Almost gone...

Anyway, after spending a couple of hours in Jökulsárlón just chilling out. I realised it was still only early afternoon and I thought that I might try to make it to Vik that night as well to camp. Jökulsárlón however is not a good place to get a hitch from, the cars are usually packed with people and you need to walk quite a way down the road to look forlorn enough to get a ride. Get a ride I did though, from a lovely german couple who took me as far as the hotel near Skaftafell, with a little side trip to Litla Höf. It’s only a few houses but it also hides a beautiful 19th century turf church that was built on the site of a pagan temple.

It actually looked a little spooky in the gloomy weather that had descended and the fact that the churchyard was filled with bumps that were obviously graves, but minus the headstones didn’t help (I don’t know why that is).

After getting dropped off I managed to get a lift with a Czech couple as far as the turn off to the information centre for Skaftafell National Park. By then I was faced with rain and what appeared to be a road to completely nowhere! So after trying to get another hitch for two hours I gave in and walked back to the information centre and the camping site that's situated there. It was actually a really lovely place, not that far from the Glacier.

There are some great walks there and I wish I hadn’t been so focused on getting to see everything else before I left Iceland, I guess it just means there’s something else to come back for later!

The following morning seemed like it would be a good day (see the blue sky in the picture above), but unfortunately it didn’t last that long and it was soon raining. Luckily for me I only had to wait about an hour or so to get a lift with the Awesome Camper Van Crew. Why were they awesome? Well... 1) they gave me a lift in their camper van (these things NEVER give you a lift usually), 2) they were a throughly nice bunch of guys, 3) they gave me hot coffee made from glacial ice they’d taken from Jökulsárlón AND dark chocolate McVites and 4) they took me way further than I’d hoped for!

So say hi to Grubi and Alex...

Hansi...

and finally Muck and Michael.

I can’t say a big enough thank you to these guys. They were really fun to hang out with and I was saved from a very dreary day in the rain. I also got to see Skógarfoss which is a really cool waterfall on the way.

By the time we reached Hvolsvöllur (about 250km from where they picked me up) where the guys finally dropped me off, the weather wasn’t raining so much and I thought I’d make a push for Selfoss. Catching a ride with another lovely Icelandic man (who works for the weather station) I made it to Selfoss by about 5pm.

Now to be honest, there's probably more going on in Selfoss than I found. However I wasn't really looking that much! One hostel check-in later, I'd eaten, showered and poured myself a Kaldi to catch up on the blog stuff. I shared a room with two cool guys, Robert and Matthew, and we spent some time basking in the appreciation of each others photos. Matthew had just done the a lot of hiking in an area I really had wanted to see and Robert had spent some time in the same areas as me but captured completely different images (love that about photography, not everyone see's the same thing). Oh and you should check out his blog www.projectpineapple.blogspot.com, he's done some really interesting traveling for a pretty cool cause.

In the morning, Matthew headed off to Akureyri and Robert was off to Greenland (how cool is that!). I spent a ridiculous amount of time fighting with various internet connections trying to access some sites I really needed to check before I moved on.  Had a good but annoyingly delayed conversation with a friend via FB before giving up and starting the hitching again.

I honestly couldn't decide where I wanted to go today.  Part of me wanted to go to Gulfoss and Geysir, then on to Thingvellir (another one with an icelandic sign for the Th that I don't have) and part of me wanted to go to Thingvellir and then to Reykjavik to hang out. As  I couldn't decide I thought I'd let the next hitch choose, so when Gunnar said he was driving to Thingvellir I figured Gulfoss and Geysir could wait a while. Gunnar was an excellent hitch to get as he decided to give me a potted history on the area as we drove and pointed out the names of all the surrounding mountains etc. It was really lovley, I just wished I'd taken notes so I could fill you in!

