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Once the tent was folded – not without difficulty because of the rain, the wind and the cold – we set off in search of water and especially petrol, the real lifeblood of these regions.

Then, Iceland obliges, stop at Geysir, the famous geyser that gave its name to all the others. The "Great Geysir", active for more than 10,000 years, can project boiling water up to 70 meters high (even if today it is rather capricious). Its neighbor Strokkur puts on the show every 5 to 10 minutes.

I was there in 2008, I avoided it in 2016... well, in 2025, it has become a real "Icelandic Disneyland". Entire buses unload their passengers, a huge parking lot welcomes the crowds, and concrete platforms now frame the geyser. It's hard to know what to think: on the one hand, tourism is the country's second largest resource after fishing, so it makes sense that the infrastructure is evolving; on the other, there remains this little aftertaste of "it was better before"... no doubt a little snobbish.

In any case, we feel much better at the small hot spring we discovered by chance, literally a 10-minute walk from the site. Heavenly. We have lunch there directly, feet in the water, alone in the world, just seeing a Dutch couple on the way.

We then take the F333 road (a real disaster), then the 35 to reach Gullfoss, "the golden waterfall." This 32-meter-high and 70-meter-wide waterfall is one of the most impressive in the country. Its history is unusual: at the beginning of the 20th century, foreign investors wanted to exploit the fall to produce electricity. Sigríður Tómasdóttir, the daughter of the local farmer, fiercely opposed this, even threatening to throw herself into the water. Thanks to her fight, Gullfoss was preserved and is today protected. Less crowded than Geysir, but clearly in the same tourist vein: it is an essential stop on the famous Golden Circle.

Finally, we head for Landmannalaugar via the F26 (upgraded to 26, but still just as bad), then the F225. A real F track, but not so bad: just long and slow. We arrive late. After crossing two rivers, we discover that the campsite showers are already closed. Too bad. The small refuge we found in 2016 would have been a good alternative, but laziness got the better of us. New compared to 2016: you now have to pay for the campsite and parking (two different companies...). The result: no shower, but a very real bill.

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