Got up and lit the Primus stove, just to show I could! After breakfast we did some washing, and took up about half of our slope with two climbing ropes of clothes. We packed away all our gear and had lunch. Then we went swimming, there was much less chlorine in this time so I swam a few crawl lengths, in between soaking in the jacuzzi. Even managed to drag one of the lads in for a few lengths!
After a visit to the Co-op for matches, we returned to camp and packed everything up, to catch the late afternoon bus from the hotel. We arrived at Akureyri Youth Hostel three hours later. It was a complete change from Askja, like switching the TV from black and white to colour!
The water in the fjord was deep blue, and the grass very green. The hills rose steeply from the road, with precipitous cliffs at the top, and small glaciers. They seemed to be mainly loose sand and scree, with vegetation clinging on for dear life! Bright green lichen still adorned the river banks.
We hung out our clothes to continue drying, then made our tea. Most of the evening was spent sorting out the expedition supervision.
The bite behind my knee seemed to be healing at last. Some of the group left for the church, the rest of us got up and had breakfast. By late morning we were ready to leave, and one of the girls got a taxi from the garage across the road to take most of the heavy gear to the campsite, a few blocks away.
It was a very warm and sunny day, so I wandered down to the church to meet the rest of the group, past the swimming pool and the duck pond.
After lunch we went to see the botanical gardens, to try and identify some of the flowers we had seen. We called in on the museum of the International Order of Good Templars then walked back along the fjord. There seemed to be some sort of fete going on, we had a lovely ice cream, filled all the way down the cone with a coating of chocolate and rice crispies.
A couple of us then wandered through the town of Akureyri, described as the ‘jewel of the north’, and back to the campsite, where we all had a mass tea of chicken supreme, and apple flakes and custard. We played cards, then walked through the town again, looking for more food! Eventually we settled on chicken and chips or pitta bread with chicken and salad. Free, unlimited coffee followed the meal, until the café closed late evening. We then headed back to the campsite and wished another one of the lads a happy birthday.
Got up and had breakfast, then packed up and visited the supermarket, before taking all the gear down to the bus station. Caught the late morning bus to Dalvik, described as ‘midnight sun and fishing on the fjord’. The weather was sunny again, but not as warm. We were dropped off at the campsite and put up the tents.
A little lad came to take the money, and gave us a guided tour of the village, via the boats and the bakery, to the supermarket where his mum worked. He also pointed out his dad was a local fireman, should we need one! We returned along the piers and past the dried fish warehouses. Rack upon wooden rack of silvery fish were hung by their tails, drying in the sun. As we passed the bakery again, we called in and bought cake with chocolate and rice crispies on top, and a chocolate covered doughnut.
After tea, the assessor and some of the lads ran a pre-expedition check on the group’s equipment, stoves and mapwork. The little lad was still with us! I sorted out the route for the acclimatisation day with the group, and got the lads to write out a route card.
The assessor and a couple of other lads set out to position themselves to assess the group over the next few days. Five others also left, so they could supervise the first part of the group’s route. Mid-morning the group were eventually ready to leave on their acclimatisation day. One of the other girls and I followed them out of camp, past the church and onto the hills behind, Boggvisstadafjall.
As we started to follow the track, the group headed to the ski hut past the river, so we left them and followed the track zig-zagging up the nose of the hill. We met them again higher up on the track, as we rested on one of the bends they explained they had been confused by the pylons. Together, we followed the track up to the end then scaled a scree slope up onto the plateau. There were many new flowers up there, some quite unusual ones.
After lunch we walked behind them along the plateau until it narrowed, then dropped down into a small side valley. Once back in the main valley, Holtsdalur, we followed the river towards Dalvik. As the valley levelled out at the mouth, we followed a farm fence to the road, and arrived back at camp early evening. The group had carried full packs and cloud level had been around 500 m. It was bitterly cold on the plateau, still, we were almost at the arctic circle!
As we approached camp, most of the group headed to the bakery to pick up some expedition supplies! Back at the campsite, a couple of the supervisors had returned as one of the lads had a bad knee. This meant a change of plans, and there was a lot of argument about the new leaders’ tent groups. The girl I had walked with and I were supervising the group’s last day, so we slept in my tent, and left the rest to sort themselves out.
The group sorted out the weight of their packs to the nearest half pound! I checked the flowers, but couldn’t identify them from the cards I’d taken with me. I paid for the campsite, then went to sleep early, while the other girl and the lad with the bad knee played cards in the tent extension.
We had a lie-in until late morning then got up and had a shower. We went along to the Co-op where the little lad’s mum worked, and bought boiled ham, pineapple cottage cheese and fresh bread. After lunch we did yet more washing! As usual, the little lad was back at the camp.
Sunbathed in the afternoon with the other two, as everyone else had left in the morning, on the expedition or to supervise it. We drank endless cups of tea and coffee. The skies were clear, but it was pretty chilly.
Later we walked back to the Co-op and bakery, for milk, coke and strawberry yoghurt, much creamier than ours. We made a rope stretcher to amuse the little lad, then had tea with yoghurt and orange whip.
After paying for the campsite, it clouded over and became much cooler, so we took the washing in and retired to the tent early evening. Played cards with the other two until late evening, then had hot chocolate and kicked the lad out to sleep in the camp hut, a result of the hassle of the previous night.
It was very peaceful with just our tent and the food tent, and seemed a long time since the others had left.
The other two left late morning to climb Saudanes-Hnjukar from Karlsdalur valley behind the camp, then along the ridge and back along another valley to the campsite. I tidied up the tent and re-coiled the ropes. After hanging the washing out again, I settled down to plan our route for the next day.
