Day 79 on the Ring road!

Leaving base camp today.... Well it sounds good! ..... I'm starting the ring road properly today, warnings of deep snow up north may alter my plans time will tell on that! 

For now I carry on, I'll use South driving campers for info I think. 

After catching up on two days of blogs I'm away the roads are pretty quiet and I anticipate getting more so! 

The first stop is definitely quiet no one here but me at Uridafoss waterfall, 

that doesn't last for long at least 5 more cars show up as I leave the falls, they claim to have the highest annual flow of water in Iceland I suppose draining from the moorlands will be pretty continuous to enable this claim! 

The moorlands are pretty vast stretching between two ranges of mountains which I can't find names for right now! The northern ones are pure white utterly beautiful

the road towards Vik leads toward the eastern end of the range

where if you look to the right ^ of the picture you can see my next objective from miles away!!

Getting closer you can see why....

Seljalandsfoss is huge! And you can walk behind it!!!

great fun even the inevitable soaking is fun! 

no regrets even tho it's bloody freezing! You can see how pink I went!! 😄

There's a little gift shop there with some really nice Icelandic jumpers... Nice until you do the cost conversion to pounds £259.00..... no jumpers with that!!!

Into the van heating on with some Icelandic soup from the little cafe.... Really nice .... Warming was needed....I didn't want to know the price! 

Back on the road and route 1 continues north passing a tall slim waterfall called Drifandi....

worth a look from the road no obvious path to it and I've no idea of trespass laws here if there are any! 

A planned stop further along comes complete with the tourist tax parking of 10000 Icelandic kroner for a days parking for a visit that will last 20 minutes no more.... No thanks...I park outside the zone. 

The attraction is free it's a cave

with a rebuilt porch that was used to store hay in the winter , the roof construction is thick beams with slabs of rock (much like collyweston tiles) sealed with slabs of turf

this leads into the man made cave where the main cave would have been more storage but leading off to the left was a small cave for smithing.

this wide angle shot showing both. 

Nice to see but not something I'd pay for.

Further along route 1 is Skogar a small village with two waterfalls and a folk museum, also a fish and chip stall!!! In a really dodgy looking red hut!

As with most things in Iceland it's expensive at £15 for a small portion... The only size! But it does taste damn good!

also at Skogar is a campsite right next to the falls!!

This will do for today I think with views like this who can blame me! 

once again it's a stunning waterfall!!! That you get right up close to! 

i opted to stay dry this time! 

But it was fun watching those who got close.....

https://youtube.com/shorts/JMuzWp6GFn0?si=SouNIUcPbamcPegE

Back to the van and dinner comes after a few hours of chilling out, finishing off the pork chops... Then just watching Netflix and dozing off. 

I wake in the night to do one of those things that must be done..... Say no more! 

And I'm treated!!! 

To me it was just white but this was my first Icelandic aurora and certainly the first time I've seen the shifting curtains!!!

My phone camera showed the colours luckily

perhaps a stronger aurora will give me visible colours,? I certainly hope so! 

Day 78 Blowing hot and flowing cold!

If you remember months back in Bilbao I had ear canal infection? Well for the last four days I've had the same! 

This morning I woke up feeling rubbish.... I strongly considered just crashing out for the day, 

I started off slowly sitting up is interesting and in the morning walking is dangerous! 

But like the previous days going from laid down to vertical is where it gets interesting... Once your ears have stabilised it's ok thank the gods!!

And I celebrate with my first fry up in three months.... I'm in heaven!!

And I have energy!! 

This little stove saves the day!

feeling happy and full! I'm on my way, having planned a little last night I realised how many places I needed to visit North past the Kerid crater from yesterday! 

So back up north via routes 1 and 35 past the craters, passing mountains thicker with snow than they'd been yesterday

through the moorland terrain with small horses being reared ... I hope for more than tourism! 

I reach my first stop with the tourist tax car park only a few quid in pounds not so bad! 

And I'm at Faxafoss waterfall! 

Easily the biggest waterfall I've ever seen! 

this is the same river that flows past Selfoss town it's called the Olfusa!

Beautiful and in bright sunshine what more could I want! 

Well continuing north I get my answers!

Going from cold to hot I'm at Geysir as the name suggests this a tourist attraction including geysers! 

Pulling up into the car park you have to pay by app.... Which I can't get to work! 

I pull out of the car park up the road turn left.... All the geysers are visible! There's even the old car park where you can park for free! Bonus!!