After he dropped off in the car park at Thingvellir, I hung around for a couple of hours and just chilled out. It's a really interesting site, not only did the first Icelandic parliment get held there in 930. Yes that's 930, not 1930! It's also the best example of a fissure zone, where two tectonic plates meet. Check this out...

it's just awesome! The weather might not have been great but it was still a cool place to hang out.

After that  I caught my final hitch to Reykjavik and booked myself into a hostel for the night. To be honest I was more than a bit exhausted and it was nice to chill out with a little mooch around, some good food and no need to play tourist.

Saying that  I did manage to get a picture of the one thing I'd missed last time...

I really love this, it's just such a cool sculpture!

Anyway, I'm now sitting on the fantastically comfy couch at Ko-leen and Davi∂'s in Keflavik. They were kind enough to let me surf with them when I first got here and its great to catch up with them again before I leave. Tomorrow I need to catch my flight to Oslo at 5.30am, which means not a lot of sleep tonight as I'll have to attempt rucksack tetris in order to get all my stuff packed properly again!

I'm looking forward to Norway, but maybe not with as much excitement as I thought I would. I've met some truly awesome and lovely people here. Seen landscapes that have continually taken my breath away. I've had some great food, drank some excellent beer and been reminded that there is more kindness and openess in people than I'd ever expected to find.

I will be back eventually though and there's still so much more to see! Maybe some of you will make it out here too and I'll get to drool over your photos instead ;)

See you in Norway!
x

Hitchhiking the East Fjords

Oh I was so wired the following morning! More good coffee for breakfast and a beautifully warm and sunny morning had me feeling pretty hyper. Although in a kind of ‘I’m going DO something’ way that meant I was knackered before I’d even finished thinking of what I was going to do! Maybe that’s the real reason I don’t drink coffee?

So that days plan was going to be a hitch to Höfn on the south east side of Iceland before hitching to Jökulsárlón for the evening and hopefully getting some awesome pictures of the icebergs (yup you heard me, icebergs)

I was really lucky and managed to pick up hitch in the mail van before I’d even left the town borders and was whisked to Rey∂arfjör∂ur in double quick time, through a little mountain pass...

There’s not an awful lot in Rey∂arfjör∂ur, but it does have some stunning scenery!


After leaving Rey∂arfjör∂ur, I managed to pick up a hitch with Robert,from Sweden. He was working on a farm a little way further up, planting trees on the mountain slopes (part of a government initiative). It was a pity he was working so close as he was a really interesting guy. One of those people you could easily hang out with for a whole afternoon and not realise that time was passing.

Anyway, not 2 minutes after I left Robert and managed to take this picture...

I was picked up by Daniel and Matthias (I think that’s the right spelling) from the Black Forest area of Germany (although I’m convinced Matthias was italian), who were on their way to Reykjavik. They were lovely lads and they managed to cram me into the back of their van for the rest of the journey to Höfn. Which for Daniel who was driving was probably the worst part of his trip. Not necessarily because I was there, just because the journey was really quite long and the road turned into the kind that you really need 4x4 for, not necessarily a little van. Still I managed to get some photos as we went. The jury’s still out for me on the East vs. West fjord debate I was having with myself.

By the time we’d got to Höfn though the weather was getting a bit cloudy, not only that but Höfn as a town, doesn’t really have that much going on. After stocking up a bit on food, (mini cinnamon rolls and strawberry AB mjölk. There’s only so many carrots a girl can eat) I caught a hitch to Jökulsárlón with ... who was going home after work. Just before we got there I got my first proper look at a glacier (I think this is Skalafellsjökull)...

Jökulsárlón is a huge glacier river lagoon formed when the glacier began rapidly shrinking. Erm I think this was back in the 40’s maybe. I’ll check the guidebook later. It’s also somewhere that I really, really wanted to go when I was first coming to Iceland. Not only did it mean I’d get to see icebergs, I’d be able to do it without the sea sickness that I’d probably get going round the Arctic in a boat.

If you make it to Iceland you HAVE to go. Yes, there will be tourists, but if you walk around the ‘lake’ a bit you’ll get rid of most of them within about 5 minutes Not only that but the place is simply stunning.

