Skiddy landing

In all the years I have been a motoring journalist, I have never experienced worse driving conditions than those we battled through today. First, a skiddy landing in Reykjavik, where the plane slewed on a snowploughed runway as we touched down, and then had to be towed along the icy taxi-way to the terminal.

We are in Iceland for the launch of the new Land Rover Discovery Sport. Land Rover events always involve an element of adventure, but this was exceptional. We set off from Reykjavik in a long loose convoy, heading for the Hotel Ion. It is situated at the other end of the road that runs alongside a pipeline that carries 100,000 litres of hot water per minute, all the way from Iceland's largest geothermal power station to the capital.

As we drove the 65 miles route, the weather grew steadily worse, until we were in blizzard white-out conditions that made driving treacherously blind and difficult. This picture was taken during a brief lull, but for most of the way, only the white snow poles along either side of the gravel road made progress in any way possible. Our final few miles to the hotel was only achieved by following a snowplough.

While we sat down to a well-earned, somewhat belated supper, the launch support crew set off back to Reykjavik. But by the time we were served coffee after the meal, they all turned up back at our hotel, thwarted by the atrocious weather and unable to reach their intended destination.

The wind is howling outside the window and the snow is driving horizontally across the night landscape as I write this. Should be an interesting day tomorrow ...