Traveling with the Stanfords 2025

Thursday 7th March was the start of a few days of beaches and glaciers. We stopped in the town of Vik for groceries and diesel. It had rained off and on most of the morning so we popped into the Lava café for a snack and then went to the Icewear store so Sara could buy a belt. Oh dear!  Several hours later we left with a large credit card charge, an excellent pair of wool lined pants for Sara (which she wore for the rest of the trip), a beautiful sweater for John and two hand knitted warm hats - and oh yes a belt! Icewear started in 1972 as a local knitting company with the slogan" Be Warm be well"  We got a break from the heavy rain and stopped at Reynisfjara Black Sand beach, which has impressive cliffs and sea views. The beach is also known for "sneaker waves" which often push further up the beach than expected. The offshore rip currents are infamous for their strength and ability to drag helpless people out into the freezing cold open ocean. We carefully took ph...

We arrived in Iceland late Sunday March 3th after a day and a half of travel, ready for 2 weeks of fun exploring the land of fire and ice! The next day we picked up our camper van and headed into Reykjavik, spending the afternoon wandering the streets and sights along the sea front. The city has interesting architecture and loads of good places to eat; we had an excellent lunch at the Bastard Grill.  Tuesday the 5th we spent several hours in the hot waters of Blue Lagoon. Quite a unique experience with blue waters, rising steam and white silica face masks. The lagoon had been closed for a few days due to volcanic activity just 10 km away, and we were lucky it reopened. We thoroughly enjoyed the experience and continued to stop at hot springs for the rest of the trip. After a stop for groceries, diesel and water for the van we headed to our first stop in Thingvellir National Park. We arrived at dusk in wet and windy conditions, something that was repeated for most of the week. Since...