Hi
I hope you’ve had a great summer. I can’t believe it’s almost September. Crazy.
So my flying visit to Iceland was amazing!! It’s almost ten years since my last visit and I was keen to see whether much had changed. It was a very different visit since this time I was based in Reykjavik, whereas before we’d taken excursions and hired a car. I had plans to take the bus to a couple of nearby towns, but in the end there wasn’t time. One place I wanted to go was Hafnarfjörður, where my newest hero Leifur lives. Handily, the bus transfer from the airport went right through there which was enough to give me a flavour of the place. Because what I really went for was to see the whales. And we saw loads of them! To start with, there were a couple of minkes which I must admit, I thought were dolphins until the guide said they were minkes. Then we saw so many humpback whales it was incredible. I was amazed how close we were able to get, we could hear them breathing. It was so incredible and far exceeded my expectations.
My friend and I visited lots of places that had been in some of the previous Iceland books and some places which will feature in this new book. Lee-Anne, one of your fellow newsletter subscribers told me about a hot pool that is walkable from the centre of Reykjavik. It’s small, and is a foot bath. In the end it was a long walk because we dawdled back and forth along the beach on the way, picking up seaglass, and by then we were looking forward to sitting with our feet in the pool. It’s maybe five metres or so from the path, and we could see a man sat in it. He looked like he was naked because it’s so small, his arms and legs were outside of the pool and it looked quite comical, but we were nervous about approaching because of the possible nakedness so we carried on and walked to the lighthouse at the end of the peninsula with high hopes that by the time we walked back, he’d be gone.
No such luck, but by the time we walked back, some more intrepid people than us had ventured closer and he’d been forced to sit on the edge, revealing that he was wearing (tiny) swimming trunks.
The water was a glorious 39 degrees, confirmed by an Italian man who put his smartwatch in, and it was crystal clear. It was a very welcome pitstop and by the end of that day we’d walked 36,000 steps and slept very well.
I’ll be sharing lots of photos on my Facebook page
Victoria Walker -Author
over the next few weeks leading up to the publication of Adrift in Iceland so please join in over there if you want to see more!
Croftwood at Lakefest
Our most local festival is Lakefest and my family goes every year, usually without me because it clashes with the Romantic Novelists’ Conference. But fortunately this year I could make it and armed with my VIP loo pass, I had a great time. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to take Festival in Croftwood Park with me for some photo opportunities.
Reading and watching
I’ve just finished reading Lost and Lassoed by Lyla Sage. It’s the third in the Rebel Blue Ranch series and far and away my favourite. Gus is the best book cowboy I’ve read so far and Teddy, who seemed brash and kind of annoying in the first two books is the most kind-hearted person in the world underneath all of that.
I also read Out of Control by Sally Jenkins, a later-in-life romance about a sixty-year-old woman who tries very hard to control her life because of what happened to her a long time ago. She thinks it’s the best way to be happy but when her boyfriend turns up on her doorstep wanting to move in, she finds it hard to keep control of anything. It’s a great story.
Now, I’m reading Regretting You by Colleen Hoover. It’s a very gripping storyline and I’m enjoying it even though it’s more of a thriller than a romance I think. Hard to tell at the moment! And it’s good for me to mix it up a bit.
We binged the last ever season of Yellowstone over the bank holiday weekend. It’s ages since I’ve binged anything and I thoroughly enjoyed starting some new knitting and being able to get stuck in over a couple (or three) hours every evening. We finished it last night and I think it had one of the best ends to a series I can remember. I will miss those cowboys.
Lots of exciting stuff coming in the next newsletter including pre-order links to Adrift in Iceland! Until then, happy reading.
Victoria
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