Page 8 - June 2022

MANEA TO ICELAND

WEEKEND RETURN,

PLEASE

t’s April 2022 and I’ve blearily woken up
to the announcement that Niceair are due
Ito begin scheduled flights from Stansted
Airport to Iceland in June. There’s an airline
called Niceair? Bet you can’t get from Manea
Station to Iceland in time for tea, I thought.
I couldn’t have been more wrong and it still sounds
like a gag. Who’d want to go to Iceland anyway? The stunning Akureyri Church
It’s cold. Is there anything there?
is Akureyri. How large? Okay, the population’s only
Turns out there’s a heck of a lot there and you 18,000 - less than ten times that of Manea - but
can leave Manea in the morning and be supping a still the locals proudly call it a city. They might even
glass of Einstök beer in Akureyri by 3pm the same tell you how to pronounce it: Ah-koo-ray-ree. It’s
afternoon. an amazing place where the beer’s expensive,
Ask someone for the name of a town in Iceland. they’ll say. It is, but that’s not why you’re going.
They’ll say Reykjavik. Now bet them a pint at the You’re going because you’ve heard it’s somewhere
Rose and Crown if they can tell you a second town to have a chance of seeing the Northern Lights.
in Iceland. Enjoy your pint. TIP: You won’t see the Northern Lights anytime in the
Unless they’ve been to Iceland, of course. In that summer. You need to come back between September
case they’ll tell you that the second largest town and April, you need a clear sky and you still need
a healthy slab of luck. The
Northern Lights are fickle, they
have no timetable and if you’re
fortunate you’ll get a greenish
glow above your head. It’s not
like the telly.
Haven’t tempted you? How
about seeing Puffins then?
These glorious creatures
that burrow like rabbits in
Akureyri, guarded by its snow-covered mountains the earth just love the Arctic.
Handily, there’s a regular boat

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