We didn’t see any volcanic fire, and I nearly didn’t see Iceland at all. Weighing and packing the last of the dried food into portion bags had taken a while, and it was late when I finally tried to get some sleep. After a restless night on the floor of my friends’ living room, I got up early as my eye was very painful and sensitive from overwearing my contact lenses the day before. We tried unsuccessfully to relieve the pain with Optrex, and after an hour decided I should go to the Eye Hospital to make sure it wasn’t anything else, as the pain was still there and I couldn’t see.
One of the girls drove me there, then took all the luggage to Manchester Victoria station. I was worried and upset as I thought I might not be able to go to Iceland. My eye was anaesthetised so I had to wear an eye patch over it. I walked back to the house where two others were waiting for me, and we caught a later train to Glasgow, after a bacon and tomato butty!
We arrived at Glasgow Central station early afternoon and took a taxi to Abbotsinch airport. An hour later we met up with everyone else at the checking in desk, and managed to stay within the baggage allowance by carrying 20 kg daysacks as well as large rucksacks. Customs stopped us because we were all carrying marzipan, which apparently has the same look, feel and smell as plastic explosives, so we all had to take a bite! They also weren’t happy with the strong smell of paraffin from our empty stoves. The suitcase crammed full of small plastic bags of white powders however, didn’t bother them at all!
Early evening, we boarded the Icelandair plane. Tea was a selection of cold meats and salad, with a bread bun. This was followed by cheese and biscuits and After Eight mints with coffee. It was a good flight, but too cloudy over the sea to see anything. We altered our watches from BST to Iceland’s GMT.
The plane arrived at Keflavik airport two and a half hours later, and a coach took us to Reykjavik New Youth Hostel. The route was along the coast, and we had our first views of the lava wilderness. Black rock and black sand with a dusting of green yellow lichen and mosses. As we arrived in Reykjavik, the houses caught my attention. They were constructed mainly of concrete with corrugated iron roofs, and were brightly painted many different colours, walls and roofs, in white, cream, blue, green and red.
At the hostel we were given two sheets and directed to a corridor of ‘rooms’, formed by wooden partitions three quarters of the way to the roof. After a supper of curry, rice and gallons of tea, we went to bed just before midnight.
Woke very early in the morning as one of the other girls in the room was catching an early flight. Had a shower in the basement of the hostel, the water smelled strongly of hydrogen sulphide – bad eggs, as did all the hot water around Reykjavik, as it was geothermally heated. The coach arrived, after going to the wrong hostel, and was accompanied by a guide, who spoke English quite well.
We travelled down to Selfoss, then up to Arnes, where we stopped for a coffee. Not far from here, the tarmac road ran out and we travelled on sand and dust tracks for the rest of the day. We drove along the Pjorsa river, the valley described as ‘woods, waterfalls and wilderness’, past hydroelectric power stations and iceberg barriers. It was too misty to see Mt Hekla, but we passed fairly close.
Visibility remained poor for most of the journey, unfortunately. My friend kept nodding off and fell into the aisle! We travelled diagonally across Iceland on the Sprengisandur ‘road’. (Sprengi translates as ‘place where the horse’s heart burst and he dropped down dead’ and sandur as ‘arctic desert’, not the most inspiring combination!)
We travelled through the lava desert formed by frost weathering, crossing many glacial rivers at shallow fords. The driver narrowly missed one of the few lambs we saw along the road. We passed miles of black grey sand and some larger rocks, like huge coal pit spoil heaps. Alongside the rivers grew bright yellow green lichen and pink ‘river beauties’ or arctic willow herb.
Higher up, the only flora was limited to ‘sea pinks’ or thrift and creeping azalea, with a few small white flowers. Amongst the black sand and rocks were a few grey hole-ridden stones. We had lunch in a hut at Jokuldalur (Jokul means glacier, dalur is valley), just below Tungnafellsjokull glacier. This consisted of cold lamb chops in breadcrumbs, tomato, boiled egg, ‘coleslaw’ with pineapple and turnip, orange juice, coffee and biscuits. To protect the wooden floors, we had to take our shoes off before going inside the hut. Here we had our first view of the ‘toblerone block’ toilets, a seat over a hole in the ground!
