Iceland is a
wonderful playground for the adventurous young. If, like me, you are old and feel the cold then a camping
holiday is not for you.
A flourishing
tourist industry is always a mixed blessing - for all that it gives it also
takes away something of great value, some essence of what human societies
should be. Iceland is in great danger of losing something it won't be able to get back.
It's cold: during
June the weather was mostly dry and mostly sunny but a cold north wind kept the
temperature between 2 and 10 for most of the month - a British winter with leaves.
The campervan is a
mixed blessing. It gives you great freedom and a level of comfort, but I found
it isolated me from other people and led me to do a lot more driving than I
intended. There were places where, with hindsight, I should have stayed put and
waited for the weather to change - something fairly reliable in Iceland. The
temptation is to use a cold wet day to drive on to the next destination. I am
though still fascinated by the challenge of living in a small mobile space so
will continue to improve the van. Would I do another conversion? If it could
earn me some money then yes.
It seems that
everywhere you find greenery in Iceland there are birds nesting, and not just
any old birds, but the most elegant and charismatic birds, the waders, wildfowl
and seabirds. It's a visual and aural feast and a delight to photograph.
The landscape is
breath-taking, and the light a photographer's dream.
The people: With two
notable exceptions, I met only those who were working in the tourist and
service industries. They were almost all young and always polite, speaking
excellent English with mid-Atlantic accents, but too many were unsmiling. I did
not often feel welcome as a person. The exceptions were Imgimar Garthanson, the
nice old hippie with the long grey beard at Reykir, and Runar, the camp site
manager at Seidisfjordur with the Nottingham accent, and also with a long
beard! (Beards - what is it with beards now? I hardly saw a smooth cheek on a
man.) I had great difficulty understanding Imgimar, but still managed some sort
of friendly relationship.
So this I suppose is
the big learn: a deaf man in a camper is not, without huge effort, going to
forge relationships with other people. As a handicapped communicator I had
largely failed.
The Faroes of course
are different in several ways.
- Tourism is a minor factor, so their society has not been distorted by it in the way that Iceland's has.
- There are no lava plains or geothermal vents so the landscape is green and mountainous - sheep country like Wales.
- The summers are even cooler than Iceland - average high in the summer is 11 compared to Iceland's 13.
- The bird and animal life is poorer with fewer species and all of them available in Iceland.
Much as I liked the
place, for as long as my focus is on photographing birds I am unlikely to
re-visit.
So would I visit
Iceland again? Yes, but not by sea! I would focus closely on the wildlife I
wanted to experience and pay a local expert to get me to the right places. I
would fly and either use buses, or hire a 4x4 and stay in hostels. A two-week
stay would be plenty unless I was with a family or in some other social situation with people I
could hear and communicate with.
So here I am at home
and back into my old routines, the future an open book. I've enjoyed writing
this weblog and all the comments I've had, so I will probably start a new one
soon.
If you have been,
thank you for reading.
