I went for a company I follow on Facebook. Also because I wanted to visit the areas tourists wont visit with big busses and are not accesable in general this time of year. It is always quite scary to book a company full of trust. They may have lots of tripadvisor approvals, but who says they are real? Well in this case I trust the Icelandic honesty. So I booked this tour that after I miscalculted turned out to be a little bit too expensive. But hey we are the 5 of us including the guide, taking to places that take some effort, lots of km and flexibility. You cant expect them to do this for a bargain.
So in the morning I got picked up. A superjeep stopped at a time after the appointment time. But it was not for me. Though I felt like it was strange. It turned out to be the same company as the one I booked with works together with this one in case one of them has only 1 or 2 guests they will put them together. And this other guy probably was heading out for Landmannalaugar. The tour I at first wanted to do. He went off later with 3 Chinese so god was I happy for choosing this tour!
Not much later my guide arrived. A funny guy named Isaak, but he wasnt sure if he had to pick up me, though he went to Langjokull. Well it was me anyway after he checked and phoned around, so we left and laughed. Me stumbling to get in the superjeep which s quite a gymnastic task, sure with sore and stiff muscles after horseback riding was start of the fun. But he was so typically Icelandic joking about everything from the way they drive, to their weird food habits and beerban that was lifted not long ago, resulting in a national Beerday to celebrate it. It was a nice start and I was more than happy to have the front seat.
Few minutes later we left Reykjavik and the road got empty, the countryside more beautfull and the weather was great.
We went to Thingvellir first. It can never ever compare the way I saw it in autumn. So it was for me a bit confusing. But the view on the lake was amazing. No wind at all, the surface mirrored the mountains perfectly. A few dots of fog gently moved over. But the part which was most beautifull Isaak couldnt find a place to stop. So we drove on to the main spot I was last year.
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| Thingvellir |
This time I thank the gods I could explore much more than just the top of it. Isaak drove the car down and would walk towards us from there and we could take time to find our own way. So we went through the crack and I took the walking path again over it while the others took the beaen track, since one of the others had a disability and might not be able to do the slippery, crooky, rockinfested trail I found my happiness at. Until the ultimate shock of a group of tourist decided the same. One of them a girl taking photos with a sigarette in her hand. Only that picture... And of course the smoke found its way to my nose even better in this crisp clear skies.
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| Thingvellir standing in the main fissure |
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| Thingvellir still has some snow laying around |
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| Thingvellir, here the water is incredible blue and famous for diving at Silfra |
So I speed up, but I guess this group did not decide to follow me any further. And then, just this glorious feeling.... I am alone! Sort of. Unattached from the mass tourism at one of the most visited sites of Iceland. Between the birchtrees and mossy rocks. With birds singing, the sun shining and the wide open view on the lake, mountains and all that I love.
Of course I could not take the words of 'taking our time' serious. But at least it felt ok I could stop and just feel and sense for every nce in a while. And not have to hurry back because the bus would leave in this and that minute.
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| Thingvellir looking out over Thingvellirvatn |
After our visit and walk at Thingvellir, we visited one kaffibarrin, coffee house for last drink and toilet break, because we would go ignore the roadblocks to head for the western Highlands, which are normaly closed from september until june.
A breathtaking scenery followed, and soon after we passed the very last farms in this harsh landscape, the road turned really outlandish, covered with rocks and ditches and snow here and there. Now you really got the idea why no one lives here. Not even birds. It is all rocks and stones, and while we had absolute brilliant weather, normaly it is a strong wind blowing and lots of rain and in this time of year snow. Weather can change unpredictably fast here, but we were really in luck that all day it was very nice weather.
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| The first km of Kaldidalur road from Thingvellir |
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| Rocks everywhere. In summer sheep graze here and lupines flower in abundance |
We had a stop at one of the mountain huts, a bright orange hut where people can go to if lost. It has GPS rescue service, phone connection, food, blankets, medical kit and all other necesary rescue stuff there. At this hut we of course did not break in for this things, but Isaak had to deflate the huge tires of the superjeep to drive easier over snowy roads. And we could stretch our legs and I made my way towards a snowman oops snowman???? Stoneman!!! alongside the road. Stonemen are found here everywhere and are like the Viking GPS, helping the people in ancient times finding their way. And some people still use them, since roads can disappear in the snow. But well... it is not at all smart to get here without GPS, however some overwhelmed bikers or hikers from other countries sometimes end up here with just a map in summertime.
