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MY BEST ROAD trip was driving a Land Rover Defender around Iceland.
Who: Thomas Fanning, Dublin
Route: South West, Iceland
Distance: 1,235km
Time: 6 days
When: November 2015
Vehicle: Land Rover, Defender
Having fallen in love with Iceland in the summer of 2014, I decided to return to experience wintertime Iceland in November last year. The general consensus from Icelandic travel veterans is that summer and winter are two unique but equally incredible experiences.
Planning your trip well in advance will ensure you get the absolute most out of an Iceland trip. We booked Airbnbs each night and these were our target destinations and we tried to limit each day’s driving to 200 kilometres. The Icelandic scenery is so rich and diverse it’s important to leave lots of wiggle room for stops.
For this trip we hired a modified Land Rover Defender billed by the rental company as a SUPER DEFENDER. In general the main roads are quite good and a two-wheeled drive vehicle would suffice but there were a couple of occasions where we wouldn’t have been able to proceed without a 4×4.
We arrived around lunchtime on a Friday, collected the Defender from the rental company beside the airport and made the short drive to Reykjavik to grab supplies. I highly recommend renting a MiFi hub. It was cheaper than renting a GPS from the car rental company and having constant internet access is very useful when trying to decide between local attractions.
After a long day travelling and getting prepped for the trip, we eased into things by driving to the Blue Lagoon and spending a few hours chilling in the geothermal waters.
Our destination for day two was the Westmann Islands. We caught a bit of luck here when our host told us the ferry wasn’t sailing from the intended port but had to be moved due to silt. I had foolishly ignored text messages (in Icelandic) from the ferry company thinking they were related to data roaming charges. This meant we had a much shorter drive and gave us more time to explore the south west of the island but also meant we were on the boat longer and would have less time on Vestmannaeyjar.
Vestmannaeyjar became internationally famous in 1973 when Eldfell erupted and the entire island had to be evacuated. Our Airbnb had a hot tub with “a volcano view” and it was very reasonably priced. I think they underestimate the premium “a volcano view” could bring in.
The closer ferry port back to the mainland had reopened on Sunday morning so we were able to do the shorter crossing and continue with our trip. Not everyone in our group had done the Golden Circle so we were going to spend most of Sunday following the most famous tourist trail in Iceland.
The Golden Circle contains three primary stops but there are dozens of other points of interest. Kerið is my personal favourite, it’s a volcanic crater lake located in Grímsnes. When you climb down to the shoreline it’s eerily quiet and the red gravel makes it feel like it belongs on Mars.
We did did all the big hitters on the Golden Circle with the exception of Þingvellir which we were saving for the following morning. Our accommodation for the night was in the national park and as with all the Airbnbs we booked for this trip, it contained an outdoor hot tub to help ease stiff bodies after a long day driving.
After a short drive to Þingvellir to gawk at the earth literally tearing itself apart we were all set for the longest drive of our trip. A 230-kilometre drive to Snaefellsjoekull National Park.
As we were leaving the National Park I noticed Google maps was offering an alternative route that didn’t involved driving on the main road (Route One). Being the adventurous type I lobbied for the new route and after a quick vote we decided to change course.
This turned out to be one of the best decisions of the trip. We travelled for hours barely seeing any signs of life and being completely blown away by the diversity of the landscape. At times it felt like we had landed on the moon but a few miles later we were in green farming valleys that almost made us homesick. It’s worth mentioning we would not have been able to complete this leg without the Land Rover. At times the road was barely deserving of that title and there were a couple of steep inclines and declines. The Super Defender took it all in stride and we made it safely to our destination.
We were staying two nights in Snaefellsjokull but you could stay here for weeks and not got bored. We did a snowmobile tour up the glacier which while expensive ended up being worth every penny. We drove into a cloud and couldn’t see more than a few metres ahead. Our guide said it was too dangerous and we would wait a few minutes for to see if it passed. After ten minutes he indicated we would have to go back down but just as we started the snowmobiles engines the cloud lifted and we were greeted with the most amazing view of the Westfjords.
On our last night in the Snaefellsjoekull we were driving through the park in total darkness when the Northern Lights decided to make and appearance. We’d been desperately hoping to catch them and had all but given up. We pulled in to the side of the road and bore witness to the cosmic ballet taking place directly over our heads. It’s one of the many experiences from this trip I will never forget.
The following morning we drove back to Reykjavik, the Airwaves music festival was on and we were using it to wind down from the road trip. The Super Defender was no longer needed so with heavy hearts we said goodbye.
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Awfully nice of them considering it was supposed to go back to free.
@Seth Cheffetz: Go back to free probably the wrong term “become” probably more correct. Very annoying it didn’t become free when it should have. The only reason to keep charging should be to make it widder
@Seth Cheffetz: But they haven’t actually reduced the price at all…… they just no longer can charge tax on it….. they’ll continue to receive the exact same amount…… but are trying to dress it up like they are giving something back
@Augustus hoop: If they can not charge tax on it then will all tolls drop in price?
@Augustus hoop: If they can no longet charge tax on it then are they reducing the cost of all tolls arounf the country.!
@Seth Cheffetz: I’d love it to be free but if it were free to use then the Eastlink would be overrun with traffic.
It’s hard enough to cross it at busy times as it doesn’t have the capacity to handle 21st century volumes.
there is a dire need for a second bridge beside it which I know is planned but when will it happen?
