27th
April 2016
Glaciers, basalt
columns, and icebergs !
I woke up to a
lovely sunny day at the foot of the Skogafoss, and enjoyed my breakfast while
packing up the car – Not much to pack up on this one ! A few other people had parked up after I had
gone to bed, and there were even a few tents pitched, so I wasn’t alone. I had only gone about 30 minutes along the
road when I saw signs to Myrdalsjokull and Solheimajokull glaciers, and went to
investigate. (And yes the language IS a
problem – Well, most people speak English so that isn’t the issue – It is
remembering place names of where you want to go that is hear – Try remembering
these two glacier names ! So one drives
with the guidebook beside you, and if you see a sign, you stop to make sure it
is the one you want !)
9.30 am and it
was quite cool, but there wasn’t anyone else there, so I put on my fur hat and
headed up the path across the moraine to see what I could see. The answer was “not a lot” – You cannot reach
the glacier face due to melt water forming a lake, in which a few small bergs
float, and everything is pretty black and dirty, including the glacier. As I was to learn, all Iceland is black
volcanic rock or sand, so naturally this is what the glaciers pick up. So after a quick look at the glacier, I
headed back to the car – Not overly impressed after some of the glaciers I have
seen elsewhere. However the true story here is the M glacier up on top, which
of course one cannot easily see or access.
I drove on along
the coast, past a sign pointing about 1 km down across soft sand to the beach
where there is a wrecked US Navy DC3 plane on the beach, that crashed in 1978,
but I decided not to go and see an old crashed plane. 30 minutes further down
the road I turned off down towards the coast and Reynisfjara – At this rate I
am never going to get all the way round Iceland in 6 days ! There is just too much to see in a short time
! But Reynisfjara sounded interesting –
Black sand and basalt columns, with caves and “crashing puffins” !! Once again, only about 3 or 4 cars there,
so, after a warning about “sneaker waves” (??), off I set along the beach, and
the first thing you see is the natural archway to the north at Dyrholaey. There
are supposedly puffins there, but only from May onwards – So not many around at
present !
Then to your left
you immediately find the basalt columns – And they are STUNNING. How nature can do this just amazes me. And not only are there the big ones, but all
over the place are other smaller ones, some vertical, some horizontal, sticking
out from cliffs and forming the ceiling to caves. You walk maybe 300 metres along the beach
just marveling at the intricate patterns formed by the cooling lava. At the southern end of the beach there were
some rocks and columns out in the crashing surf, and a small archway leading
through to the other side where I thought there were more puffins. The tide
It was on around
the scenic coast, with snow capped peaks often carved into amazing shapes by
erosion – And endless source of interest as one drives through the countryside. We then dropped into the little town of Vik,
with its own little red roofed church perched high on a hill above the village,
and splendid views north along the beach to the other side of the cliffs
jutting out to the sea that I had just been clambering around in search of
puffins. Vik is Iceland’s southernmost town, and also its rainiest, but I
lucked out and saw it in clear sunshine. And the beach, as usual, was all black
lava sand – Dramatic, but not overly scenic compared to yellow sandy beaches
more commonly found elsewhere in the world.
A quick cup of
coffee to go, and the road turned inland almost immediately, providing even
more variations in scenery, although always dominated by some kind of volcanic
activity at some stage in the past. Open
coastal plains that look like grassland, but right below the surface is always
the black sandy soil – Not a lot seems to grow there apart from the stringy
kind of grass, and no animals are grazing out there, so its pretty bleak, even
when the sun is shining ! The barren
ground is the result of the eruptions of Katla under the M glacier, and the
subsequent flooding of the low land below the glacier.
Suddenly there is
a rocky mound covered in hundreds of cairns – Laufskalavaroa. It has to do with a farm once located here
that was destroyed in an eruption, and the custom now is that everyone visiting
for the first time should add a rock – The government even provides rock for
people to use !!
About 20 minutes
later another lava field seems to be covered with lichen of some kind, making
it appear almost snow covered. There is
no where to pull off the road in many places in Iceland – Rough lava or soft
sand is not the ideal parking area, and anyway, many signs request that one
does not stray off the roads and paths due to a very fragile ecosystem. But I will investigate this “lichen” later –
It is quite reminiscent of ground cover we have seen in the Arctic before in
other countries.
As I continue I
pass enormous cliffs of rock all along the road, with sloping scree slopes
below them. Houses and sheds nestle in the shelter of these rocks to provide at
least a little protection from what I am now realizing is a constant strong
wind blowing off the icefields to the north.
By now I have left the smaller Myrdalskull icefield behind, and am now
coming under the influence of the enormous Vatnajokull icefield – The world’s
largest ice cap outside the poles, at 8100 sq kms. The National Park of the
same name is Europe’s largest protected reserve. It is the approximately 30
outlet glaciers that make this coastline scenery so dramatic, as many of them
are both visible and reachable from the main ring road. Individually they may not be so dramatic to
look at, but when you can see 5 or 6 separate glaciers at one time, and from a
main road, that is stunning and unique.
