Running Blind in Iceland - Reykjavik and the Laugevegur Trail

Running Blind was a 1979 BBC miniseries based on the espionage thriller by Desmond Bagley.

It involves a double cross, a knife with a ruby pommel and handle decorated in Nordic patterns, a mystery high powered rifle, and an epic four-wheel drive chase through Iceland’s rugged volcanic landscape, geysers, hot springs, glaciers, rivers and rugged capes. Barren but beautiful. I’ve wanted to visit ever since. 

I don’t recommend Desmond Bagley’s book the way some people recommend Ludlum with a promise that the writing is superior to Clancy etc or Clancy with a promise that the writing is superior to Ludlum etc. It’s very dated and Peter Fitzsimmonsesque in the main character’s first person, overly self-reverential, narrative. The TV adaptation can be found on YouTube and is worth a look for a laugh.

First impressions entering Reykjavik’s outer suburbs from the airport were a bit challenging, then. It looked disturbingly like a small Wollongong or a big Ulladulla with what looked like Kikuyu lawns laced with dandelions and white clover, windswept shrubs and conifers not dissimilar to Norfolk pines. 

The centre of Reykjavik is a different matter. Great bars and restaurants. I must agree with the claim by a tiny weatherboard building in the port to World’s Best Lobster Soup. 

The Laugevegur Trail is a magical 4 day hiking experience. At 55km it isn’t horribly onerous. The landscapes change every day. There are about 50 words for snow in Icelandic. Apparently, there are more in the Inuit languages in Greenland and Alaska. It’s hard to take a bad photo in Iceland. Definitely one of the most astonishing places I’ve ever been.

Where I slept: Reykyavik Marina - Berjaya Iceland Hotels: Great location, neat and tidy.

Where I ate: Seabaron: A credible claim to world's best lobster soup.

Guides: Norse Adventures: We were well fed and well led by a slightly crazed, incredibly funny and knowledgeable son of vikings.

Nuuk, Greenland

Despite being a Danish possession, Greenland struck me (surprising me) as a lot more American than European.

For starters it’s population is ~90% Inuit, the Norse settlement from the 800s having died out inexplicably around 1450 and a large wave of migration of the Thule people from Alaska and Canada, efficient fishermen and hunters, occurring in the 1300s.

The Danes got here in the 1700s, claiming the territory by way of their 13th century union with Norway. A tad tenuous.

This should in no way be read as an endorsement of claims by President Trump.

 

The capital Nuuk, the Greenlandic name (formerly Godthåb in Danish, meaning “Good Cape”), has similar socioeconomic problems to other modern Inuit settlements, including alcoholism, but not to any great extent that I saw. Greenlanders are delightfully friendly and welcoming.

Maximut, where I spent a fun filled afternoon with the locals, describes itself as a “beer hall”. It reminded me of a rowdy Irish pub, with some revellers needing to be taken home prone in the back of a ute. Maybe there is more than a hint of Alice Springs here, but the Danes pump a lot of money into the place particularly in education, construction, fishing and tourism. All Greenland’s peoples are EU citizens. That has probably saved the ice-covered hinterland from being dotted with oil wells and mines.

It is high summer here at the moment. The temperature roared up to 11C one day. The rest of the time it was 4 - 7C. I braved a swim in the Labrador Sea but only made it waste deep. It is cold enough to kill you if you plunge in.

Greenland is a truly beautiful place. The kind that is dangerous because you could easily fall in love with it and then you’d be stuck living in the middle of nowhere without much to do. Still, I’ll risk it and return to explore its hiking and fishing.

Where I slept: Hotel Aurora: Cosy, basic, conveniently located on the edge of town.

Where I ate: Godthab Bryghus: Cheery vibe, good beer and food.