And so these Ukulele Road Trips are off, once again! This time for a sing and a drive all around the famous Ring Road. It's a route, also called "route 1" for the sentimental, which goes all around the icy mystical island of Iceland.
This road, more than probably any other in the know driving universe, presents itself with many almost-irresistible-wayside-musical-inspiration-breaks opportunities. For example:
The Ring Road is 1332 km long (or 828 miles, if you're a miles kind of person). However it takes a bit longer than you might think to drive the whole way around. Firstly because you'll want to be stopping a lot. A real lot, as we mentioned. That's why you need your camera (or your ukulele, or both, depending on what kind of road-tripper you are) at the ready !
Icelandic-motif-ed ukulele at the ready !
And secondly, because there are so many inviting smaller roads that go from "route 1" to breathtaking views and exciting natural landmarks! A lot of them are what is called "gravel" roads, meaning that they are not paved and smooth asphalt surfaces. Rather they are, well, gravel-y. You might want to avoid those by the way if you're driving a big van instead of a powerful 4x4. But hey, sometimes, you gotta go see what you gotta go see.
Odin has an eight-legged horse, Ukulele Road Trips has a Kuku Camper Van ! Here, driving (super carefully!) on lots of gravel.
And lastly, you want to drive while you can see the landscape. Not much point otherwise. And if you're smart enough to travel during the harsh winter months, you get between 10 minutes and a few hours of day time, depending on the weather. As you can see from the picture above, mysterious Iceland can swiftly cloak herself in mist and fog.
Just make sure that when heading back into your ride, in the dim light of the 2 p.m. dusk, that you don't leave anything important behind.
Oups !
Kuku Campers accompanies crazy road-tripping people around Iceland all year round and that includes this Ukulele Winter #GoingNorth advenutre !
"Two ravens and this trusted horse" (remember ?) The two ravens in this story are my ukes, a soprano and a not-so-soprano CloudMusic ukulele !
To support this mad adventure, donate here or hop onto Ukulele Road Trips' Patreon page!