Ice Ice baby

After discussing where to stop en route to Skaftafell my job was to programme Agnes. “Route may include unpaved roads” flashed up on the screen under the one and only suggested route. I was a little puzzled as I knew the ring road would take us all the way but this seemed 40 minutes quicker by cutting out the first headland and 45 miles. Well they were right it was quicker overall, and there was an unpaved road – 13 miles of it. This was a patchwork of variable quality. Thankfully the state of the UK roads has made Steven quite experienced at pot hole dodging, although to be fair much of this road was considerably worse than those in the UK. What we didn’t realise at the time is how filthy it made the car and then we transferred that mud to the backs of trouser legs as we clambered in and out of the car. Still it gave us the opportunity to play with a car wash, which unlike the UK was free! There was a silver lining to this part of the journey – the scenery was stunning, and so different to the rest of the journey along the Iceland ring road. It has dramatic cliffs and stepped heather/moss covered highlands. At the base is the Folaldafoss waterfall. As the weather was glorious, a whopping 16ºC, we were back to roasting so we made sure that we managed to stop, get out of the car and enjoy it. Apparently this road is called the “Oxi Pass” or “Axarvegur” and runs between Berufjörður and Skríðdal, zigzagging through/round the mountains from a height of 1745 ft down to sea level. Unsurprisingly this road is only passable in summer. There is a monument to the man who initiated this road in 1959 and we aren’t convinced it’s been resurfaced since it was built.

There are some photos and a video of the scenery here. The moss really is that bright green and we were careful to not stand on it or the numbers of wild, bright pink rock flowers that had started to bloom.

The rest of the journey was on the ring road as we made our way around the south east tip of Iceland. We always had the coast on one side and then the mountains on the other. Until Höfn, our first stop, we had bright green arable land with luscious grass, sheep and horses and we even saw some groups of horse riders out enjoying the sunshine. This area was interspersed with crystal clear small lakes with vivid green swamps. The mountains were the Eystrahorn and had lost all but their very highest snow. Here on the south coast the lupine had got the memo and had started to bloom giving many of the mountains a fuzzy blue patchwork coat. We passed the black sand coast line which literally stretched for miles as a spit of land to Vestrahorn, that forms an enclosed bay next to the coast. Höfn was an ideal place to stretch our legs, and clean the car. The trousers will have to wait till later!

Höfn means harbour and is a small town of ~ 2000 inhabitants built on the fishing industry and has its own lobster festival in July. It has many restaurants and for some reason three sparkling Tesla chargers. Right at the southern most tip of the town is a conservation area Ósland, which juts out into the sea. It is popular for hiking but on the hill here is a memorial to the fishermen that have died as well as various information boards about the area. One includes the story of the first round the world flights in 1924 from Seattle that included a stop here – the first time a plane had ever come to Iceland. However the main “wow” of this spot was looking backwards towards the mainland and the Hrútsfjallstindar mountains rising from the Vatnajökull Glacier between Svínafellsjökull and Skaftafellsjökull. There are four peaks, which range from 5,761 ft to 6,921 ft high, Iceland’s highest. Between each of these peaks were outlet glaciers that looked like icy fingers coming down. Even though we were so far away these were clearly visible as glaciers with the naked eye. These mountains and glacial fingers were the backdrop on one side for the rest of our journey.

We passed the Jökulsárlón glacial lagoon and even though we were due back the next day for our afternoon boat trip on it, as the weather was so good we stopped. Who could pass up the opportunity to download yet another Icelandic parking app! It was heaving with tourists and was the most commercial place we’d been to so far. It even has a restaurant called “Nailed it Fish and chips”. However, the lagoon was incredible. The shapes and colours were a real wow. We’d learnt how glaciers were made when we went to the Perlan museum and we could clearly see the sharp black lines of the sand, gravel and lava deposits and the air bubbles. The blue colour of the dense ice is because the ice absorbs all the colours of the spectrum apart from blue, which is reflected so that clear ice appears blue. As it melts it becomes less blue. When part of it breaks off exposing dense ice again it appears deep blue once more. Only 10% of each glacial berg are visible with 90% being below the water line, more than with icebergs in the ocean. This is because they are in glacial lagoons and not the sea and the salt concentration and thus the buoyancy is different. The lagoon drains into the sea, where the bergs float off to.

