Goðafoss, Waterfall of the Gods. Water cascaded down black rock, a solid force dedicated to that which is all encompassing. It was the end of my journey…

I had envisioned a sumptuous paradise for the trail but as per usual, I was wrong. There was only rock. This time, the difference was that the rocks were big. Very big…

I was headed to Askja. A milky blue crater lake quite far into the Highlands, a true moonscape where NASA astronauts go to train…

The East Fjords was one of the areas I had been looking forward to exploring from the start…

I was standing on a high plateau, overlooking the fjord and the mountain range on the other side, the peaks rigid and high, awe-inspiring and haunting, glaring down at me..

Snæfell was still wrapped in a ring of mist when I woke…

I had never hiked anywhere in the world without a trail, especially in such a remote area with little other hikers, so I was sensibly nervous about it…

I’d been in Iceland for a month and a half. I experienced rain, sun, wind and storm, and I was about to enter hell. With a capital H. Hell.

For the very first and only time, I felt utterly relaxed and at ease, just wandering around and enjoying my surroundings…

Whenever I read about the valley of Þórsmörk, it was always described as a lush, green haven, alluding to some sort of unparalleled Icelandic beauty…

Landmannalaugar revealed itself to me like something of a wonderland, rhyolite mountains in green, pink and yellow and pathways through volcanic debris as though a gateway to Mordor…

I moved on, listening to the laughing of birds, echoing from the rock of mountains. The day was languid with some beautiful vistas, and it reminded me of why I was there, why I’d come to Iceland to walk…

I took off my shoes and began to wade through, my feet plowing against the current, step by careful step, balancing on the rocks underfoot, my feet and legs swiftly getting stiff with cold…

I set up my tent against a large boulder right next to the trail, just out of view from the road. As long as no one passed, it would be the perfect spot…

Iceland was not for me. Roads repeating the same view over and over again, as though someone is holding the same postcard in the background of a movie set, and forgets to change it now and again…