Discover Iceland
Find out why Patrick thinks Iceland should be at the top of your bucket list for exploring in a 4x4
You can drive a Land Rover through just about every country on this incredible planet of ours, but if you have not been to Iceland, then you have without a doubt missed out on something rather special. Iceland has been on my must-do list for as long as I can remember. Who would not want to camp under the Northern Lights? Or drive up a glacier? Or experience volcanoes? Sadly, my previous attempts at a Land Rover adventure in Iceland have been black-balled by cost and time. Until now...
My trip began with a call from my friend Nekkies Smit, an independent Land Rover specialist from South Africa. He wanted to go to Iceland but wanted me to arrange it, and as my reward I could join him on said trip. Simple as that.
The one thing that I have learnt when going somewhere new is to consult (or use) an experienced guide. Enter Andrew Fisher and Dawn Williamson from Venture 4x4; this British company are Iceland veterans and they had a spot for us on one of their summer trips.
These likeable teachers spend three months of the year in Iceland. While most of their trips are around two weeks long, we would only be joining them for the first week. And while their other clients would be shipping their cars over from the UK, Jaguar Land Rover had kindly arranged a new diesel Ingenium Discovery for us in Reykjavik. But would it be able to keep up with the Defenders?
Getting to Iceland was the easy bit as it is one of the fastestgrowing tourist destinations in the world. We just hopped on an early bird flight from Luton to Reykjavik, then took an expensive cab to the dealership to pick up our standard new Discovery. Two things told us this was not a UK market Disco: the number plate (which we would lose during a river crossing) and the tyres. According to the Reykjavik dealership they put decent winter tyres on all of their Land Rovers. Ours had Michelin Latitude X-ice North 255/55R20s on. The rubber felt pretty soft, and I wondered how they would perform on sharp rocks?
Exploring the city would have to wait until the end of the
trip as we had a date at the docks. Andrew, Dawn and several of their Defender-driving clients, who had shipped their Defenders over at great cost, were waiting for us. As clients (who like us have flown in) are reunited with their Defenders, Andrew installs UHF radios into each vehicle. Andrew is in a standard Defender 110 TDCI 2.2. I ask him about what sort of brief he gives clients before a trip. “I ask them to install a raised air intake as some of the water crossings can be a little on the deep side. Underbody protection and good all-terrain tyres are also a good idea. Obviously a well-maintained vehicle is essential,” warned Andrew.
No two tours that they host are exactly the same, though ours is described as the Iceland Plus, which should take us away from the main tourist routes and to remote places that involves some serious 4x4 action.
While Reykjavik might be the most northern capital city on the planet, it’s pretty compact and small, so within minutes of heading southeast on Route 1 (the main tourist route) we find ourselves in the Icelandic countryside.
Eyjafjallajökull, that volcano which caused chaos and disruptions over European airspace in 2010, lies dead ahead of us. It looks peaceful from our Discovery, which would probably be able to outrun the Defenders if we had to make a quick getaway. Our convoy climbs into out-of-this-world volcanic foothills and lava fields. Soon we are in Hverageroi, home to a highly-active geothermal field, which provides natural heat for hundreds of greenhouses in town. The town experienced a serious earthquake in 2008 and today and you can actually watch video highlights of it in the quake museum located in the shopping mall.
Our next stop is Selfoss, the largest town in the south and our last chance to fuel up before we head into the true wilds of Iceland. As we leave the town, Hekla, Iceland’s most famous volcano, looms large in front of us. It’s name means the Hooded One and it stands rather tall at 1491 metres. While it has been belching out ash every ten or so years, locals say that it is due an eruption. We exchange tar for gravel and the incredible landscapes just seem to get better and better. Why go to the moon when you can just take an Easyjet flight to Iceland?
Katla, the volcano expected to be Iceland’s most troublesome volcano over the next few years, now comes into view. To our right are two glaciers, Eyjafjallajokull and