There is a video of the Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon video hereThere are also some photos and you may notice that the sky and water looks different in some of them. That is because we went three times – yes you read that correctly. We went the first time as we were passing and we returned in the evening when the light was less harsh and there were less tourists. We weren’t the only ones that deliberately picked the evening – there was a bride and groom and a professional photoshoot of a large dog. The dog merited more cameras, light deflectors and photographers than the newly weds! Then we returned the following day for our boat trip when the light was completely different – read on, no spoiler alerts here!

198 miles after leaving Egilsstadir we arrived at our hotel. Interestingly (or not) this is the first hotel room we’ve had with carpet. Whilst it is isolated, there is nothing other than a petrol station with associated diner and shop, that isolation brings fantastic views of the Svínafellsjökull glacier and countryside. There are clearly marked trails leading us through the hills to waterfalls and of course the glacier itself. Vatnajökull is the largest and most voluminous ice cap in Iceland and the largest or second largest in Europe, depending on whether you consider Russia as part of Europe or not! Either way it covers approximately 10% of Iceland and has an area of 3.050 sq miles. The average thickness of the ice is 1,250 ft with a maximum thickness of 3,120 ft. It is a movie star in its own right having featured in “Game of Thrones”and “Batman Begins”. Svínafellsjökull is an outlet glacier coming off it and means “Pig mountain glacier” and is a 20 minute walk from the hotel to first leading edge. We saw a glacier from afar in Norway on an excursion from our cruise ship, but this was different – we had the opportunity to walk right up to one here. Our plan was to visit Svartifoss waterfall and its black lava columns in the morning, followed by a quick stroll to the glacier and then back to the glacial lagoon for our boat trip late afternoon and to spend Shabbat leisurely walking around the glacier and the hills.

Man plans, G-d laughs. If Thursday was 16ºC with clear blue skies and a sun too strong for photos, then Friday was the antithesis. Grey with a threat of rain from late morning, 10ºC and that was before the wind chill factor, and trust me the wind became very significant after lunch. The forecast for Shabbat looked like rain all day. We remembered the words of our tour guide in Florence “never pass up a toilet, chair for a rest or an attraction if you are passing as you never know when the opportunity may arise again”. Whilst Svartifoss is unique with its black lava columns, we’ve seen a lot of waterfalls and we knew we’d regret missing walking to the Svínafellsjökull glacier more than we’d regret missing that waterfall. So we ditched the car for the legs and went to the glacier in the morning. Whilst there is a clearly marked trail, we followed a group of glacier walkers off the track to the first leading edge of the glacial tongue. Obviously we didn’t follow them onto the ice! We spent a good hour around the glacier. Until you are close you don’t realise how black the leading tongue is as it’s accumulates all the grit and dirt from the surrounding terrain. Nor do you realise how craggy it is or how tall and deep those crevices are. It really only looks smooth white further back. The immense vastness of it reminds you how small and insignificant we are. All around the glaciers and the lagoons there are information boards about how the glaciers are made and how they are shrinking, reminding us of the damage we have caused albeit unintentionally.

There is a video of the glacier here In the photos there is one with people for scale and try and see the glints of bright blue in the close up shots of the ice. You can clearly see the black lines within the ice that reflect lava, sand and gravel from centuries if not millennia ago.

As we started to leave the glacier the mist closed in, the heavens opened and the winds picked up. There was no way that our boat trip was going to go ahead later on, but we still drove to the glacial lagoon in the early afternoon where they confirmed that they had cancelled all the boat trips for the day. By this stage the wind was so strong that I could hardly stand and hold the camera still. We were so grateful that we came yesterday and so disappointed for all those on brief organised tours who missed their one and only chance to see this wonderful place.

As it happens the weather on Shabbat wasn’t as bad as predicted. Grey and misty all day but the rain eventually cleared so that by 15:00 I deemed myself suitably rested and the weather appropriate for me to venture out. Out we toddled for an hour and a half. We said goodbye to our glaciers, grateful that we’d had more than one opportunity to see them. We also reckon we are saying goodbye to the peace and quiet as tomorrow we head deep into the “Golden Circle” ie. Maximum tourist territory

4 Replies to “Ice Ice baby”

  1. Harry Brown says: Reply

    Fab piccys

    1. Sarah Isaacs says: Reply

      Thanks but they don’t do this country justice

      1. Wooo Sarah well describe as usual hope you were not driving g taking those amazing video of the water Shute!!!!!
        Good on Steven climbing with great stride !!!!!!
        Keep sending them
        Lots of love ❤️ Gloria and Gerry

        1. Sarah Isaacs says: Reply

          I haven’t driven at all, Steven’s not that mad to let me! Steven’s a great strider and climber and a great helper of his less nimble wife. X

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