There were still no views as we left the hut and continued along the Sprengisandur ‘road’, between the Hofsjokull and Vatnajokull glaciers or icecaps. We stopped at the centre of Iceland, the ‘banana shape’ lake, Fjordungsvatn (vatn is lake), just below Mt Fjordungsaida (four-ways). Here the guide sang about an outlaw and his horse, who gave the name to the Sprengisandur road.
As we continued northwards, we left the lava desert and passed several good examples of roches moutonnées (sheep rocks, small bare outcrops of rock shaped by glacial erosion, with one side smooth and gently sloping and the other steep, rough, and irregular). We then travelled along the Skjalfandafljot river and gorge to a lovely waterfall with long basalt columns below it. New flowers were now appearing.
We passed down into a valley, and saw the first farm on this side of the desert. All the sheep seemed to go around in threes! We stopped for a while at Godafoss, waterfall of the Gods, then headed on to the ‘lake of midges’, Myvatn, described as ‘hot springs and feathered friends’.
The depth of lake Myvatn is about 2 m, to 4 m in places. Around the south of the lake are pseudo-craters, formed by steam erupting out of swampy areas. There were many midges, though luckily they didn’t seem to be biting, and all kinds of ducks, except eider which is a maritime duck. Along the eastern side were black castles of lava formations. We camped at Reykjahlid, about halfway up into the hills, just by a little airstrip. I shared the dome tent.
Cashed some travellers’ cheques at the hotel, money at last! Most of the group went to climb the Hverfjall explosion crater of grey ash (452 m). On the way there, we passed the hot springs. The whole hillside was creating its own swirling mist, steam rose from every crack in the rocks. In some places holes had formed, some quite large, and steam poured out of them like chimneys.
Further on we crossed the lava field. Rough lava (a-a) like ash, and very sharp too! We came across a huge fissure, with caves leading down to hot water, heated geothermally as this area is on the volcanic belt. The notices warned the water was 60oC. Amongst the lava were patches of creeping azalea and small birch bushes. It was like stepping back in time, before any vegetation had grown tall.
After a difficult crossing of the lava, we reached the base of the crater. From a distance it looked very unstable. Loose ash and volcanic dust. As we got nearer though, a path to the rim of the crater could clearly be seen, and some of the stones were quite large. We set off up this firm scree, and soon reached the rim.
The view at the top was quite a surprise. The rim was about 1–2 metres wide, then the crater dropped about 100 m to a flattish centre. Some went down to have a closer look, but the climb back up from the loose dust was a bit more tiring than the descent!
The views out from the top were quite spectacular. It was a lovely day, and we could see across the lake and all the surrounding hills. Flat-topped and ridge-shaped, depending on how they had formed beneath the glaciers which once covered the area. We walked all around the rim, and some of the lads went on to climb another crater nearby. The rest of us went back down and walked back to the camp by the road, through the lava formations and the midges!
Back at camp, after tea, a couple of the girls were chasing around the tents when one of them slipped and sprained her ankle. Another girl was also suffering from bad blisters on the back of her feet. The road walk back had been hard and hot on the feet. I had finished my first photo film!
Some went to scale Hlidarfjall (771 m), to the north of the lake. The rest of us sunbathed (yes!), wrote postcards and did some washing. Later, we went back to the bank to cash some more cheques, then down to the lake to hire a boat. Unfortunately, there wasn’t one available, so we had lunch by the lakeside, carried on with the sunbathing, and paddled. The whole grassy area was swarming with tiny midges. They didn’t bite but were very irritating, and great clouds of them rose from the grass every time you moved.
