day 83 blowing, hot and cold!

The day starts with the usual blog catch-up, only one day thankfully, I have a rather large first objective! 

The volcano! 

crossing the magma field (all cold now) it's like tourists always say 'it looks like the moon' well I wouldn't know! But it certainly feels unearthly! 

the route up Hverfjall is pretty steep with a cold headwind, I should have bought a scarf! Breathing isn't the easiest! 

looking back does give me the chance to see the tiny red dot in the parking that is my van! 

Yep it's high! 

Cresting the ridge you feel the battering of an Icelandic wind, it's damn strong! 

Looking into the quiescent caldera is hard to imagine how much molten rock was blasted from here! Even with the crusty magma fields!! 

Now is much better time to visit! 

I follow the still steep lip of the cone in a clockwise direction to the highest point, I think this image shows how much I was fighting to stay on my feet! 

and keep my glasses on! 

I lose or break them and I'm knackered!! 

With this in mind I retrace my steps back down pausing briefly for a bit of silliness..... Never too old to make a snow angel!! 

Once back at the van I retrace my steps from yesterday there's a few places I want to see, the first being a small lake in the mountains....I never reach it the road is closed!!!

But I do get to see a thermo electric power station up close! 

and to dabble my fingers a beautifully warm steam going down the valley! 

with the warmth of this water in mind I go to a hot spring spa..... That's the first spa I've ever visited..... It may not be the last! 

After freezing my bits of getting from the changing room to the pool I'm in heaven! 

I really needed this! 

blissfully looking back to the volcano... In the background! 

Stepping from one pool to the next was weird my limbs felt so heavy! 

You'd think they'd be lighter after the clean! 😁😁😁

But I can't stay here forever, so I'm out dried and on my way.... Glowing!

I stop in Ryklalid for diesel and food, getting my first chance to try out the famous Icelandic hotdogs! No idea what the dressing is but it's damn good! 

Filled and restocked and the road is calling....

I'm not planning to go far but there's a waterfall I must see .... You think I'd be used to them by now? 

Not when they're like this one!

looking like a small Niagara! It's damned impressive! 

Godafoss is it's name, literally meaning gods falls! After a local Chieftain cast his Norse gods icons into the water upon converting to Christianity!

Worth the stop.... Nice that parking is free for once! 

There's a souvenir/outdoors shop here, I buy a nice woolly hat too replace the silly hat I bought in Switzerland.... Amusing myself with finding the old hat a new home....

i really should have asked what the story was of this scruffy mannequin!

But the hat at least suited it! 

Travelling on I unexpectedly find another tunnel! Briefly spotting the tiny sign right next to the entrance saying it's a toll road!!!!

More tourist tax!!

Tho for the few quid it worked out it wasn't bad, and it was also the longest tunnel so far at 7km!

They have to recoup the cost I suppose.

 Straight out and on my right is the largest town I've seen so far Akureyri, with a population of 18000 it's considered the capital of the North! ....

It's here I have a campsite to stop at for the night... As usual a reasonable price, nice to have the facilities, makes life that bit more comfy! 

I sit up watching a movie on the phone feeling so relaxed! 

A happy day indeed! 

day 82 Modern Moria?

Djupivogur what a lovely peaceful harbour village!! Long may it remain so! 

A last look say the harbour after writing up two days of blogs!

a quick look at a monument about a slave who escaped bondage adopted a local name and lived here 😊

then I'm off chasing fyords!

I don't have much on the itinerary today it's about getting through the empty northern section.... With lots of wows! Ooohs! Aaahhs! Currently my most used words! 

Understandably! 

this country is addictive... Massively! 

The effect it has on those who travel through is rather wonderful every other traveller is your friend! Very useful if anything goes wrong I suppose! 

I met this Austrian couple as I stopped having driven to the far side of the Fyord, Melina and Benny

at moments like this all stories are shared much like old travellers in taverns.... A sort of verbal news system, you share any info that may affect the others progress.... We're all equal here.... It's good. 

Around into the Breiddalsvik fyord and I'm treated to this view.... One of my favourite views 

a cloud inversion.... Seeing the mountains poke above like that is oooh aaah and wow rolled up into one! Try saying it! 

