Moving North:

North of Reykjavik are a couple of deep and very pretty fjords and we took the long road right around them rather than the short-cut tunnel. It is probably a combination of moving further north and the approaching winter that the temperatures have fallen and the last few days have been getting steadily colder. On the mountains lining the fjords are patches of remnant snow from last winter - has it never been warm enough this summer to melt them?

We followed the road along the shore of Borgarfjördur and beyond, meandering along the Hvitá River. In the distance we could now see the Langjökull glacier, the second biggest in Europe, to one side and the small Eiríksjökull crowning a volcano to the other. The clear skies are a welcome change today from the cloud cover that is a constant companion and the view of the mountains far away has been great.

And of course, another day, another waterfall. But this one was different: Hraunfosser is a long string of cascades and falls that emerge from beneath a layer of lava. The clear filtered water falls into the dirtier water of the river coming directly from the glacier higher up. And just a short walk away the same river gave us the Barnafoss (Children's Waterfall), where the river tumbled down through a narrow constriction in the riverbed under a natural rock bridge with boiling turbulent foam.

And the last wonder of the day: the Deildartunguhv, the largest hot spring in the world. At first we were the only ones there, but quite suddenly a coach arrived and disgorged about 50 French tourists who buzzed all over the site in 5 minutes and then we gone again! The water here boils and bubbles bursting out as small fountains or from holes in the rock wall. Steam envelopes everything and the sulphur smell assails the nostrils. Again it is amazing how close you can get - you would only need to stretch you hand a little over the barrier and you would be in for serious burns!