Passing steaming bubbling holes

There's only geyser active here the biggest having gone dormant years back! 

But it's pretty impressive!!!.....

https://youtu.be/shWDFkiy1r0?si=ryEblWX-Yu5ZZzaJ

Standing taking a multitude of photos and videos I eventually walk back to the car and get the best photo of the geysers I could hope for!!!!

you can pretend to be one of the first to see this with so few tourists visible!!

I'd met a group of Brits with strong Yorkshire accents here earlier, so good to hear that accent!!

And have a conversation... They told me that they'd nearly been snowed in further north so doing the whole thing road may be impracticable.... But we'll see!.

Today's plans require going further up into the mountain plains with stunning views of white clad mountains in the distance

I'm truly skirting wilderness here! 

It calls your soul..... This land is incredible! 

Equally is my stop Gullfoss another waterfall on the Olfusa and the biggest waterfall in Europe! 

How quickly my largest waterfall viewed changes!!!

first view looking upstream is incredible but walking along the ravine you can see how deep the ravine gets as the river flows south!

upstream you get to see why it's so deep! If hell was water not fire it would be at the base of these falls!

such power that words cannot describe. !!!!!

Beauty in the ephemeral too with the right conditions!

pleased to catch the rainbow! 

Having driven this far north requires the same drive south to get back to route 1 which will be the artery of this Icelandic adventure! 

The driving on the right is almost intuitive now thank goodness and getting back to Selfoss was so relaxing! 

Back to the same campsite and my aurora app says that there's a 40% chance of seeing the aurora tonight.... Damn those odds it didn't show! Plenty of days yet tho! 

Tonight I put the vans heater on, nice to be toastie all night!

Day77 the land of ice and fire!!

Volcanic eruptions!!! 

Last night the area that I'd been driving through went seismic!!! 

A known and well observed fissure blew! It's closed down the area and all roads to Grindavik and the blue lagoon! 

Sadly I'm too far East and behind a mountain range to see the glow! 

I have to make do with old eruptions today! 

A lazy start the time zones adjustment is only marginal but it makes me want to chill for a bit, most of the morning! 

Still I get going eventually taking routes 42,38 and 39 to the Raufarholsollin lava tube! 

Turning up without appointment worked ok and I only waited 10 minutes to join the 2pm tour! 

If id understood the cost 8900 Icelandic kroner I'd probably have not bothered £49!!!

But how often do you walk through a lava tube? Experience is better than the expense.... Just! 

A short walk and we're in the tube! In a few places the ceiling has collapsed allowing the winters snows to gather in huge cones! Makes for interesting photos!

further in the tube waking along a raised platform the floor is thick with ice stalagmites! 

then passing red rock where the iron rich stone has rusted! 

Passing on further you can see the last layers of volcanic glass that still layer the walls

onto a platform all lights are off and pure darkness.... And silence not even an echo! 

Meaning bats don't live in the tube.. No echo location no flight! 

The only constant life form here is white bacteria in patches of the roof

occasional birds nest in summer and mice... But that's it

Literally that is it! The tour goes no farther! Back over the platform

And into the ice stalagmites is have a play with using my head torch to illuminated the structure of the ice...

rather Easter egg like that last one!

Back through the 400 meters of tunnel that had been created by an eruption over 6 miles away thousands of years ago, and I'm back at the center and into the van.

An expensive short walk!!

Off again along routes 38,1 and 35 to Kerid crater where three craters are in a line the major one

And to the south two considerably smaller ones! 

A nice little visit, but after Vesuvius not so long ago it fails to impress! But that's just me! It shouldn't stop anyone with fresher eyes having a look.... It's pretty cheap to visit, so worthwhile!.

Back down route 35 and 1 to Selfoss a small town with a campsite and I'm cooking pork chops and pasta for dinner! Bloody lovely!!

That keeps me warm all night!

Day 76 the last track in Europe

It's really early when I wake just after 4am.... Seemed a good time to catch up on the blog! 

Also to get out of Oslo! 

Walking through the early morning dark to central station

to catch my last train that I can use with the interrail pass! For about £600 I've travelled 12,362 kilometers by the time I reach Oslo international airport, that's bloody good value!!!

Intentionally I'm early really early! I haven't flown in nearly 15 years and yes I'm nervous, Not being a fan of heights!

Still it's an opportunity to face my fears, and at 9.25am we take off..... I won't deny I'm sweating, and breathing deeply! 

