Iceland Summer

Travels along the Ring Road

Kurt Caswell, Julia Oldham

• Publisher: Trinity University Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN:
  9781595340566
  9781595348623
• eBook ISBN:
  9781595342706
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies

An island is a world out of time and place, separated by literal and figurative oceans, where the confines of reality are tenuous and magic may be possible. Iceland—with its relative isolation, enchanting mythologies, creative people, and the otherworldly wild beauty of its glaciers, geysers, volcanos, and fjords—encompases this special magic in the minds of many, including writer Kurt Caswell.Vividly illustrated by Julia Oldham, Iceland Summer recounts Caswell’s journey traversing the country by foot and bus accompanied by his lifelong friend Scott. The pair set out from Reykjavík and travel clockwise along the Ring Road, stopping along the way for backcountry walking trips. Caswell immerses himself in the natural beauty and charming eccentricities of the tiny island nation. With his drinking and hiking buddy by his side, and fueled by a steady diet of Brenni v í n (fermented grain mash) and pylsur (Icelandic hot dogs), he explores the Hornstrandir peninsula, walks to the famed Dettifoss waterfall, waits for a glimpse of the lake monster Lagarfljótsormurinn at Egilsstaðir, visits the world’s only penis museum, and pays homage to centuries of Icelandic literary tradition at the Árni Magnússon Institute.Writing in the tradition of other pairs who have traveled in Iceland, like W. G. Collingwood and Jón Stefánsson, and W. H. Auden and Louis MacNeice, Caswell meditates on the value of wild places in the modern world, travel as both pastime and occupation, the nature of friendship, and walking, food, and literature. Scott is the Sancho Panza to Caswell’s Don Quixote, offering a ribald humor that grounds Caswell’s flights into the romantic. The two travel well together and together arrive at the understanding that what anchors them both is their lifelong friendship.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Where the Pillars Washed Ashore
• Walking to Laxness
• On Not Looking into Snorri’s Pool
• Eating the Pylsur of Heaven, Part One
• Eating the Pylsur of Heaven, Part Two
• Let’s Take the Bus, Part One: The Neatnik
• Into the Hornstrandir, Part One
• Into the Hornstrandir, Part Two
• Into the Hornstrandir, Part Three
• Let’s Take the Bus, Part Two: The Sleeping Giant
• The Dizzying Heights of Dettifoss
• Waiting for the Monster
• Let’s Take the Bus, Part Three: The Mariner
• A Visit to the World’s Only Penis Museum
• The Troll Wife’s Mountain and Other Stories
• Behind the Doors of the Árni Magnússon Institute
• That Day on Viðey
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• About the Author