My official stunt double Ike travelled to Iceland on one of the first post Covid lockdown journeys with Geography Cat followers Helen and Traff. Before leaving the airport hotel, Helen & Traff needed a Covid test, and very soon after they received negative results and could start their holiday in earnest, with no masks required.
First stop was the geothermal area of Krýsuvík – there are no geysers here but a very sulphur smell and lots of colourful boiling pools:
Next we went for a walk along the sea front at Eyrarbakki. There are 2 stories about travel from this village. The first is that if you sail due south from here the next land will be in Antarctica, over 9000 miles away! Ike had a look but couldn’t see it, even with cat vision:
The second is that the first European to see America was from Eyrarbakki – in 986 Bjarni Herjólfsson left Iceland for Greenland but was blown off course by a storm. He saw a land covered in trees but wanted to see his family so didn’t land and set off to Greenland again. He told Leif Erikson about it and sold him his boat. Leif set sail and discovered a place he named Vinland (thought to be modern Newfoundland).
