Iceland Overlanding Reflections

Our 21 days in Iceland was incredible, we started in Reykjavik for 4 days prior to commencing our 16 night overland tour with Madventure Overlanding is not for the faint hearted, and camping was tough as the weather repeatedly conspired against us. In total, we travelled 3,200kms circumnavigating the whole island. The Icelandic people are just superb, they’re friendly, helpful and interesting. Everything is done with a smile and nothing is ever a problem.

As a Brit the topic of weather is embedded deep in our DNA and in Iceland we were not disappointed. It rained and rained and rained and then rained some more but remarkably our Coleman Kobuk Valley 3 Plus BlackOut Tent stayed warm and dry throughout and our Vango 4 season sleeping bag kept us warm and snuggly with our coldest night being 2 degrees. A number of our group got sick with colds and fevers, thankfully we managed to stay fit and healthy throughout the trip, we took our vitamins daily and had great waterproofs.

We descended into the chamber of an inactive volcano, snorkelled in dry suits between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates, saw puffins, seals and a whale, climbed to the peaks of dormant and active volcanos, hiked on part of Europe’s largest glacier, trekked though a blizzard on 1st August to an active volcanic lake. We luxuriated in two geothermal pools when the outside temperature was cold and wet. We’ve eaten ancient Greenland Shark, reindeer tartar, Icelandic fish stew, warm dark rye bread, melt in the mouth Icelandic lamb and rich lobster soup.

There’s a lot of waterfalls in Iceland, over 10,000 to be precise and we never grew tired of thousands of gallons of ice blue water tumbling over volcanic rocks from a great height. The sheer scale of almost everything in Iceland has to be seen to be believed. Iceland is hugely expensive and at times our restaurant, bar and supermarket bills were eye watering. We made it work and compromised where we needed to so as not to lose the essence of the trip.

We travelled with interesting and interested people who we laughed with until our ribs ached and hopefully our paths will cross with a number of them in the not too distant future. Our Madventure crew of Karen, Leanne & Nicola we’re brilliant. They cooked us a tasty range of one-pot suppers, always had a smile and a warm good morning for each and every one of us at breakfast and juggled our schedule at regular intervals to ensure that we got the adventure we’d signed up for. We camped in some beautifully scenic campsites and others that had limited facilities with long queues for a shower. We didn’t manage many nights of uninterrupted sleep either due to weather disturbances, snoring from neighbouring tents or simply falling off our sleeping mats as we rolled over. This trip is not for the faint-hearted. Most days we were awake at 6am and in our sleeping bags by 9pm.

We’ve returned absolutely exhausted and in need of sleep and long long showers. It was hardcore and at times frustrating but we wouldn’t have missed it for the world. It was an incredible way to see the wonders of Iceland. Would we do it all again…….hell yeah!!