Just before the dark broke I left Santiago. It was strange. Everything had been leading to the city but now I was leaving it. I was heading in the opposite direction of the arrows. When I found them. And there was a bit of checking my phone map especially by the motorway. Eventually I got on a trail of blue arrows, though less frequent than the yellow ones. An hour got me out of the city proper but it took […]
The albergue in O Cebreiro was freezing that night and, though I had three layers top and bottom, I could not get warm. Unsurprising then when I went out and found the village a pretty winter wonderland in the snow. Again I decided to take the main road, though a little longer, as it would be safer. The day began beautifully with just a little falling snow though this turned into icy needles in my eyes, worsening to a blizzard […]
“It’s the second-highest.” “No, it’s the highest.” “No, it used to be the highest, then they found another one.” “I refuse to believe you! Prove it!” “There’s no signal.” “Ha! See, I was right!” So went the argument as we enjoyed a break from the most un-Icelandic heat of a summer’s day, sitting in front of Glymur, the second-highest waterfall in Iceland. (The highest is now Morsárjökull if you’re a waterfall nerd.) Regardless, Glymur is pretty awe-inspiring, even if it turns your legs […]
There’s no place like home right? The last few weeks have been pretty busy preparing for a long-overdue summer trip home. Aside from catching up with friends and a million errands, I’m most looking forward to spending time with the family of course and driving around the Déise in Co Waterford, revisiting some favourite sites. Copper Coast Drive Waterford’s Copper Coast UNESCO Global Geopark extends along the county’s stunning coastline. Explore its length to uncover cliffs, hidden coves and sea stacks. Pic @irishskies […]
This is an incredibly hard list to write. I mean incredibly. So I’m cheating a little and adding some together. Look it’s my list so I can ok? Some of these are pretty touristy but then again there’s a reason for so many people going there. The Islands A post shared by Discovery Gallery (@discovery.gallery) on Nov 16, 2017 at 7:18am PST This is totally cheating but the Blaskets, the Skelligs or the Aran Islands will all blow you away, […]
(This was written in July but between one thing and another I’m only posting it now. Just in case you think Iceland looks this sunny and warm in October. It doesn’t!) One of the things that you just can’t escape when you’re living abroad is, no matter how much you love the country, or how great a group of friends you have – you will miss your family. And that’s why it was so nice to meet up with aunts and […]
If you visit Reykjavík you’ll probably notice a large glass dome building perched up on top of a hill Öskjuhlíð. Well that’s Perlan, a former water reservoir and now cafe, natural sciences museum and viewpoint, and it’s well worth a stop. Built in 1988 and designed by Ingimundur Sveinsson, Perlan was originally just a hot water reservoir, designed to hold 1 million gallons of geothermal hot water and in 1991 the glass dome was added. Recently I stopped by to check out the new Glaciers and […]
Snæfellsnes is one of my favourite places in Iceland. Last year I spent almost two weeks there and this summer I was keen to go back and see some new places there as well as some old favourites. Just a couple of hours from Reykjavík, Snæfellsnes is easily doable as a day trip but as I was coming from the Westfjords I decided to take the ferry from Brjánslækjar to Stykkishólmur. It takes about the same length of time as driving but at least you […]
A safe place to park, with a nice view, away from lights to take aurora photographs. Not much to ask right? Apparently yes as I continued my way around the Westfjords in Iceland. That huge solar storm failed to make an appearance up here though. After a lazy-ish morning of just going to the pool in Bolungarvík, I drove around from Flateyri to Suðavík noting places for aurora watching. I had the genius (and modest) idea of marking them on […]
After leaving Ka at the airport (and conveniently collecting two friends who arrived just as he was leaving) I headed north again. It was a bit late in the day to go right into the Westfjords so I decided to find a place to camp near Eiríksstaðir, the site of Eiríkur Rauður’s farm and birthplace of Leifur Eiríksson. After driving up and down a washboard gravel road trying to find the campsite, I finally called and was told it […]