Making things up since 1837. Contact me at gordonwrotesomething [at] gordondarroch.com
Sunday, July 19 Leif Erikson's statue outside Hallgrímskirkja Travel time: 2 hours 15 minutes Distance: 135km Destination: Reykjavik I celebrate the halfway point of our trip by doing some laundry. Hand washing, since none of the houses we booked have washing machines, a throwback to the days of rationing or the gites Dad used to … Continue reading Dad’s gone to Iceland: Day 9
Saturday, July 18 Echoes of a certain Scottish movie scene … Travel time: 6 hours 20 minutes Distance: 485km Destination: Vaðnes We set off back on the road for the second of three long drives. The road winds up from Dalvik, around the north-west coast, sometimes with nothing but a sheer cliff between you and … Continue reading Dad’s gone to Iceland: Day 8
Friday, July 17 An arctic tern soars above the mountains south of Dalvik. Travel time: 25 minutes Distance: 24km Destination: Hauganes We awake to piercing blue skies and a total absence of wind, the kind of midsummer’s day you expect in the Austrian Alps rather than northern Iceland. After lunch I drive down with my … Continue reading Dad’s gone to Iceland: Day 7
Thursday, July 16 The Svarfadardalur nature reserve. Every turn in Iceland brings a new sensory overload. Travel time: 9 hours (ferry), 4 hours 15 minutes (car) Distance covered: 335km Destination: Dalvik Iceland is a preposterous place in many ways. A huge island thrown up near the Arctic Circle by volcanic ruptures should be bleak and … Continue reading Dad’s gone to Iceland: Day 6
Wednesday, July 15 Shetland, brooding in the morning light Travel time: 24 hours (ferry) Destination: Torshavn & Seyðisfjörður It’s not generally a good thing to be surprised by a lighthouse. But when I wake up at 7am and check the ship’s location app, I discover to my delight that we are right alongside the north … Continue reading Dad’s gone to Iceland: Day 5
Tuesday, July 14 On the open sea Travel time: 48 minutes (car), 13 hours (ferry) Distance covered: 71km Destination: Hirtshals and beyond I must begin by conceding that air conditioning would have been a blessed relief last night, because the room was oppressively hot. I managed to improvise by wedging a fan in an open … Continue reading Dad’s gone to Iceland: Day 4
Monday, July 13 Getting there … in Aalborg Travel time: 8 hours, 18 minutes Distance covered: 758km We set out for the German border at 8.15am, only 15 minutes behind schedule, though it stretches to 25 minutes when I have to go back for my glasses and my eldest son forgets his raincoat. The last … Continue reading Dad’s gone to Iceland: Day 3
Sunday, July 12 We're not flying: we're sailing with style. Travel time: 20 minutes Distance covered: 20km I had a private cinema screening today. That’s not how it was planned: one of my sons wanted to watch Toy Story 5 and the film was showing at 11am on Sunday. The cinema in Emmen offered a … Continue reading Dad’s gone to Iceland: Day 2
This is a travel blog of my 16-day round trip by land and sea with my sons from The Hague to Iceland in July 2026 Saturday, July 11 We are not in Iceland yet! Travel time: 2hrs 33 minutes Distance covered: 228km Location: Emmen (NL) In these days of cheap flights, few destinations can still … Continue reading Dad’s gone to Iceland: Day 1
Garrincha tormented England in the 1962 quarter-final. Photo: Brazilian national archive English football fans tend to assume that the 1966 World Cup win was a confirmation of the natural order. The country that gave football to the world had given Johnny Foreigner a masterclass at the sport’s hallowed cathedral, Wembley Stadium. Football had come home. … Continue reading A brief history of English footballing failures (part 1)