@Chris Mackey: you don’t pay VAT on the M50. It’s €2.10 if you use a tag and €3.10 if you don’t. The full amount of this goes to the operator. The only charge or VAT is on the monthly toll tag charge.
@Kal Ipers: totally agree. Remember walking across the bridge before it was opened. No insight for cyclists or increased traffic congestion.
That’s big of them. All the DCC counsellors had the chance to abolish the toll about 2 years ago & they voted not to. #screwthemotorist must be a mantra.
@Matt Donovan: what do people trained to give guidance on personal or psychological problems have to do with tolls ?
@Boganity: nit picking much are we? The journal doesn’t allow for edit autocorrect phukkups (see what I did there?)
Can people claim the paid VAT back…..
@Pauliebhoy: yes send me on your back details and I’ll do it for you
@Jamie: *bank
@Pauliebhoy: company cars already do.
@Jamie: *wank
@Pauliebhoy: it is relatively easy to give a refund to people with an electronic tag. It’s not possible to refund people who paid cash.
Hold on so Its not DCC at all it’s just the vat is being removed. Is there vat on the others? That bridge is well paid for. Toll is a scam just like the M50.
@Bilbo Baggins: governments are a scam
@Bilbo Baggins: If everyone simply stopped paying the M50 scam, that would be the end of it. Same with the tv license scam.
“Pleased to announce a drop in toll charges”
Realistically though they are now going to be charging the proper price after revenue told them they shouldn’t be charging vat……right ?
@Jason Ebbs: revenue told them they should be charging vat, the European court for them they shouldn’t.
@Mark Boyle: cheers
Absolute thieves in DCC the day they voted to retain the tolls after people believing the promise that it would be abolished after 25 years. It was not DCC’s to take – the users had paid for it already as agreed.
DCC should be “pleased to” admit it had nothing to do with them. Chancers.
Should be done away with altogether! The bridge has been paid for 50 times over now
“We are please to announced that ee’re so incompetent that we’ve been needlessly charging VAT for several years.”
The Toll Bridge is a direct tax on working commuters and small business toiling away every day.
I wonder which party is the majority of DCC?
When the East Link bridge was opened in 1984 we were promised it would be free after the cost of building and some profit was taken….It was never planned to still be a toll bridge 33 years later…..
Pretty sure that bridge was finally paid for in 2014 and in 2015 DCC gained control of it. Thus it is now nothing more than a double tax.
@Colm O’Sullivan: I’ve just remembered that Shane Ross had a lot to say on that. He wasn’t popular for it.
http://www.shaneross.ie/category/transport/the-m50-and-westlink-bridge/
@Fiona Fitzgerald: well he’s in power now and can do something about it or is he only able to complain when he’s on the outside looking in?
Wait for the price increase in about 2 or 3 months time
What was the criteria or classification for the East Link bridge for it to comply with Revenue’s VAT-free status? What about the M50 toll bridge? (Public versus private ownership perhaps?)… but just don’t start me off on the ridiculousness of that other rip-off subject!!
Given the priority DCC is giving to taking traffic that’s crossing the Liffey out of the most central artery between north and south (O’Connell Street-College Green-Nassau Street-Kildare Street), it would make more sense to encourage traffic that isn’t going for the city centre away from the next closest route (Samuel Beckett Bridge) if at all possible.
Getting rid of the toll on the East Link would be a massive help here.
It is adding to the traffic problems – totally in adequate bridge, three lanes merging to one – madness and then paying for the privilege.
Traffic is bad enough at peak times there with a toll, if you scraped it it would be chaotic – would agree with it free outside of peak times as it needlessly puts traffic on the Sam Beckett bridge
@John Fahey: That’s the whole point of something being free John, everybody’s able to use it then whether it’s busy or very busy
We paid for that bridge for the past 25 years -Goes to show DCC cannot be trusted
Wonder if it applies to e-tag users?
Am sure Mr Ross had a lot to do with this. ..? What a minister.
@John Scott: Would you ever read this before you talk nonsense?
http://www.shaneross.ie/category/transport/the-m50-and-westlink-bridge/
It’s actually a price increase if you take VAT off original charges. All prices should be cheaper.
Who do they think they are fooling? All motorists should drive to DCC and block the entrance to their own “free” car park.
Joy of the motorbike is no toll on east-link or m50 but shh don’t tell them
This needs to be barrier free now.
Can I get a VAT refund on all the VAT that I paid
Poor Thomas Clarke is turning in his grave. He dies for Ireland in 1916 and then gets his name associated with a Toll Bridge … which was supposed to return to the Irish people free if charge…
Did anyone if the Clarke family object to this insult to a 1916 martyr ?
This reduction in charges is not what you think.
The DCC aren’t doing you a favour.
This is a change for the run-in to introducing charges at every junction on the M50.
They may drop the charges again in a few months and likely intruduce the junction charges early next year.
Don’t be fooled, you have been warned.
Cos it’s not worth a b**** s ,Samuel Beckett is nearly as quick and is free !!!!
Great, so more vehicles on a bridge that should be twice, if not triple, the size!!!
When are they going to expand it???
Takes over an hour some days to get across it
Great, that just means way more cars on a bridge that should be twice if not triple the size!!!!
Takes an hour to get across it some days
When are the going to expand it????
Vats great
have your say