I felt quite brave , or should that be foolish , gambling on this being the very moment the earth started to rumble and shake .
I felt quite brave , or should that be foolish , gambling on this being the very moment the earth started to rumble and shake .
My husband Mike had done a great job of researching and booking selfcatering accommodation at a different location each night , working out a route that would take us from a busy city , via remote areas where we might not see another human being for hours , returning to the capital Reykjavik on the final day . Our first night was spent in a small , modern house a few miles from the airport , booked through AirBnB – bring your own supplies , access door-key from a coded box , let yourselves in and sleep well .
I woke early next morning and sat in the peaceful kitchen with a coffee , contemplating the view under an overcast sky . Across rough farmland I could see a scattering of small houses , barns and sheds , with an occasional little group of grazing ponies . On the far horizon a dark grey mass of volcanic mountains was revealed as the low clouds slowly drifted and parted . A lone cyclist peddled past in the middle distance and I started to grasp the fact that , at about 330,000 , the whole of Iceland has a population only slightly larger than Brighton – and two thirds of those live in the capital city area . I could already feel myself relaxing at the thought of heading away from built up Brighton and out into nature .
Our 27 year old son Dan happily volunteered to drive the 4x4 hire car for most of the trip , with brother Conor ( 18 ) riding shotgun and keeping the music flowing as our holiday DJ . He quickly became finely tuned to the ebb and flow of the wi-fi connection as the week progressed . On a quest to visit some of the area ’ s main tourist attractions , known collectively as The Golden Circle , we headed off to the , ancient seat of Icelandic democracy since 930 AD and , coincidentally perhaps , where two tectonic plates meet . We walked down into the deep ravine where the towering rocks have been pushed and pulled apart over millennia . I felt quite brave , or should that be foolish , gambling on this being the very moment the earth started to rumble and shake . After all , Iceland is home to 30 active volcano systems . We looked down from a high ridge and
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