I could have quite happily spent all day/night there taking photos. In fact when I come back I WILL be toting a D-SLR of some kind and a car, that way I can get there as early or late as I like and indulge myself completely!

Chilling by the lake

Ah the bliss that comes from a warm sun, blue skies and a perfectly placed tent.

So last time I was at Dettifoss, knackered, awed and wondering how I the hell I was going to get to Myvatn when all there was to see for miles were tourist jammed cars and a stoney road! Luckily I’d underestimated just how pathetic I looked as I limped along to the waterfall, fully ladened with rucksacks. Cue Marcel and his family, who were on holiday from the Netherlands. Not only did they offer to help me by carrying my rucksacks (crazy people), they  also squeezed me into their 4x4 and took me from Dettifoss to Myvatn so that I could get a camping spot and get the weight off my knee!

I was so grateful and happy I actually gave away one of my bags of Kleina in thanks. Maybe its something about Iceland that makes people so helpful? So one bumpy car journey later (Marcel took the more direct ‘interior’ route to Myvatn rather than normal roads) and here I am...

Right on the lake, the camping site is just beautiful. Even if it is awash with midges!  So beautiful in fact that I decided to stay an extra night and used the following day to relax. 

Myvatn is right next to the funky mudpools and the crater that you would have seen a few posts back, when I was taken on a road trip by Jens. It’s got a massive bird population with  tonnes of ducks nesting to take advantage of the midges and other bugs that go crazy in the days of endless light, so it’s not the quietest of places. It does mean however that there are loads of interesting hikes to do and you could quite easily spend a whole week just hiking the different trails and taking photos. It was the perfect place to unwind and rest my aching feet, which is obviously why I decided that whilst I was there I’d walk out to Hverfjall (say Kverfjal) and Dimmuborgir (as it looks just roll your rrr’s a little!) and have a look around.

It takes about an hour to walk to Hverfjall through some crazy lava fields and it just so happens to be one of the most easily recognizable features in the Myvatn area. Well it’s not like you could easily miss this, is it?

Its over 2500 years old and apparently (according to the book and the german lady I was talking to there) its a classic ‘tephra cone’. In other words it looks like a volcano and actually was a volcano! It’s only 400m high so it’s quite a relaxing stroll to the rim and you can see for miles...

You can also walk all the way around it and there’s a slightly steeper trail on the other side that brings you out in Dimmuborgir, which used to be a lava lake. It’s a bit more exciting to look at though than a big flat bit of lava. When it was still active (oh so many years ago) the lake formed a solid crust, then when the wall that had been containing the lake collapsed and all the rest of the molten lava flowed out. Cue collapsing lava crust and resulting in huge weird formations just lying around... see?

Can you tell I was reading the ‘tourist information boards’? It’s such an awesome place, with loads of winding trails and you could easily spend hours there before you realise it. There’s also this cool ‘eye’ there that you can see Hverfjall through...

I bet if you get there early or really late on a sunny day you can get some amazing photos! You’d also miss the HOARDES of tourists during the day. Seriously if you hit it at the same time as the buses you’ll barely be able to move. It’s one of the first times I’ve been to one of the ‘tourist’ spots and actually seen more than about 10 people!

Now just over the mountain from Myvatn (its about 5 mins by car) there’s the ‘Nature Baths’ which are apparently like the Blue Lagoon but less crowded and just as beautiful. However as it’s 1400ISK to get in, it’s a bit above my budget, so I spent the afternoon soaking my sore shoulders and feet at the local swimming pool (350ISK), which had 2 decent hot pots, a bloody good sauna and a remarkably cool (for Iceland anyway) swimming pool.

After that I just chilled out at the campsite and watched the storm clouds build in the north, whilst listening to a large group of american students try to sing more than 2 lines of any song they could think of (luckily they were mainly in tune).

