A spot of Love......

We both fell in love with our rental car. A Land Rover Defender that more or less would become our home for the next few days. A "city jeep" would not have manage the routes we took. It cheerfully got us over vast lava fields, sand deserts and water crossings.









We took a "before photo" of a very clean car.












Happy Magnus! Not the best car on asphalt but unbeatable for a long river crossing followed by a steep muddy bank.













Good as a lookout as well!

Thingvellir

In 930 AD chieftains in Iceland gathered in a natural amphitheater to the north and west of Reykjavik and formed the world’s first parliament, the Althing. The meeting place was called Thingvellir (“parliament plains”), and over the next 300 years representatives journeyed here once a year to elect leaders, argue cases, and settle disputes - sometimes peacefully, sometimes not.




On our way to the Highlands we made a quick stop at the 3 main tourist attractions. First stop Thingvellir.

Geysir

We also stopped at the Geysir area. This was probably the largest congregation of people we did see on Iceland (an island with a population of 300,000).
All of the world's hot springs are named after the great Geysir, located in the south west regions of Iceland. Geysir began erupting in the early 14th century, at least thats the year it went on record, and stopped in the early 20th century.





Strokkur, Geysir's little sister keep erupting with 5-10 min interval.







Extremely hot water!

Gullfoss

The last but not lease stop on our "tourist tour" the majestic waterfall Gullfoss.



Magnus posing.




Gullfoss, or “Golden Falls.” With a 105-foot double-cascade, Gullfoss is by far Europe’s most powerful waterfall. On a sunlit day, the mist clouds surrounding the hammering falls are filled with dozens of rainbows.








Waterproofs are very advisable.


















The traditional all important self portrait.

The Kjölur route

The proper start of the adventure was driving across Iceland on one of the Highland routes. The Kjölur route.


The Kjölur area lies between the Langjökull glacier in the west and the Hofsjökull glacier in the east, the glacial river Hvita in the south and river Seydisa in the north. In the east and the south are barren remnants from the Ice age, gray moraines, and low mountains decorate the otherwise plateau like landscape.

The distance between the Golden Waterfalls in the south and the first farm in the north is about 200 km.














We just about made a start on the route before the day was over. We decided to head for the mountain hut in Kerlingafjöll. We had just manage our first proper water crossing and it was raining pretty hard when we came across 3 cyclists that was a bit unsure of the way and had turned around at the second water crossing. They would have had a very long way to go to find other accommodation. We offered to give them a lift across the last river crossing and we all made it safe to the mountain hut.

Kerlingafjöll

Mountain station in Kerlingafjöll. Bunk bed and sleeping bag accomodation but no shortage of hot water that flow from the ground.








An early excursion up to the edge of the glacier.







Nice landscape.








Cooked brekfast with a very nice view.








We had to do it! Hot steam and hot water coming up from the ground so we obviously had to boil an egg. It worked!










Magic landscape. This is a hot area meaning that steam is coming up not water. You need to be careful and not step on areas that look white and bleached because you might fall through.








Our friends the rescued cyclists also made a visit to the area accompanied by an Icelandic man that used to be a ski-instructor on the glacier 10 years ago. He most kindly guided us around the steaming hills.















He even offered to take us across the freezing river so we would not have to take our shoes off. It was 4 of us plus his son. Extremely nice!
Magnus looking very manly...... hrm!

Hveravellir

Heading back out to the Kjölur route again across the river crossings.








....... and past the airstrip.














Lunch break in Hveravellir. An area with a lot of hotsprings. After lunch we cleaned the pots and pans in a small stream that was surprisingly and conveniently around 30oC.







Icelandic boiler. Notice the pipe that leads hot water to the showers.







And steam.






A very hot bath after lunch was nice since it was probably only 10oC in the air.









You have not seen a car or a house for miles when you come across this attempt to police the crowds.

Summer road F88

After having stopped for a night in the town of Akureyri in the northern part of Iceland we headed back south again via a more easterly route.





It is a long drive across vast lava and sand fields.














Lucky to find and empty parking spot






Lunch break along the the way.























So much space compared to London.






Waterfall right after a watercrossing







Areas of really large lava formations.







Bad weather approaching again. Strangely fitting with the landscape.













Hot chocolate break

Askja

Askja is a stratovolcano situated in a remote part of the central highlands of Iceland The name Askja refers to a complex of nested calderas within the surrounding Dyngjufjöll mountains, which rise to 1,510m. Viti, above, is a smaller explosion crater that is still hot.




The region is only accessible for a few months of the year. Being situated in the rain-shadow to the NE of the Vatnajökull icecap, the area receives only about 450 mm of rainfall annually.





The area was used during training for the Apollo program to prepare astronauts for potential lunar conditions. The last eruption of the Askja was in 1961.



The roads are usually only open for about two or three months in high summer.








Selfportrait in the morning light.





Parking by the trail head. A lot of scientists in the area measuring seismic activity.





We bought this wine in Hunter Valley Australia and brought it back to London. We decided to bring some really nice vine to drink on the Icelandic Highland. The wine bottle flew with us to Reykjavik and was driven around in a jeep before it was consumed.
Talk about huge carbon footprint!