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Gareth Morgan - Illuminating the Northern Lights |
The greeting on our disembarkation at Seysdisafordur in Northeast Iceland was dense fog and snow. If this was indicative of our ride around the isle of fire and ice, then we weren’t hopeful of seeing much. But as we climbed up on to the central plateau the weather cleared and there in front of us lay miles of volcanic plane interspersed with volcanoes akin to lots of little Tongariros dotted across the horizon. There are only 300,000 people on the island and the bulk of them down in Reykjavik, the capital snuggled against the coast in the opposite corner.
Up here in the east the vehicle count on the roads is as low as a couple a day – although as the ferry disgorged its weekly contents that count soared momentarily. But it’s a lonely landscape interrupted by the occasional cluster of farm buildings, sometimes complete with a chapel, reminding us of the Nordic/Lutheran roots of the population. Indeed the white farm buildings that break up the monotony of the green tundra-like growth and the volcanic grey, are reminiscent of the Amish settlements we rode past in Pennsylvania and Ohio a couple of years ago. But this time it’s the geography rather than their choice of religion that isolates them. The stocking rate of sheep seems to be around three per 20 acres.
But it’s the abundance of geothermal activity and rivers that gives us our most startling first impressions of the island. A couple of our fellow riders are deeply involved in the electricity sector back home and when looking at the glacial valleys all they can see is the potential to build dams and generate electricity. Indeed this is just what the country has been doing, with aluminium smelters being the most popular way of converting these vast energy resources into export earnings. Needless to say there is a live debate in Icelandic society now of just how much more of this should occur.
Despite the fact the many Icelandic houses get their heating of rooms and water directly piped in from the geothermal fields, and despite the abundance of hydroelectric power, Icelanders still have one of the highest carbon footprints in Europe. This is due to the high use of private vehicles – the population density is only one fifth of New Zealand’s and the standard of living is high so they drive cars – and modern ones. Interestingly the government has decided to do something about that and the plan is to be totally free of fossil fuel use by 2050. Already vehicles and fishing boats are being converted to hydrogen.
The other thing that one notices about this little enclave of European settlement is that it, like Scandinavia, has a high tax take, some 30% higher than ours and this is despite having a flat income tax scale – one rate set at 37%. GST though is up at 24.5% so the free health, education and guaranteed pensions, come at a cost.
The island has a sealed ring road of some 1,440 kms and when you venture from that it’s more likely than not that you will be on gravel, and as you venture further afield and up towards the ice caps you will find yourself on scoria – akin to riding a motorcycle on a bed of marbles as a couple of our guys found out. Picking up heavily laden bikes on a steep slope is a lot of fun!
The wildlife adds a further dimension. Polar bears get shot on sight should they mistakenly come ashore because their piece of pack ice has melted – so we haven’t managed to see one of them. But we have hung off cliffs to get some shots of puffins in their nests - very colourful little creatures, and even managed a photo of the Gryfalcon. The arctic fox remains elusive however. Given we’re at Arctic Circle latitude, it is surprising how temperate Iceland is – the product of the Gulf Stream apparently.
Then there’s the northern lights – the same cosmic rays (or more precisely particulates) that deflect the sun’s energy and produce the aurora borealis during the winter months, have been causing havoc with satnav GPS units apparently, with an estimated 15 million British pounds worth of damage to bridges from trucks travelling along forbidden routes in Northern Scotland. Lucky we’re not too dependent upon our GPS units here in Iceland.
Finally the fishing is as good as in the Cook Strait – well almost – at sea for just 2 hours and only 3 miles of Reykjavik I’d caught 30 good size cod and some haddock to feed the group for the next couple of days.
Wonder what it’s like here in winter?
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