Then the following day it’s hitching time again! I now have a pretty concise list of exactly what I brought with me, that I definitely didn’t really, honestly, truly, NEED to bring with me! Everytime I put the rucksack on at the minute it seems to be getting heavier and heavier! More so when you end up walking for miles with it, whilst watching yet another large 4x4 with only 2 people in it, drive right by you. I have this theory that only the cool people, who I’d be interested in talking to, are the ones that stop anyway...

It’s also very possible that some eejit has posted a picture of me hitching, somewhere on the interweb as they made a point of slowing down to make sure they could get a good shot!

Anyway I did manage to get a hitch in the end. Which was good as there was nothing, not even a farm close the road, the entire way to Egilssta∂ir on the east coast.

As it was the guy who I got a lift from was on his way to the port at Sey∂isfjör∂ur to send his car to Norway, so the hour long journey passed really pleasantly. Once in Egilssta∂ir I had a mini mooch about the town before heading off to the library (they let you use the interweb for free!) and some quality chill out time with a good book, some awesome free coffee and another interesting chat, this time with the librarian (seriously if you ever need to know anything about a town, they’re a good place to start). They’d had a cultural evening the night before and the shark was a star piece. From the smell hanging about in the library, the rotted shark is more than just an acquired taste, its possible it could be used as some form of biological warfare.

After that I met up with Thrainn (its spelt differently but I can’t get icelandic symbol for the Th sound on my laptop), who was letting me surf his couch/spare room for the night. He’s such a lovely guy! After dropping my stuff of at his apartment, he then took me on a tour of the local area and we had dinner in this lovely wood just outside of Egilssta∂ir that’s filled with pieces of art...

Such a beautiful and relaxing place. Ooo and I tried some Icelandic stuff that's a bit like a liver pate/haggis and really good. There was also a forest cat that I seriously wanted to put in my rucksack and take with me...

Thrainn was also nice enough to indulge my church obsession and took me to see some of the churches in the area, the dig site for a monastery discovered some years back, as well as some of the other ‘sights’.

before brewing some excellent coffee and telling me ghost stories. Perfect for a limited nights sleep!

On the road again :)

Finally managed to get decent internet connection (even if I had to book a hostel to get it)! So here we go...

the original plan was to go from Akureyri to Grenivik then Husavik. It took quite a while to get a hitch (I managed to walk for about 2 hours before getting a lift) though, so I thought skipping Grenivik wasn’t such a crime and went straight to Husavik instead. 2 really nice hitches, one Icelandic guy taking a part to his son on a farm near the turn off to Husavik and another who used to be a FIFA ref and who now inspects other referees in Iceland. I really love speaking to new people, hearing their stories and trying to communicate in a language that I routinely pronounce so poorly that it’s more gobbledegook than words! It makes the journey more interesting.

The weather didn’t hold up as well as I’d hoped and by the time I got to Husavik it was very cloudy and raining. Hoping it would clear up I thought distraction would be the best tactic and went to the Whale Museum. One of my better ideas as it has both a great exhibition and helpful staff who watched my bags for me whilst I went round. The exhibition itself covers both whales as a species and the whaling traditions and history within Iceland. They also had quite a few skeletons of different types of whales that was pretty funky. It had a good level of information without necessarily being too ‘dumbed down’ (something that annoys the hell out of me in British museums).

Then with the rain still pouring I sheltered in the Phallological Museum. That’s right, a museum full of penises. Pickled ones to be precise. No human exhibits as yet (although there are a number of letters promising them once the owner is dead), but a lot of whales ones, walrus ones, mice, horses, pigs, sheep. You name it and they’re probably got one in there. The only disconcerting thing about the whole experience was the weird semen/formaldehyde smell it had!

Unfortunately by the time I got out, it was still raining. This time more a gentle misting but still rain. My only choices at this time was to try and carry on to Asbyrgi (sounds a bit like Owsbriggy)and camp there or to camp in Husavik and hope the morning would be a bit clearer so that I could get some decent pictures! The town harbour looks like it could be really lovely with a bit of sunshine. It’s one of the main centres for whale watching now, so there are quite a few nice yachts/boats there. Anyway, lovely little town, pitched the tent and hoped for better weather.

