Iceland: Remembering a Glacier during a Heatwave

On this 100th day of lockdown (we went into hibernation three days before these diaries began) I thought I’d celebrate by mowing the lawns.

In a heatwave. it was a mad dogs and Englishman moment.

So now I’m thinking about somewhere cool. And you can’t get much cooler than the top of a whopping great big glacier.

A couple of years ago I was touring Iceland all on my own - which is an unusual kind of press trip. They hired me a four-wheel-drive and off I went for a whole week’s loneliness in one of the most lonely places I know.

One thing the now defunct airline WOW Air had arranged for me was a snowmobiling adventure that took me to the top of the spectacular Mýrdalsjökull glacier, where you can - if you are lucky - enjoy breathtaking views.

Snowmobiles are easy to drive but I was glad I had a guide because there are deep crevasses everywhere and much of the vast ice-cap is amazingly featureless so it would be easy to get lost. 

Like every Icelander I met, the guide was a wonderful and friendly chap who spoke perfect English - though I began to wish he didn’t when, at the very top of the glacier, he told us the whole thing was sitting on a live volcano that was more than 50 years overdue blowing its top.

He said when it did the 900 feet of solid ice would melt in just two hours and the resulting explosion would be far, far, worse than the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull which stopped Atlantic flights.

So to this day I am enjoying the sunshine when I can - you never know when it’s going to be hidden behind a bloody great big cloud for years on end.