This is a different world, one where past and present collide through a shared bond with nature. As you walk past the moss-covered fields of old, you begin to wonder, you are now retracing the steps of those mythic men and women who made this land their home. The age of sagas and Viking exploration is ever present in Iceland, and their connection with nature is all too powerful to be ignored. 

These are hard times, but so were the times of those first settlers. Travelling now is filled with danger, albeit not from the elements and the will of the ‘gods’ but rather from an invisible danger. Yet a steadfast will for something new, and thoughtful care can make your fortunes in this land of nature. 

While travelling across Iceland you get the sense of a never changing vastness in a landscape where history was shaped by myth and legend. From the deep ridges, carved by waterfalls with water so pure and cold that reassembles a silver plate, to the distant lava fields which have lost its might and became frozen in time, this landscape is one of juxtapositions. The chill of the glacier wind breaks harshly into the warmth of the hot springs, who are often filled by green moss and algae so delicate as if ready to burst at first touch. All which has been preserved almost unspoilt. 

You move onwards, through the rock, sand, and gravel of the road, through a changing weather where the sun gives way to sudden fog or a deep blue hue as the day is done, and as you discover more from this land the more you wonder of the stories of those who transit these parts. The country itself invites you to experience its history through its landscape.  

A fishing village, a lone grass top hut and the ruins of a distant homestead, all with long names, brings you back to those initial steps by people who first, as travellers, saw this land. Yet these are fleeting instances, a quick turn the wrong way and you miss them, as they get swallowed whole by the mountain ridge near the moss-covered field or by a windswept fjord. Indeed, the high-rise, bustling nature of consumption have here become the enemy of nature, and so those settlements which do appear resemble more that nature which surrounds them than the idea that created them. 

This is the legacy and the myth of those explorers of old, where sagas of honour and family duty mix with the immovable environment which they reflect, and so the descendants of those settlers express this connection to their past by caring deeply for the rugged, often dangerous, landscape which surrounds them. Yet as you make your first move across this place, there is a welcoming warmth which extends an invite into a new unknown. 

The only ask is that while you cross this often-desolate landscape you anchor your experience to a newfound respect for the land of old.

Edit:
This entry was written after traveling across Western and Southern Iceland. A much-needed respite from the chaos of Birmingham. The beautiful views and the welcoming people inspired me to write this entry.