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!
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