So much for the better weather. It might look a little misty but trust me. It’s definitely still raining at this point. I hate packing a wet tent, you just know its still going to be wet when you put it up, which means everything else is going to feel just that little bit damp. Still, on the bright side, at least the weather means that you don’t overheat when you’re fully loaded and walking for ages. Which is what happened again on the way to Asbyrgi. This part of Iceland doesn’t seem to be a) highly populated (yes I know, what part of Iceland does?), and b) not really on the main tourist trail.

This meant a good two hours of walking, listening to the wind and birds and hallucinating the sound of helpful tin cans. This happens a lot when I’m hitching, not just because I get  bored of the shoulder pain, but also because the wind does strange things when there’s no other noise. Also don’t be fooled into thinking you can wear your iPod and relieve the monotony either.  Unless you want to spend the entire time walking backwards, you will miss more cars than you want as you won’t hear the ‘road’ noise! I did manage to get 2 hitches (a couple of Icelanders and a german couple) eventually and got to Asbyrgi by about 10.30am.

Now the hike from Asbyrgi to Dettifoss (Iceland’s most powerful waterfall) is an ‘easy’ two day hike (35km - err 22ish miles), so even though the weather was still pants I thought I’d get started anyway. One of the icelandic guys in the car earlier had said the weather was going to get better after lunchtime. The first part of the hike takes you through some tight birch scrubland onto a heath like area where at some point you’d see the gorge in the shape of a horseshoe and would immediately go wow, just like this...

Confused? Yes well, we would all be looking at the pretty gorge if the weather had permitted but it was still hidden behind thick rainy mist, I thought it was time for another flower picture. Besides, these are actually on the heathland and are quite pretty.  I also needed something to distract me from the ‘you’re all on your own out here, apart from the mist wraith’ thoughts that were causing me to twitch (yes I know I have an overactive imagination)!

*cough* where was I? Oh yes, heathland. Oh actually wait a minute, there’s a legend saying that the hoof shape of the gorge was made by the hoof of Sleipnir, Odin’s eight legged steed. Einar’s mum told me that one. There’s obviously some interesting, but ultimately not as fun science explanation, but frankly I can’t be bothered to look it up this time!

I will say that the trail I was following was pretty well marked with handy yellow sticks at reasonable distances and it would be a really easy track to follow if you remember to look for them and don’t get distracted by the plants, bird calls, calls of nature and the long list of things that you could have left out of your increasingly heavy rucksack. Still, I’m a big girl and had both a map (which could have had a bit more detail) and two compasses (thanks Mike and Davide). So instead I just cheated and crossed this small and slightly boggy area...

and picked up the trail on the other side. I was pretty grateful that by this point the rain had let up and we were back to just cloudy skies. Everything seems just a little brighter when its not raining, even if the sun doesn’t make an appearance. It was also the start of the more interesting scenery.

You didn’t realise this was going to be such a long update did you? Feel free to take a break and get a coffee, there’s a lot more to come, although I promise the rest has a lot more pictures!

Hiking in Iceland - Day One

Quick recap, Asbyrgi to Dettifoss I’ve been walking in the rain for about 3 hours and its now stopped. Got that? Good! Now, I promised you some more photos, so here we go...

Now its a bit difficult to get the scale on these I think, but the bits of rock you can see drop down for about 50ft or so, maybe a little bit more (I left my tape measure at home) and I loved the way you could see where the river had literally carved its way through the landscape. There were a number of these in this section and they’re just on such a large scale I find it hard to describe them. They also bring you out at a really good viewpoint for the rivers current position. Seriously, you’re walking along looking at the above landscape, wishing for something a little more exciting than barren heath land and then you get this...

not only that but you’re assaulted by the roar of the water, its pretty shocking as there’s very little build up to it. It was also a pretty good place to take a quick stop and just enjoy the first ‘wow’ moment of the walk. After that you cut through a little more heathland and a weird grey, ashy/sandy area and this huge reddy, orange cone called Rau∂hólar, which is another shock as up until then everything has been green or brown. You can kind of see it in the distance on this picture...

