Landing at Keflavik airport, my first thoughts were ‘cold, very wet and very windy. Surprisingly though the weather cleared after an hour and because of the sunshine and intermittent showers, we were treated to some very spectacular views and rainbows.

One thing that surprised me after driving halfway through the night then retracing our steps a few miles back the next morning, was that there were no trees. Driving the previous night, I could have sworn blind we were driving through forest, I saw no lights on the horizon, just the odd light of a farm here and there. Drive in the UK and you see the glow of the next town or village from miles away, if you don’t, you’re probably driving in a forest.

The black mirror-like effect of the lake at Dyrhólaey was enchanting and mesmerising. The ¼ inch of water on the black sand gave a perfect mirror-like finish. Fantastic! We then visited Skogafoss waterfall, the sun was low enough in the sky to grace us with a complete half rainbow in the spray of the falls.

Over midday, we drove across the front of Vatnajökull glacier to Jokulsárlón, a glacier lake connected by a short iceberg filled river to the sea. The evening light shining through the icebergs with a gorgeous green-blue aura.

The South-East coast, great plugs of lava jutting out of the sea, the A1, the main arterial road around Iceland, turns to gravel for long stretches!! Waterfall after waterfall, cascading out of the tops of mountains, appearing up glacial valleys with no tourists to spoil the views.

“STOP!’ I shout and slam the brakes on, “Reindeer”, a reindeer and her calf are gently trotting along the water’s edge of a fjord. Back in the car we wondered what we’d see next.

Before the afternoon light gave way to dusk, we drove of to see Hengifoss a very dramatic and high waterfall. The map in the carpark (this was a tourist attraction) explained the waterfall was about 2 miles away and looking up, it appeared it was all uphill!! Nick’s headache prevented him starting, Raof managed to reach Litlianfoss (pictured with Hengifoss in the distance) The route became a bit treacherous after that, about -3º and ice covered rocks with sheer drops to a freezing raging torrent below - and failing light. All worth it because Hengifoss is magnificent.