A Trip to Iceland
This year, instead of Majorca or Corfu, why not plan your holiday with a wildfowling theme. Every year hundreds of thousands of fowl make the annual migration from Iceland to Britain so I thought that it might be worthwhile reversing the trip and visiting out feathered friends on their breeding grounds.
From Glasgow, the flight by Icelandair is a very short hop. It really only compares with a domestic journey, given that the time in the air is little more than one hour. Hardly time to strike up a conversation with the many Icelanders on the Boeing who have been over here to shop in Sauchiehall Street.
Icelandair provide an excellent series of Breakaway week and weekend holidays from both Heathrow and Glasgow with inclusive prices beginning at £242 according to season. Accommodation is in a top class Reykjavik hotel and it really is possible to do and see a great deal in a three-night visit.
The first thing which strikes a visitor to Iceland is the sheer cleanliness of the country. Because the energy requirements are met from geothermal sources, there is a complete absence of pollution. The second lasting impression is likely to be the food. Icelandic fish and lamb really are out of this world!
It is the wildfowl, however, which is likely to be the main attraction. You do not have to travel outside the capital city to see it. In Reykjavik, wild geese frequently fly overhead at rooftop height. For the best opportunities, however, rent a car and travel around the country a bit. The rocky sea inlets abound with duck and then, of course, there is Thorsarver - a vegetated oasis amid some of the most dramatic geological formations to be found anywhere in the world.
Situated below the Hofsjokull glacier in the headwaters of the Thorsa river, Thorsarver is one of the principal breeding grounds of pinkfooted geese and a journey by road can really only be made when the interior tracks are open. By the way, most of the roads in Iceland have a compressed gravel surface and the best advice I can give is to suggest that you drive at least 10 mph slower than you think is safe!
You need have no worries about language when visiting Iceland. English is virtually a second language as a result of most of the books, magazines and food packaging in the country being in English. My abiding memory of my visit will be the surprise with which I discovered that it is possible to have a highly civilised society and a totally unspoiled environment coexisting in utter harmony. If only we had learned some of the lessons a couple of centuries ago!
