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We begin our journey around Iceland with traveller Laura Guiauchain in the spectacular Fjallabak National Park. We spend a night in the mountain huts at Lanmannalauger before exploring the breath-taking scenery of the park with its geo-thermals, spectacular rocky outcrops, delicately mossed streams, and ubiquitous rainbows and lakes.

Heading along the south coast we skirt past the Seljalandsfoss and Skogar waterfalls which are beautiful but crowded with bus tours from the capital, Reyjavik.

Heading further eastwards we slip beyond the reach of the day tours and out into a more remote and peaceful Iceland. On a sunny day its a mesmerising experience to drive for hour after hour as the scenery changes .One minute you feel you are in the Scottish Highlands then a strange mossy lava-scape takes over, only to be replaced in turn by a vast glacial panorama with the vast Vatnajokoll ice field streching down to the roadside from its icy mouth.

Our next stop is the spectacular Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon, a primeval landscape that transports you straight into the world of “Game of Thrones”. Then at the Jökulsárlón Ice lagoon ,you can watch seals frolicking around the eerie and surreal shapes of miniature icebergs which are trapped in the lake before they reach the sea

For decades Icelanders have modified trucks to conquer the landscape they inhabit. In Hofn ,we take a truck right up to and across the southern edge of Vatnajokull, Europe’s most voluminous glacier. There are spectacular views back down to the coast from a ridge at the edge of the glacier.

There is so much geology in Iceland that its easy to feel that you don’t really get under the surface of the culture .However ,our journey is in September and it is a time where you are sure at some point to pass a local sheep-herding festival. The farming communities are located in the more fertile lowland areas but the sheep are grazed communally in the highlands all summer. With winter approaching they’re herded down to special pens in the lowlands.

The next leg of our journey takes us from Hofn around the South Eastern edge of Iceland and up into the highlands. On the way we stop off at the old turf cottages at Saenautasel where we met up with the octogenarian Atos who was actually born and raised in this barren spot for the first 15 years of his life. These turf -covered cottages are a place to get a feel for the old crofting settler-life, where life was hard and food scarce.

By now the crowds of the coast and the ring-road are far away and we head across the moonscapes of the interior traversing black rock deserts and over bare lava formations.

The destination of our truck trek is Askja Lake and the spectacular Viti crater lake next to it which can be reached after a 40 minute trek from the road’s end across a black lava field. This is one of those locations to take a seat and sit for half an hour taking in the weird and wonderful enormity of the landscape around you.

Next we drive up to the North of Iceland to the Jökulsárgljúfur canyon to witness its mind bending geology. We start at the Selfoss waterfall - a magnificent horseshoe-shaped cataract; then travel downstream to the most powerful waterfall in Europe; Dettifoss.

Icelanders have been modifying their trucks for well over 50 years to take visitors up into the highlands and onto the glaciers.
We join brothers Thordur and Urn whose grandfather was a pioneer who opened up many of driving trails into the highlands in the middle of the last century.

Moving down the West coast we catch an old NATO rocket launcher right up into the heart of the Longjokull glacier. Here inside the glacier itself we see layers of ice laid down year after year just as one sees with rings in a tree trunk.

The last leg of our journey takes us back into the centre of Iceland where electricity from a hydro turbine heats the huts using water from the large geothermal field just upstream.

Iceland is now almost 100% powered by renewable wind, hydro and geothermal energy all the more prescient in the face of climate change.

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