when hot lava flows over wetlands and the steam created between lava and water, bursts up through the lava like a bubble in a boiling pan of soup.

For Game of thrones fans, Lake Mytavn is where Jon Snow and Ygritte got hot and steamy, amongst the hot steam in series 3. However despite the landscape being perfect for a bit of fantasy escapism, most of us escaped back to the tour bus pretty quickly to escape the cold wind and rain. Most of my photos were taken from the moving bus.

It was a great shame we couldn’t explore further because it really did feel like we were on another planet,  so much so that it is where many of the space expeditions vehicles are tested over the incredible terrain.

Our tour continued inland weaving through the lava fields and thermal vents until we reached the mighty Waterfall Dettifoss

It was only a short walk from the parking area to the viewing area but in the 5 minutes it took we got thoroughly soaked and chilled through, but it didn’t dampen our spirits, Thank goodness we’d brought a hip flask,  Posing for photos was a fruitless cause.

Again we didn’t linger but leapt back on the coach to visit our second waterfall of the day. This time the mighty Goðafoss. At first we could only hear the roar as we walked upstream, but we knew we were in for a treat.

The legend tells of the local chieftain Þorgeir Ljósvetningagoði, who decided that all  Icelanders should adopt the Christian faith. To prove his commitment, he threw all of his statues of Pagan gods into the waterfall, it became known as Goðafoss, which translates to the “waterfall of the gods” No one talks about having found those Pagan relics, but I can’t imagine anyone brave or daft enough to dive under the water to search for them

Again as with the previous days hike, the infrastructure that enabled people like us to enjoy the area was brilliant.

And we returned to our ship soaked but happy

( and again apologies for posting so many photos,

Don’t they say “when in Rome do as the Romans do”, now we’re in Liverpool, its no longer just enough to Ferry across the Mersey, the Historic waterfront is now a major cruise destination. Last year my Sister in Law, Amanda asked me join her on a cruise to Iceland. I was about to jump ship from our lovely little narrowboat onto the Fred Olsen Borealis, for a 10 night trip in search of whales and waterfalls.

Neither of us were too sure what to expect, what to wear, how to act, would we get seasick, or bored, What was my tag line going to be? “no I’ve never cruised before”, or actually, “well I’m a continual cruiser, beat that”.  But we needn’t have worried, we soon fell into being waited on hand and foot, a very easy existence to get used to. And the whole atmosphere was very welcoming and friendly, and we were given something appropriate to wear.

And we quickly discovered what food and drink was on offer

And I think we had more room in our cabin than I have on Firecrest

Although after our initial walk around I didn’t think we’d be spending much  time in the cabin

I think we were the only passengers who had someone come and wave them off as Eric stood on shore and waved us off

He was going cruise out of Salthouse the following morning and moor up near Maghull to wait for me, interesting to see the Stanley Flight, tobacco warehouse and Titanic Hotel from the opposite side.

In the mean time Amanda and I had to dress for dinner, (it was more casual most nights)

And then settled in for the cabaret, although we decided that was a bit cheesy so most of our evenings were spent dancing with the band, bogeying with the piano guy or just chilling with the vocalist

We had 2 full days at sea before we reached Iceland, but no shortage of things to do Bar billiards,

Table tennis, (it was too windy for the paddle tennis and the outdoor deck sports)

And there was the gym, the jaccuzi, the spa, and beauty salon, We attended lectures about Whales and Icelands geology and history, we joined the Orca team on the observation deck looking out for whales,

But although the sky was blue, the wind was so strong they had to close the deck shortly after this, it was nigh on impossible to stand upright, let alone watch for whales. We did however have several sightings, although most were in the distance, our on board experts said we saw Orca, Blue, Fin, Humpback, Pilot and sperm whales during the cruise.

One of our highlights was seeing the Midnight sun not setting

Another was dressing up in the sort of sparkly clothes that aren’t my usual cruise wear

There was so much to do see and enjoy on the ship, that we realised by our 10th night we still hadn’t explored the whole ship or sampled all its delicacies, yet we weren’t returning home feeling fat and lazy, but energised and invigorated.

And that was just the cruise, we still had to explore Iceland.

(Please forgive the number of photos I’m sharing, this is as much my own diary for me to remember a great holiday, I hope you can enjoy them as much as I enjoy recording them, but its without expectation.)