The remaining three from the first supervisors group were expected back in the early afternoon, down the Svarfadardalur road. They arrived mid-afternoon, after lunch, tired but happy. They had had a lift back and were dropped off outside the bakery. They then retired to the warm hut for showers and to soak their feet!
We managed to scare one load of campers away, but another lot came and stayed! We cooked tea for those returned and put the tents up, but still no sign of the other two. The little lad came round to take our money, the first sign of him that day.
Mid-evening, they arrived back looking a bit haggard! They told us of their epic journey across narrow ridges and down steep red scree slopes. The lad decided he would not walk the next day, and the other girl and I decided to camp at Dalvik and set off in the morning. We packed up our gear ready for the journey, and went to bed.
I woke the other girl early in the morning, and we got dressed in all our thermal gear. We packed the rucksacks with the minimum gear, transferred my extension to the lads’ tent, then left camp. We walked along the road and over the bridge. A couple of miles out of Dalvik, we hitched a lift and were dropped off at the church in Staerri, the end of the group’s expedition.
We walked along the track down the side of the valley, backtracking their last day, past several ruined turf cottages. At the end of the track, we stopped to put on our boots before fording the river. The track then deteriorated into a good sheep path, and twisted between and up the drumlins.
At mid-day, we stopped by a stream, had lunch and brewed up. Then we continued along the sheep motorway to the fork of the river and valley junction. Here there was an old wooden bridge to the far side of the valley, in the middle of nowhere.
We went along the narrow tracks to the watershed, and eventually saw the other side of the valley late afternoon. We stopped for chocolate and orange squash, then descended to camp just above the river junction the group were due to camp at.
After tea, we put the tent up and set off to look for the group. There was no sign of them at the junction, so we carried on until we could see the main valley and road. There was still no sign of them by evening, and it began to rain heavily, so we went back to the tent and to sleep.
Woke and started to warm up the wet and cold socks! The other girl got up an hour later and two of the assessors group called down to us from halfway up the slope to the ridge. We got up and packed our gear.
The expedition group passed us half an hour later, mid-morning, very tired but okay, though one of the lads was in a lot of pain with his tendons. But one of the girls was no longer with them, she had given up, with bad feet and lack of experience. The third lad from the assessors group had gone back with her. They didn’t want to stop for very long, so we left them to continue. It seemed they had had some scary moments on cliffs and scree slopes.
The remaining assessors climbed to the top of the ridge, and the group reached the watershed. As we lost sight of them both, late morning, we packed up and reversed their route down to the road. We passed a lovely tree-lined gorge with waterfalls, and some purple pansies just by the road.
We changed into trainers and had lunch, then set off along the track towards the main road. Along the way we passed a lovely flower garden and some sandy horses. As we arrived at a church on the road corner, a group were rounding up some horses, so we stopped a while to watch.
Eventually we got a lift back to the start of the valley once more, and went down the track to the fence to wait for the group to arrive. Early evening, after waiting an hour or so, and several brew-ups, the group appeared. They were very surprised to see us ahead of them! They headed towards the road to hitch back to Dalvik, and we left our packs to backtrack down the valley to find the assessors group.
We all finally hitched back to Dalvik, and after the assessor had de-briefed the group, we all went to bed. We told the group we had crept past them, SAS style with camouflaged rucksacks, and almost had them convinced!
After breakfast, we slowly packed up the tents and gear, and washed more clothes! The little lad took a couple of the group on some borrowed bikes to the church about 5 km away. After lunch, the rain came on heavy so we retreated to the hut with the rucksacks.
When the rain stopped, we transported all the rucksacks and wet clothes to the youth hostel, round the corner in Dalvik. One of the girls and I went down to the Co-op for milk and yoghurt. They only open and serve through a hatch on Sundays, and it’s not as easy when you actually have to ask for it!
They returned from the church and told us we’d all been invited round to the little lad’s house for coffee that evening, to thank us for spending so much time with him and helping his English. I went with one of the lads for some flowers for the little lad’s mum, they wouldn’t sell us the roses which apparently are only used for funerals, suggesting lilies and chrysanthemums were more appropriate! Just the opposite of our customs back home. We then came back and made tea. Three of us had six pans rotated on four rings, and a lot of fun too!
Round at the little lad’s we had real coffee, and also bread-based quiche, baked Alaska, and waffles with hand-picked bilberry jam and cream. We finished with building card houses and taking group photos. As we left, one of the lads gave the little lad his army knife, a nice gesture. Didn’t sleep much that night as it was far too hot in the hostel.
After an early breakfast, we packed everything up and caught the bus to Akureyri. On arriving, we made our way to the scout hut, which one of the lads had got for us last time we were in Akureyri, from the girls in charge of the jamboree. We dumped our gear, picked up lunch, and I went into town with one of the lads to shop for souvenirs.
I bought a cream and brown thick woollen Icelandic jumper, though it was too warm to wear it, and changed my last travellers’ cheques. After much indecision, we also bought some cheese to go with the usual jam and crackers. As we were eating, the little lad’s mum from Dalvik came past, shopping for bread.
Mid-afternoon we went back to the scout hut, and made some jelly for tea. Decided against the ‘eat all you can for one price’ binge at the hotel, and to go back to the café for chicken pitta bread after tea instead. After tea cooked by two of the lads, we had yellow and red jelly with chopped chocolate and milk. Delicious!
We then posed down by the fjord in our group T-shirts and sweatshirts. The photos were taken by two local lads who happened to be passing, so we all hoped they would turn out all right.
When we got back, they taught me how to play a new card game, and we won! The expedition group then treated us to a rendition of ‘What shall we do with the Iceland assessors/supervisors?’. We went to visit the café for chicken, then spread Karrimats and sleeping bags across the scout hut floor and tried to sleep. One of the lads lent me £30 in krona, so I could go on the coach trip to Gullfoss and Geysir on the last day.