Although admittedly not very well, I would have taken one when I was closer but I was getting a bit knackered by this point and the ashy/sandy bit was a total bitch to walk up/through. Just past that though you get to see this...

which from a distance looks like some weird Lord of the Rings, Troll Palace. It’s called Hjó∂aklettar, and isn’t that far from the midway camp ground. Which also means that you get to walk really close to it, forget quite how tired you are and scamper around like an excited squirrel. There’s hardly anyone around most of the time and no barriers so you can explore as much as you like. Here are a few close ups...

Personally I think the last one looks a bit like a mad elephant.

After this it was a pretty short stroll to the campsite and the simple bliss of removing my backpack and falling to the floor. Obviously I stopped to put the tent up first...

Hiking in Iceland - Day Two

I woke up on this morning laughing. Not for any particularly funny reason, more for just how much my feet and shoulders were still crying for mercy! After walking for about 6.5 hours the day before with both backpacks on (I think they weigh about 16kg together) my body was not impressed. Now I know that there will be some of you reading who have just had the thought ‘is that it?’ and fair enough. However I’ve only really done shorter day hikes before and I’ve usually carried at least half that weight.

Anyway, it was still a bit cloudy when I got going, but in ‘the sun’s not far away’ kind of way. Which was great as there was quite a bit to take photos of!

You see? This walk is probably one of the better ways of showing you how quickly the landscape changes in Iceland, the last one makes me think Lion King for some reason.

I really enjoy the changes, suddenly the rucksacks didn’t feel that heavy and I found myself walking quicker. It might also have something to do with the sun too, but hey, I’m not complaining. I would also like to point out to those that are familiar with my fear of heights and tiny trail routes that it wasn’t all flat going and it would occasionally give me some little joys like the below.

Which I managed to do without bursting in to tears. Yes it’s embarrassing to admit but it usually happens a lot when I’m hiking anything that has a bit of a of a drop close to the trail.

What can I say, I’m a work in progress!

At the bottom I was rewarded with this.

Such a beautiful sight. I felt that way even though my boots were totally soaked from my first ‘river’ crossing. The water was only just below knee level, but it was extremely cold! I also got to see these because of it...

How beautiful is that? The trail also takes you up a series of steps right next to the waterfall so you get to admire it the whole way up. After about another hour I made the halfway point and tried to dry out my clothes a little. Well, as well as you can dry out clothes in not very warm sun and 30 minutes.

So far I’d been walking for 3 hours and when I checked the helpful walking chart I realised I’d only got another 4.5 hours to go! Well at least I got to look back at this and think ‘I’ve walked further than the horizon’. That’s pretty cool in my book.

After that thought I continued on the trail, which basically sticks right next to the gorge as it goes up to Dettifoss, so we’re talking lots of rocky trails...

and lots of ‘lets see how close to the edge we can get’ trails (check the bottom of the picture if you can)...

Along with the occasional reward of stunning vistas (I think that’s a pretty appropriate term)...

However by this time I’d been walking for close to another 4 hours and was negotiating a side canyon trail (it was either that or go up and down it) and I was honestly and truly knackered. Due to that and the continuing loose stones on the ground I took a tumble and managed to do something to my knee that made it bloody painful to put weight on it. I should have been paying more attention but luckily, and you might not be able to see it in this photo. Just on the horizon there was the ‘road’ to Dettifoss for any aspiring off-roaders.

Which proved to be a complete bonus as by the time I’d limped there I was almost too knackered to continue. Luckily I was picked up by some lovely Austrians who took me to the car park and then it was only a short limp to actually get to Dettifoss itself.

Personally I think it was worth it!