The water in the lake was a bit too cold to swim in, so we went to the Co-op and then on to the open-air swimming baths. The hot shower before going in would have been worth the money on its own, cheaper than the shower at the campsite!
The baths also had two jacuzzies at a temperature of about 40oC, these were heated geothermally. The main pool was also heated, but seemed quite cool in comparison. The pool was 25 x 11 m and I swam two miles, before soaking in the jacuzzi then heading back to the campsite. The rest had already gone as it had taken me about two hours. I wanted to see if I could still swim that far, as we had read the crater lake at Askja was two miles across (or three the other way), and I fancied attempting it when we went there later in the week.
After tea, we all went to see the famous Volcano Show. They showed films of Heimaey, the forming of the island Surtsey, and especially for us, a film of the eruption of Askja in 1961!
The room was small and soon became very hot and stuffy. There were no windows, and the seats were hard even though they were padded. We held the door ajar to get a cool draught blowing through as with it shut you couldn’t breathe!
Halfway through the show, myself and a few other girls ran down to the Co-op for cans of pop and ice cream lollies, which were very welcome.
Had a bit of trouble with the paraffin stove, the flames were enough to boil some water, but unfortunately the stove was not alight as such! We were more used to simpler meths stoves, but paraffin was cheaper and more widely available in Iceland. We would have had to bring all the methylated spirits with us.
After breakfast, myself and some of the others set off along the road dirt track to climb Vindbelgjarfjall (529 m) on the opposite side of the lake. The road walk took about two hours, at the end of which some of us changed out of trainers into boots.
There were lots of large black flies on that side of the lake, and they were very persistent! They went straight for the moisture in your mouth and nose, so you choked on them every time you tried to breathe.
We walked through the pseudo-craters and straight up the hill, to stay in the wind and avoid the flies. Most of the way up was through creeping azaleas and a thin covering of grass. The scree at the top third of the hill was undermined by soft sand, making the going slow and very tiring.
Eventually we reached the top, and the views were splendid. We had lunch at the top, near a relay station for the seismic equipment monitoring volcanic activity.
The wind was very strong, so we decided against coming down the nose and headed down the side. The scree was just as loose here, and the slope became convex, with cliffs at the bottom. We side-stepped to a sandy gully, which was just as steep but easier to descend. Unfortunately, this also had a cliff at the bottom, so we side-stepped again into some birch bushes nearby, and slid through them to the bottom. Actually, it was more a case of swinging through them, as the ground became more and more vertical. Unfortunately, some weren’t very strongly rooted.
Once on solid ground again, we were in a maze of small lakes, reeds and small birch trees on the few islands of lava. The flies were so bad, most of us had a balaclava on, even though it was sunny and very warm. We found our way along the twisting islands, with just one small river crossing, only just narrow enough to jump. As I had dry socks and trainers with me, I walked across to see how deep the mud was. The water was only ankle deep, and the mud was firm, it was very cold water though. Eventually we reached the road again, and the long walk home.
Some of the others had spent the day by the lake, and out on the boats. Most of the others went to Krafla, to see the ‘extinct’ volcano and boiling mud pools. As one of the lads with them had his birthday that day, we made him a little cake. They arrived back about midnight, a long walk!
Some went to Krafla, whilst others went down to the village to go to the church. It was very windy and quite cold. However, church is only held every fortnight as one minister services many, so they came back pretty soon. Not much happened on a Sunday morning, so we did some more washing.
In the afternoon, I went over the expedition route some of the group were going to do later in the trip, for which I was one of the supervisors, with one of the lads who was to be the assessor. Some went to see the boiling mud near the hot springs we saw on the first day at Myvatn.
We went down to the hotel in the evening, to try out the claim in some of the brochures that you can drink as many refills of coffee as you like for the one price. They were right! Beer is illegal in Iceland, and wines and spirits can only be sold at state off-licences with restricted opening. We sat watching the telly (I, Claudius!), drinking endless cups of coffee in the very warm hotel lobby. I slept very well that night.