All along the
road there are waterfalls coming off cliffs, all from glacial melt water. And
along the way I find a place to stop and inspect the lichen on some other rocks
– It is amazingly spongy, unlike the harder lichens in the Arctic and elsewhere
that I have seen. I also notice several
small holes with debris outside them – Obviously something lives in them, but I
have not seen any small animals running around.
Have to keep my eyes open……
Eventually the
black lava plains open up, and with no grass cover here, the wind of the
glaciers whips the sand into a frenzy, with it pouring across the road. One can hear it hitting the sides of the car
– Almost like a sand storm in the Arabian desert. At times vehicles in front almost disappear
into the dust, and the car is rocking as I drive along – But trucks or motorhomes
would have fun along here. At one point
I stupidly open the driver’s window to take a photo, and before I realize my
mistake and have managed to make the electric window reverse and close again,
the car is full of sand ! Whoops !
A regular feature
of Icelandic roads are the frequent one way bridges, some of which are quite long. The rule is that the first car there has the
right of way – And fortunately there isn’t much traffic so it is rarely an
issue. But some of the bridges are quite
long, so one has to really peer ahead to see if anything is coming, especially
when the visibility is decreased as during this wind storm.
I finally reach
the outlet glacier outlet at Skaftafjell, and decide to head off to the
glacier. Despite being 2.30 pm, it was
bitterly cold, with the very strong wind blowing down off the glacier. People were struggling to get jackets on in
the wind, so most people ran to the sheltered information centre and donned
their jackets there – Myself included. I set off along the path to the S
glacier, about 2 kms, and it was so cold in the head wind which was so strong
that one had to lean into it to make any progress. This was getting to be reminiscent of the
continuous winds in Patagonia, but even colder ! Eventually I reached the end of the path –
but was still someway back from the end of the glacier, so I set off across the
moraine gravel, following the marker poles.
Unfortunately there is again a melt lake in front of the glcier face, so
it is not possible to reach it. At the end I struck up a conversation with a
couple from Maine who were on a short Iceland stopover on their way to Germany,
and it made the walk back to the car park go by much more quickly – Although
with the wind now at our backs, it was a much easier and warmer walk !
For the next hour
or two the road continued with the snow capped mountains to my left (with the
enormous Vatnajokull icefield invisible on top), and the barren coastal flats
to my right. The wind still blew, and by
now the temp on the car gauge had dropped to minus 0.5 deg C – And with the
wind chill it would have felt much colder.
The almost endless view of glaciers coming off the mountains was a sight
to behold. At one point I passed what seemed to be an expedition 4 wheel drive
vehicle parked close to the road, with a tent pitched that was flapping
mightily, despite being in the lee of the car, and having several guy ropes
tied to the car. It seemed an odd place
to be parked – Maybe they had hiked back into the mountains ?
Suddenly, through
a gap in a low moraine hill on my left, I momentarily spied a lake filled with ice
bergs. I could not believe it, and
wondered what on earth I was about to see.
The guide book states “Even when you are expecting this surreal scene,
its still a surprise”. Well, I wasn’t
even expecting it, so it totally blew me away !!
I was at
Jökulsárlón, and under a clear blue sky (who’s a lucky boy then ?), you find
this blue lagoon, with snow covered mountains in the back ground, and the lake
is filled with icebergs ! These icebergs
calve from
I considered
camping in the car park along with several motorhomes, but the wind and the
cold were too much, so I headed on round the coast. I thought maybe by Hofn it might be a little
more sheltered. The road continues with
the fantastically shaped mountains on my left, with more arable type of land
becoming evident. Where there is this
kind of grassland, soothing much is grazing there – Maybe it is just hay for
their long winter - everywhere sees the
big plastic-covered bales being stored, so maybe that’s what it is. I also see deep ditches dug down all the fields
– Almost like fences elsewhere. I found
out later that this ground is always soggy, so may they really are dug just to
drain some of the water away so the hay can grow ? All fields in Iceland have
these big ditches, though.
Also LOTS of
trumpeter swans and some kind of big geese everywhere in the fields, all over
Iceland. Not many sheep or cattle, but
lots of swans and geese everywhere, and increasingly more and more Icelandic
horses with their thick shaggy coats and long manes. On past some more enormous
glaciers coming down out of the mountains, I even saw my first reindeer in a
field, although I think they might have been domestic ? Then it was into Hofn where I drove around
looking in vain for a camp site – Well, I found it, but it was closed ! I drove around town and out round the fishing
boat harbour, but unfortunately everywhere had “No Overnight stay” signs,
written in English. So after wandering
around for a while, I resigned myself to a night in the wilds beside the road
somewhere, and headed on out of town.
The stunning
coastal scenery continued, so it was not difficult driving, but by now I was
getting quite pooped, so I was looking for the “perfect spot”. As I have said before, it is difficult to get
off the road, with many of the laybys being tiny and right beside the road –
Not my cup of tea. We went through a
tunnel under a mountain, and eventually I found a big area off the road –
Someone already there – Bugger. But up a
small rise, just 100 metres further on, there was a dirt
When I had to get
out for a pee half way through the night, I thought it looked a bit “whiter”
out there, but was so tired, I didn’t really think about it. I would find out what was going on when I
awoke in the morning !!
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