It doesn't last an hour in and I've chilled out enjoying the sunshine above the clouds

descending into Reykjavik international and it's become normal, future flights will be that much easier.... And the next being further is only a few weeks away, when I get around to booking the flight!

Picking up a bottle of whisky at duty free, to circumvent the cost of alcohol in Iceland, and I'm ready to be picked up by the camper company! Nice organisation and lovely staff! This is Eliska who picked myself and two others up

really cheerful lady, she dealt with setting me up in my little camper

a nissan Nv200, and I was first away! 

First stop the Bonus supermarket, that Eliska had recommended, loading the van for a few days I enjoy the autonomy of not being dependent upon a city for a while!

Driving out I have two stop at a roundabout (successfully negotiating the wrong side of the road!) the reason I stopped? 

Finally a Viking sword with a Petersen type O Pommel!! 

i didn't know at the time but there's a Viking museum nearby, that I'll have to visit on my last day with the camper! 

For now I travel around route 44 circumnavigating the airport on minor roads while I get reaccustomed to driving, stopping at Brimkettel lava rock pool

not planning on bathing today in this fierce sea! With sea spray on my face that tastes of sulpher! And the dried crust of black lava all around me I'm in a strange world! And in all it's ways I'm sure it will get stranger!

I stop at the famous blue lagoon spa with huge protective walls of lava to protect it and the nearby thermal power station for future eruptions.

I didn't go in I'm pretty tired and have forty minutes to drive to my campsite..... Which is free!!! I wonder how often that will happen!!

but now I can sit in the warmth of the van with it's diesel heater going and cook (reheat!) a lamb curry! 

With whisky accompaniment I'm in my happy place, and sleep comes, I'm two time zones further west than when I left Oslo and with an early start it's been a long day! 

day 75 historic adventure!

Not just historic adventure, memories from my youth and innocent times 😊

One theme that unites all of today's objectives is that they are both nautical adventures/adventurers! And that their aims albeit shorter than mine are true adventures with the hardships and risks to life that modern travel has taken from this and will likely not be written into my travelog, who knows tho perhaps they will? 

A quick breakfast on the run, I'm out the hostel and catching a bus from Hausmanns bru just around the corner to Bigdøynes! An easy trip out, going over ground I've travelled before through this I'm now pleased to say pleasant city, never trust first impressions!

Onto the Peninsular through Bigdøy,I go past the Viking ship museum that's currently undergoing building work until 2026.... A return visit perhaps? 

The first visit is to the Kontiki museum, telling the stories of the many voyages of Thor Heyerdahl as he built and tested the seaworthiness of ancient designs of ship to understand the spread of humanity through the Pacific, the first was in the balsa wood raft back in the 1940's called the Kontiki after a South American chieftain who sailed east to escape capture after defeats in war ... Who knows if he made it! 

But this boat was design to see if could have survived

this is the actual raft Thor Heyerdahl used! Proving it's capability travelling from Lima to Tahiti.... Just... It wasn't in the best condition when it arrived, but it arrived... Pure adventure with all the risk! 

The next two adventures sailing the Ra which failed quickly sailing from Northern Africa due to poor construction and the Ra2 which sailed from

Morocco to Barbados using mostly the trade winds to blow them along!

this is one adventure that I remember from my childhood! As a kids we used to make models of this ship from dried grass and sailed them to destruction in local streams! Happy simple times 🥰.

Thor Heyerdahl himself really pushed his boundaries being a poor swimmer and actually scared of the sea!! It takes a special kind of person to pursue his understanding of past technology/history with these constraints! 

But pushing to the extent of your ability and succeeding or failing is the theme of the second museum named after the ship The Fram used for many explorations by Roald Amundsen 

a ship designed for travel through Antarctic ice and even becoming icebound... It has a short curved hull designed if stuck in the ice to not be crushed but pushed up out of the ice until it's either possible to free the boat or a melt allows escape! 

Making this the perfect ship for his most famous adventure to the south pole! 

Where on the 15th of December 1911 he beat Scott leading the British endeavour by nearly a month! 

And got his team home. 

The ship did eventually become unseaworthy and after a period of decay was restored to the current state, and becomes the fascinating museum piece it is! 

You can explore the interior looking over the engines 

electrics

and even Amundsens living quarters!

space was indeed precious! 

Taking a few minutes to look over the fyord before heading back to pack for leaving Norway tomorrow!