At every turn is a beautiful view of mountains and fyords briefly seeing a seal sat on a rock.... You can't stop on these roads unfortunately! 

occasional lay-bys suffice tho! 

Around the Faskrudsfyordur, at the head the road turns away from the fyord towards a dead end of mountains! 

No way the road can go over, it goes through under the mountain thoughts of Tolkiens Moria and dwarves are spring readily to mind in this environment! No need to say 'mellon' to enter here friends! (You really need to be a Tolkien fan to get that!) Entry is smooth as is the journey through, at 6km long journey is the right word, with unknown millions of tons of rock over your head! 

Spat out at the far end you get a chance to pull over for a photo 

Pleased to get that! 

Looking the other way just the regular view of fyords and mountains! I'm so pleased that you can't Blaise about this place!

at the end of this fyord the road heads inland for the first time, it seems odd to travel away from the sea, progress is upwards! And upwards into a mountain valley 

every section of road is long here! None of it boring! 

Descending briefly to Egilsstadir a modern little town on the lake Lagarfljot, straight through and westward still on route 1 a brief stop to see Rjúkandafoss....

before travelling another mile or so to turn off in a road that quickly turns to gravel track for a few miles pretty high above a valley, I'm looking for a canyon! 

It's a bit special! Think of the giants causeway....Stuðlagil canyon was formed in exactly the same way

you can see how the pressure in the magma formed these! 

A rare privilege to see! 

It's a breathtaking view and equally breathtaking is the climb back out even on metal stairs! 

stopping for air at the top before hopping back in the van and driving on, upwards of course the route plateaus of course, but this is the highest I've been in Iceland it's an arctic tundra! 

i drive through this for hours! 

reaching the Western side I have a high campsite planned for tonight , but the cloud is looking heavy..... I don't want to be snowed in up here,

I push on for another hour, reaching another area of geothermal activity, a quick shot of the valley

before finding my next campsite.... Right next to a dormant volcano!

well it wouldn't be Iceland would it!!

Another cooked meal and I'm dozing.... Getting plenty of sleep driving around Iceland! ☺️

day 81 Ice and diamonds

I've an event booked for 11.30 this morning half an hour's drive away so absolutely no rush, yes I could have caught up with yesterday's blog easily, but I didn't I really need to stay on top of the blogs.... Killing time drinking coffee making and consuming another fry up! And..... Sit down..... Showering! God that felt good! But it also nearly made me late! 

I'd already packed most of my stuff so just going was no issue...

The short drive was fine, at one point in the drive the road is diverted where the previous road and bridge had been washed away by a huge glacial melt! 

Arriving at Fjallsárlón a group of about ten of us kit up in huge waterproof insulated jackets and little life preservers.... Not that falling in and floating would be much fun..... Your dead in five minutes apparently! 

We're heading out into this lake of iceberg and glacier in a Rib..... Rigid inflatable boat..... 

passing smallish looking bergs until you consider they float with only 10% above water.... Getting too close and one flipping would be disastrous

awkward selfie later......

And we approach the glacier itself a good 100 meters back, getting closer isn't optional... One fall and we're at best washed away .. More likely dead... Serious business this tourism!!

this particular glacial flow is receding at 50 meters per year in other flows it's up to 150 meters, I'm lucky to see this ... Heading back back through the pretty thick broken ice

you really get the impression of being north! Not far from the artic circle! 

Back on land and disrobed the little party breaks up and I'm away in search of diamonds! 

Diamond beach to be exact.... This is another black sand beach at the mouth of the outflow from Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon !

Looking back towards the lagoon it would be a very interesting boat trip..... You can see why it opens later in the year! 

on to the diamond's!

yep diamond beach is covered in ice crystals up to a few meters long with a miriad of shapes and textures

with the tourists come the influencers! 

she was prancing up and down in front of her camera all the time I was there .... Kind of missing the point of the experience! 

An experience I recommend.... You do get parking mugged the usual five pounds for the day, for a half hour visit tourist tax ..... For once it's worth while....I won't see this elsewhere I think!

From here my trip North is panoramic ecstasy! 

