Lights, geysers and a €12 pint in cool Iceland
The Aurora Borealis might have given him the slip but Ben Haugh still found plenty of highlights in Iceland’s glorious alien landscape
THERE, can you see it?’ he asks excitedly while pointing to the night sky.
I carefully follow the direction of his finger and squint until I see a dark grey blob, which stands out ever so slightly from the pitch blackness surrounding it.
‘Are you sure that’s not a cloud?’ I ask.
‘It’s the Northern lights; we just have to wait for our eyes to adjust,’ he insists.
It’s after midnight and I’m standing in a remote field in southern Iceland with my photographer, our necks craned to the sky.
Just moments earlier we jumped into our Jeep and drove at speed down a dark, windy road after we read a forecast teasing that the elusive Aurora Borealis might be visible tonight. I stare at the blob with renewed purpose, furrowing my brow and almost willing it to blossom like a butterfly into the multicoloured phenomenon I have only seen in pictures. An hour passes and the grey blob is still a grey blob. If anything it’s getting darker and we’re getting colder.
Nursing our sore necks, we admit defeat and vow to try again tomorrow night. Suggesting a trip to Iceland 10 years ago would likely have prompted bemused looks but the rise of budget airlines, such as WOW air, serving the country has sparked a huge influx of adventurous travellers.
The best way to see the country is by car and the island’s 1,300km ring road,