Iceland

Our friend Tarrin had emailed around to see whether anyone wanted to accompany him on a walk in Iceland. Initially we dismissed this as an expensive and unnecessary diversion from our plans. But then we realised that it was a great opportunity and that the timing worked quite well. So we reorganised flights and met Tarrin in the Reykjavik campsite (everything else was booked out) on a chilly summer´s night.

We had taken a photo from the plane of two glaciers, not realising that we were about to ascend the pass between them!

Glaciers

We spent a day in Reykjavik buying dried fish and other supplies and wandering around town, meeting up in the evening with one of Luisa´s school friends, Arend. The next day we boarded a bus to Landmannalauger, a region known for it´s volcanic activity.

Roger juggling volcanic rocks

The walk started positively with a dip in a thermal pool.

Roger and Tarrin in thermal pool at Landmannalauger

From there we ascended through a recently formed lava field (multiple eruptions in the 1970s and 1990s) into a stark alpine environment. The colours were amazing. The mountains varied from the usual black to green, orange, red, yellow, brown and blue. The area is still quite volcanic and we passed many bubbling, smelly holes in the ground. Unfortunately, none of these were associated with springs deep enough to swim in.

The start of the walk

Coloured soils

Avoiding a steaming geyser

We climbed up and up, crossing small snow patches on our way to a hut. We camped next to the hut in blustery conditions. The next day we traversed a similar landscape but were in cloud for the whole day so didn't see much. We descended to a lake where the wind and rain was howling in from the east. Our cheap KMart tent wasn't up to the conditions so we all huddled in Tarrin's expensive Swedish tent. A quick survey of the campsite revealed that half the tents weren't handling the wind either, even some of the more expensive models. We may have been some of the only dry campers that night.

The next day was easy apart from a few river crossings. These were mostly only knee deep but the water comes directly from the nearby glacier so it's very painful. We passed through a black sandy valley with tall mountain formations on every side and glimpses of glacier in the background. Tarrin was especially keen on a big, green mountain with an Icelandic name that translates to "Big Green Mountain". That night we had a more sheltered campsite and were able to pitch both tents, albeit carefully.

One of the many gullies we traversed

Crossing a river of glacier-melt

Another easy day had us approaching one of Icaland´s only forests! Forests are rare in Iceland and the stunted birch trees weren't much taller than us. But it was good to have a change of landscape. There is a popular hut and a tourist bus to this region, Þórsmörk, and we had a pleasant afternoon lazing in the sun when it came out briefly.

The river near the hut is treacherous and they have a photo album full of 4WDs and buses that have been washed away in the currents. There was one unfortunate 4WD drying out while we were there! Normally there's a footbridge across but it had washed away too. Luckily the hut had a tractor that was happy to ferry us across in a trailer. We then began a climb up a steep ridge to the pass between the glaciers we had seen from the aeroplane.

A sunny day at Þórsmörk, glacier in background

Directions

Melting glaciers

We had great weather on the way up the ridge and marvelled at the waterfalls coming off the glaciers. We walked along some knife-edge sections with fantastic views to the valleys on both sides. We pitched Tarrin's tent at the top and watched the wind and mist race over the top of it with a glacier in the background. The last day had us descending to the coast next to a moss covered gorge a string of beautiful waterfalls. We gave up photographing them after the first ten or so, especially as the rain set in. For the last hour as we trudged, soaked, down to the coastal road with the final and most spectacular waterfall at the end of the walk.

High camp on the pass!

We bussed back to Reykjavik and settled in to a local pizza place for dinner. Iceland makes London look cheap, with pizzas costing A$40. We tried to figure out why the economy is so strong but didn't come up with anything conclusive. Perhaps it's the fishing trade or maybe the cheap geothermal power. Maybe we'll find out next time.