I'm entering the Eastern fjords and words nor pictures can portray the beauty ..... I'll leave it to the pictures. 

having decided against going to see a Viking village that had been built and abandoned for a movie, my path goes through a tunnel under a mountain leaving the grey clouds stuck to its peak and once in sunshine there's a bit of silly....a red painted wooden chair is bolted randomly to a rock,

depending upon your source it's either a place for the locals to leave cheese for the elves or a seat of contemplation.... I go with the elves.... No reason lol! 

tho that's some scenery to contemplate behind me!

From here the scenery just gets better and better! You start to realise you can't capture all of this and you become selective on a level I've not reached before! Anywhere else (possibly) I'd be snap happy .. Here I need to make progress along the road! 

Which in places without the guard rail would be pretty hairy with hundred feet drops down scree slopes to whatever lady below.... No I wasn't looking!!

There are view points along these stretches.....

I can these roads being regularly closed from land slides!

Into another fjord and a crown of icy peaks grabs my attention forcing a stop!

this is fantasy land! 

A thousand adventures of dwarves and goblins and ice maidens could be fantasized here!

But I settle for a good port for the night.... At least a campsite above one at the pretty harbour town of Djupivogur!

another night of stunning views with dinner in the van!

Day 80 Understanding

I've not as yet had a more beautiful place to stop! The falls the mountains the aurora!! 

Feeling blessed as I leave, I nearly make a bad choice I was considering passing up on a visit to Skogar museum that would have been an awful mistake! 

Nothing as yet has given me a feel for the past in any depth this museum really achieves that! 

I don't think Iceland has been 'modern' for very long a hundred years or so is my guess and prior to that subsistence living relying on boats to brave the often insane seas here

farming of sheep for meat and wool spinning yarn to make the famous jumpers

a good selection of spindle whorls here too.

Cattle to provide leather and horn, drinking vessels and cutlery made from horn due to the lack of wood here

a spoon former here!... Boil up a strip of horn cut to shape and place in the former close it up and leave the spoon to cool... Who needs plastic! 

Naturally horns for communication over the rugged landscape, calling people in for meals, church... Probably no end of reasons and different calls

but horns obviously carried status.... A horn call was a command not a request. Calling back to the farmstead would bring you to these basic looking homes

comprising workshops, kitchens and sleeping quarters where multiple people slept together for warmth

you can see where the side has been cut out to make entry exit easier but once in an ornate bed board is placed to stop anyone being pushed out!........

living areas were decidedly more posh,

entertainment of visitors, business, music, schooling would be carried out here, all under those rock slate and turf ceilings..... You wouldn't think so from that image! 

People's attire, Sunday best/weddings etc was really fancy! 

with ornate buckles and brooches that still held onto designs familiar to the ancient Norse 

transport over land was on foot or horse back, the women folk riding side saddle with more or less ornate sales depending on your wealth

and men's more practical saddles 

imply that the women looked after the homes whilst men attended to the more distant business of daily life. 

Like I say that museum really gave me an impression of how things may have been ....I can always be wrong in my interpretations!

On my way and I get an impression of the distances here.... How often did people travel to meet?

a lighter and very much more modern stop I go off the main road to see a cave...... Modern?...... Well modern in its name!

it's named the Yoda cave..... Yes after Yoda from start wars!..... Very silly! 

But a good break from the road! 

From the cave to the sea is just black sand all ground up by ancient glacier! 

But this is the start of a lesson in how terrain changes here

To dormant volcano.... You can caldera in so many peaks as you drive along! 

through moorland

with occasional patches of odd rocky terrain.... Little piles of rocks that no doubt tourism has had more prominent

long stretches of round looking rocks covering miles of land that on closer inspection are rocks covered in grey moss

plateau with waterfalls, the entire lengths of which have smoothed and eroded by eons of water flow! 

the last section of road before I stop for the day is a wide valley floor....I call it valley but it's miles across, it really leaves you feeling tiny.... Never a bad experience! It's quite overwhelming

looking back and seeing the huge plateau you'd driven past reduced to slim grey line on the horizon! 

Equally turning forward and seeing the next plateau with the huge Vatnajokull glacier grinding it's way to the level of the land your on 

my stop for the night is at the base of the hill to the left of the left hand glacier....

As always stop eating sleep become priority.... Leaving this blog to be written later!