Having craved an adventure holiday for some time (we're one of those peoples that can't just sit by the pool and chill!) I knew I wanted to book something that both me and Rich could do as an activity.
Glacier Hiking was for me the best choice due to that A. there is not so many places round the world where this can be done. B. Rich was very much up for it after learning that his favourite film Intersteller was filmed on glaciers in Iceland so wanted to go there and feel like an astronaut for himself, minus the space suit and fish bowl for a helmet :)
The Extreme Iceland version of this tour gives you not only the Glacier hike but also a day of sight seeing around the main even so its a looong day, but so worth it!
We started at 9am and drove down to the south coast of Iceland to our first excursion, The Black Sand Beach
Black Sand Beach (Vik beach)
This ended up being one of our favourite places we visited and also got Rich on a beach for the first time ever due to how unusual and surreal it was!
We were lucky with the weather again having that it was a sunny day, obvs not get your bikini out weather but was a good day to go :)
The sand, as the name suggests is black which is pretty cool, the sand is black as it is volcanic. The weird rocks are actually basalt columns and lava formations which is why the rocks looks amazing!
Black Sand Beach in Vik is not the only beach of it's kind, you can actually visit black sand beaches in other volcanic areas including Maui, Hawaii, Papenoo is Tahiti and Shelter Cove in California to name but a few.
2 . Solheimajokull Glacier Hike
After many watch out for Matt Damon Jokes on the route to the glacier (you'll need to watch Interstellar to get why you might not want to run in to him on another planet, or in this case the set of the scene of the film, the glacier.) we arrived at our destination.
Glacier hiking can be pretty dangerous so a helmet, harness and a ice axe are required. The ice axe being the coolest part obvs :)
Crampons help you grip to the ice, they are like yellow sandals with huge spikes on them. You need to tred pretty hard (walk a little stampy) to get your footing cus the glacier hike is also pretty steep.
Felt like I had done a proper work out afterwards!
Spot the hikers in this pic!
The glacier was breathtakingly beautiful, and again the weather was great so we were thankful it wasn't raining or hailing whilst climbing,
Our guide pointed out loads of interesting things and sights during our hours climb, we were also lucky to see an ice cave.
Ice caves come and go so we were happy we had the chance to see one and even venture inside!
3) Skógafoss Waterfall
Another good thing about the sun being out is that it meant at our next stop, Skógafoss waterfall, is that the rainbows came out to play :)
Winter is such a good time to visit Iceland to see the waterfalls, having now seen this in really hard snow, then on the lower grounds in Iceland where this waterfall is in the south it looks really springlike!
There is the option to climb hundreds of stairs to few the waterfall from above but after our glacier hike we were just happy to see it in its rainbowyness and not do anymore climbing!
4) Eyjafjallajökull Volcano
Eyjafjallajökull you may recognise as this is the volcano that hit headlines around the world in 2010 when it erupted and put everything on standstill for travel in Europe!
The volcano is actually always covered by is own glacier which is one of the smallest ones in Iceland.
The buildings below it were not there before it erupted but opened a year or so later as a visitors centre to learn all about the 2010 eruption.
5) Seljalandsfoss Waterfall
The last waterfall we saw on our trip was the smaller but lovely Seljalandsfoss.
This waterfall is not to be missed though as it is one you can walk behind which is well worth it. Just make sure that what you are wearing is waterproof!
And there you have it! The last of our excursions around Iceland! :)
Interested in booking this tour with Extreme iceland? Head over the the Sensational Iceland tour page here
Love, Sarah x
What an amazing place :)))) x
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