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!