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| Stoneman, ancient GPS or trolls frozen in rock? |
Our next stop was at a higher altitude, and at this place there was fresh snow all over and here nothing at all grows or lives. The tires got deflated once more because more snow was on the way. And we had there a little break between the glaciers Langjokull and Eiriksjokull. The silence is here incredible. I was with a nice group who just like me enjoyed to take a minute of silence, and I can only agree to the word that real silence is terrible painfull. That weird feeling it gives is unexplainable. I never ever in my life heard this silence. Not the planes flying over, wind that blows, bees that buzz or electricity lines passing by (because I am able to hear those). Moments like this do something with your way of being, your place in the world. You can only have deep respect for the nature around you if you witness this kind of raw nature. And I naturaly imagine what it must be like if one of the many volcanos surrounding us (all of them dormant) decides to wake up.
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| Rocks taken from the road piled up at a place where nothing at all lives |
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| Out of this world landscape.... |
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| Stones laying in a circle. Just a point of interest for me ;-) |
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| More snows and rocks. Only 4 things here, rocks, snow, air and me. (Ah well my 4 fellow tour members too of course) |
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| Just impressed by the incredible silence..... |
We pass by a husky station, in the middle of nowhere, about 40 dogs hang out on the snow. I don't want to imagine their circumstances normaly because we had such a sunny calm and quiet day, which is not normal. And Isaak has expected it was snowing here. There was however a big grey cloud hanging on the west side of the glacier, but it did not affect us.
Once on top of the glacier, I took my chance to eat the fresh snow (with the saying as long as it is not yellow it is no problem). I wanted to do a snowangel, but this snow might not be as dry as Laplands snow, so I decided to let that idea wait for more arctic climates. Because here on this glacier it was not cold at all.
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| Langjokull, winterwonderland.... |
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| Finaly this peak clears from the clouds on Langjokull |
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| Somewhere there is Eyjafjallajokull, the one that suspended airtraffic for weeks. |
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| If I dont want to make snowangels, got to find something else to do. |
Isaak demonstrated how you can build with this snow, and quickly made a table. He had pulled out a bottle of champagne and 4 glasses and we had champagne on the glacier. And delicious champagne it was as well :-) But we didn't finish the bottle. So we took it with us back down.
It was the biggest fun of Isaak, driving down really fast so the car starts to fly. But the bottle of champagne was still open. I tried to film it but the ride was so rough, my battery lid opened of my camera and I thought it broke down. By the time I found that out, we were almost down already. So I missed most part of this hilarious conversation about open bottles of champagne, dull humor and wishes that he would stop driving once the bottle was empty. It really was amazing, I so much loved this tour already! And still so much to see!
Road 550 is already off the beaten tracks, but we decided to take an offroad of road 550 and arrived at a nice not too big but still impressive waterfall. The guide doesn't know its name, and I still have not found out either. I can locate it on maps, but it has no name coming along. What a pitty, it is such a lovely fall, but probably often unseen by tourists, because it lays a bit hidden. Isaak told that this waterfall only is here in spring. It dries up end of may as it is not coming from a glacier, and if the snow has melted, no more water is coming down. Springtime is waterfall time in Iceland. Mainly because the water is fresh. In Autumn there are many too, but due to rain and are often muddy and not much flowing.
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| The yet unknown to me waterfall |
We had to cross the river at the top of the waterfall to continue our way. And along a steep 'cliff' we drove on, until we reached normal road again. We went to Husafell for lunchbreak.
Part 2 is still in progress.... but the blog is getting so long if I put it all in one blog, I will make 2.
Next blog will contain experiences in a lava cave (or well above it), waterfalls, Reykholt and a tour around Hvalfjordur. It can take 2-4 days before that blog is finished. Still need to process most pictures for that part. Which also means, I can add some pictures to this blog as well.
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