Got up early, had breakfast and packed up camp to catch the bus to Askja. There were three coaches all together, so we sat on one and our luggage was put on another. We drove past the boiling blue mud pools, potato fields and a bakery, and a farm where they smoked meat.
Soon we were driving across the desert plains, only four-wheel-drive vehicles are allowed here in the interior. The coaches made their own tracks as they went along. Yellow posts marked the approximate route. As the coaches overtook one another, they were followed by great clouds of dust, like long tails.
We stopped for lunch at a hut below Herdubreid, a large mountain capped in ice and snow. It was nick-named Hurdy Gurdy by some of the lads who were going to climb it, but it was a bit too far from Askja. A small river flowed past the hut, and by it was growing some hogweed which looked like small trees. More ‘toblerone blocks’.
Quite soon after, we stopped by the glacial river Jokulsa a Fjollum, and a small waterfall. Both were very grey and murky looking, and full of glacial deposits. Next we saw a small lake, Alftavatn (swan lake), with a few birds on it.
One of the coaches got stuck in the sand and had to be pulled out with a tow rope by the others, a good reason for travelling in convoy.
Finally, we headed to the Dyngjufjoll range and Askja. We walked up to Viti hot spring crater and lake Askja, Oskjuvatn. There was a strong smell of sulphur, probably from the surrounding hills, and the water in the crater was very murky looking. The whole area was very muddy, and it was raining and cold. It was easy to see why Viti, or Hell, was the name given to this crater.
Lake Askja looked very blue and clean in comparison, but was reported to be very cold (about 4oC), so the swim across was abandoned. The area had a mixture of smooth (pahoehoe) lava and rough, red and blue ash blocks. You could see where the lava had run, as long fingers of black, rough lava stretched out into the desert. Amongst the smooth lava were very good examples of ‘rope’ formations, formed by slow cooling of flowing lava, with its eddies.
The buses, which were really on a day trip, left us at the hut, Dreki. This was named after Drekagil, or Dragons gorge. The ground was pumice stone, hollow and very brittle. We hammered the tent pegs into the ground with stones, then covered them with small boulders as the pumice didn’t hold very well.
Here we got to know the two ‘toblerone blocks’ well, and soon realised, every so often they were moved along, hence the many hollows around the camping site. It didn’t do much to make you feel safe at night! Had hot drinks in the hut then planned tomorrow’s walks. Rearranged the tent groups.
Most of us went up by Drekagil gorge, to head around to lake Askja. On the way up we passed some ice caves, and realised the pumice and dust scree we were walking on was just a thin covering on a huge ice field.
The climb up was very steep, and the air cold, making it very hard to breathe. The ground was very sandy, both in colour and texture. Amongst this were very fragile pumice blocks, like cinder toffee, or silvery ones.
We reached the side ridge overlooking the main lake after about three hours, and had lunch at the 1448 m peak. From the col we headed along the long ridge behind the lake. The ridge was like the ‘wave’ peaks of the Brecon Beacons in Wales. Long sloping backs leading up to the edge, then they fell away in a cliff to the lake, below the overhang.
There were some magnificent views from the edge, but I avoided getting too close. The actual tops of the peaks were sandy, soily towers and fairly fragile too! Some of the group went all the way to the main peak Porvaldstindur (1510 m). The broken pumice looked very like sawdust, and for a short while we thought we’d found some pieces of real wood!
Below the sandy scree was, in places, some dark soil which resembled peat. Dry rivulets made the going more difficult as they were very unstable near the edges. The last few to jump across had very little chance at all!
There was a good view to the east of the hill Vadalda and its small lake Dyngjvatn. The Vatnajokull icecap and its glacial river were also clearly visible. There seemed to be a sandstorm down in that valley, reaching quite a height. The weather was fine and sunny, it was quite warm in the sun, and when climbing, but very cold in the wind and in the shade. From starting in a T-shirt, I was wearing two jumpers, gloves and a balaclava up by the ridge. Still, we were at nearly 5000 feet!
The walk was very tiring with the fast pace set, and all the contouring on the loose slopes. We made our way back along the valleys and across the rivers. After a snowball fight on a patch of snow, we surprisingly ended up at exactly the same point we started from.
After tea in the camp, we sat in the warm hut again for the evening. The walk had cut through the pair of new laces holding the gaiters down over my boots, worn to keep the sand out, the ground was dry.
After a late breakfast, some of us then walked down to Dyngjvatn, about one and a half hours along the river which emerges from the gorge around the hut. The lake was fairly extensive, but not more than ankle deep! There was a beautiful reflection of the Vatnajokull icecap in the still water. We sat on the vast expanse of black sand which once had had water over it at some stage. It was very warm in the sun, so we sunbathed and had lunch.
After a couple of hours, the rest climbed up the large black sand dune, Vadalda (900+ m) behind the lake. One of the girls and I returned to the camp as her back was giving her pain. There were some lovely pink flowers alongside the track by the river. They were similar to those on Sprengisandur, arctic willowherb, and small white flowers, bifurcated with green stripes.
I boiled up some water to wash my hair, as along with everything else in the camp, we’d gained a thin film of sand. It was like returning after a few hundred years to a dusty old house.
We weren’t allowed back in the hut that evening as too many people were staying there. It got very cold in the evening when the sun went down, as the sand lost heat as quickly as it gained it, and the wind blows down from the icecap. Several strange ways of keeping warm were tried out, causing much amusement. The girl I had returned to camp with was having trouble with her back and leg as she laughed.
Some of the group left to climb two or three ‘small’ peaks. A bite I had behind the knee had swollen in the night, and was very sore and bruised around it. I put a plaster on it but it was difficult to bend the knee. I also had stomach ache, so I got back in the tent and started to read a book one of the lads lent me. The cold wind was blowing under the flysheet and through the cotton inner tent, so I got back in my sleeping bag, and fell asleep!
At lunch time I woke up and another of the lads got me a Cup-a-soup. After Nikwaxing my boots, I fell asleep again until late afternoon. An energetic day! I climbed up onto a small mound near the campsite (720 m!), with a pair of binoculars and a couple of the others, to see if the group were coming back but there was no sign of them.
We had tea, and they eventually came back late evening, as a couple of us were returning from our slow jog, to keep warm and keep lookout. After they had cooked their tea, we were let back in the hut for quarter of an hour, as we were absolutely freezing.
It was raining in the morning and still cold, though not as bad as the day before. We spent the morning slowly packing up our gear. After another Cup-a-soup, we sat outside the hut while one of the lads wrote up his log. We then had lunch, and sat around by the tents. I still had stomach ache so I lay down in the tent for a while.
The coaches arrived early evening. I sat on a rickety bus on a fold-down seat in the aisle. It was a very uncomfortable journey, wedged between two heavily-built Germans, both with thick Icelandic sweaters on. It was very warm, but cramped and stuffy. After an hour and a half, we stopped at the hut we had had lunch at on the way out, and were taken to see the ‘Outlaws’ hole in the ground’, very exciting I’m sure! The rest of the trip back to Myvatn took about two and a half hours. The radio blasted out such hits as ‘Yummy, yummy, yummy, I’ve got love in my tummy’!
There was a beautiful sunset, with an orange glow and red on blue clouds. The coach paused for people to photograph it. The grey background of desert set it off very well. We arrived back at Reykjahlid campsite late evening, and set up our tents on the lower slopes. After tea, around midnight, we went to sleep, though it was still fairly light.
