Day 70 Iceland – Waterfalls, moonscapes, canyons and dirt roads....out of this world

Day 70 Iceland  - day 1....

Approaching the west coast of Iceland in the very early morning

Although we had an inside cabin it did have a window on the world outside; channel 1 on the TV  was the live web cam from the front of the boat.  And so it was that when the alarm went I immediately turned the TV on to reveal calm water, sunshine and a distant view of the snow covered mountains of Iceland’s fjords. I was up and out like a shot.....

It was genuinely exciting being there and as you looked around the deck you could see others feeling the same – arriving in Iceland is something special in itself but to do so by ship in glorious sunshine ..... we knew we were lucky.  We took photos and took it all in as we made our way slowly up the long fjord to the dock at Seydisfjordur.

We stocked up on cash from the bank machine and were off up and out of the valley, stopping at our first waterfall to look back down at the Ferry port before heading over the road pass and into Iceland’s interior.

Now that we are here it is very obvious that we are not properly equipped for this last part of our trip. We have packed for a summer in southern Europe and not really thought about places with wet ground or rain. The Ferry shop had some pac-a-macs ( glorified bin bag ponchos really ) so we acquired 3 more for Susan, Kate and Jack as a starter then we were in the very first shop in Iceland searching for wellies....this is where we discovered that Iceland is really not cheap - £ 35 a pair so being of my father’s making I convinced them all that we should see just how wet the country is before equipping ourselves with a full set of new rubber footwear....my dad would be proud :-).

Iceland is a big country, you can drive 20 km, pass a solitary house and then drive another 20 km to the next one. We drove through some phenomenal  countryside – desolate moon scapes, lava ash fields, mountains with ‘ice-magic’ snow caps, waterfalls and rivers....rivers that are powerful with grey green melt water. There is the occasional small holding with a few fields all just of grass. Hardy very small black and white sheep are out in the wild but they are few and far between and god knows how they go about rounding them all up in the autumn.

We headed to Dettifoss ( Foss = waterfall), the most powerful waterfall in Europe. You hear it , then you see the spray arcing up into the sky before you crest the small rise in front of it and it is before you. Tonnes and tonnes of dirty grey water falling 150ft into the spray filled and invisible chasm below....the power in it is massive, the tourists on the opposite bank appear the size of ants. We walked upstream 1 Km to the smaller waterfall of Sellfoss before returning to the van

Sellfoss

In for a penny .........Iceland has many dirt roads, it is just a few years ago that the 1000+ km road around the island was fully metalled – so there are many places, that to get to, require ‘off-roading’ and hence why the Icelanders are well known for their 4x4’s, low pressure studded tyres and bizarre off road vehicles.  A 35 Km gravel dirt road journey down through the Jokulsargljufur National park was our first of these routes we took as a trial to see how the van would cope for a possible later trip across the interior of the island. It was a lovely, if not a bit hairy, drive dodging the pot holes in a much greener than expected area of land.

As we emerged unscathed we called in at the small park’s visitor centre where we paid for camping.

The campsite was in a canyon and I could go on and on about how the canyon was formed and when but it was something very different - a giant horseshoe cliff with a tongue shaped cliff in the middle.

Katie doing her 'Lion King' thing

Our van was just below this 'tongue' cliff made of pure lava about 4 Km from the head of the Canyon... a massive 90m wall ( Malham cove’s very very big brother) with fulmars nesting on the orange lichen covered cliffs above a still green lake.

K on the handlebars

The 'tongue' cliff in the middle of the pic,

We cycled up to it in the evening  - now without a bike each we had to improvise to go and see it. After tea and at well after 11:00 pm K, J and I got up on to the Lava cliff and watched the sun as it tracked across the horizon. Midnight, and still properly light, we went to bed. We had packed a lot into our first day.

The van from the 'tongue' cliff

Day 70 Seydisfjordur ( IS)    to Abuyegi  ( IS)        230 Km       Total    10257 Km

Day 67 to 69 A 2 hour ferry back to Denmark, a stock up on food, a midnight walk and then the 48 hour ferry to Iceland.

Day 67 to 69     A 2 hour ferry back to Denmark, stock up on food, a midnight walk and then on to the 48 hour ferry trip to Iceland.

Faroes

The long term weather forecast for Iceland is very different from what we have been used to for the past 2 months..... 10 to 13 deg C is the norm accompanied by cloud cover, some rain and an occasional sunny spell. Having the van’s new skylight installed and returned to fully rainproofed is a definite plus however with 5 now in the van plus Jack and Katie’s luggage some improvisation is needed to get all our stuff into the van. With all the stories of just how expensive Iceland is we have also stocked up on wine, beer and food.... 3 litre boxes,  2 slabs of Carlsberg and pasta and tins should we find ourselves without shops.

The rucksack is now packed full of stuff and with the kayak they have been relegated to travel outside the van.....wedged into the cycle rack and crudely strapped on so we don’t lose them enroute and this now gives us just enough room to get all of J and K’s stuff in the back. I know there will be many a time in Iceland when all of us will want to be in the van ( rain and cold) so to its pretty important that we keep the tiny living space free from luggage etc..

We said our goodbyes to the O’Briens and took an early start from their house to make the 240 Km drive down to Kristiansand for the lunchtime ferry back to Denmark. We then did the short drive to return to Lonstrup and the campsite we were in just 5 days ago. The tent is erected as it is now needed to sleep us all comfortably. At a real push we could probably all sleep in the van with Jack and Katie in the roof, Susan and I below and Charlie in his hammock above the front seats......the weather may well drive us to do this in the next 3 weeks.

poised to fall into the sea - the house

Still light at 11:00 pm Susan and Charlie went to be bed and the rest of us walked out to the coast to look at cliff erosion and the houses poised on the edge awaiting the next winter storm to be swallowed up into the sea.

Next morning we were back at Hirtshalls port for the 3^rd time in less than a week to join the most very interesting convoy of vehicles ready to board the ferry to Iceland. A bizarre mix of 4 by 4’s –from the conventional Landrovers to bespoke ex-military vehicles bought up and converted into camper vans that I suspect could go just about anywhere......vehicles with studded tyres, elevated suspension, spreader plates, additional fuel tanks and spare wheels strapped to the roof, roof rack tents.....undoubtedly a small boys heaven ( maybe not just small boys !).  A mutual appreciation society spontaneously formed as the assembled drifted from vehicle to vehicle asking questions and taking photos. 

I also identified a must if you have a really ‘good’ 4 by 4...there is an unsuppressable need to climb onto the bonnet and then stand on the roof to survey the area....it’s all a bit ‘look how big mine is’ but it is interesting and it passes the time as we wait to board.

To take your own vehicle to Iceland from the UK is not as straightforward, nor as cheap, as it was 20 years ago. In the 1990’s we could catch a ferry to the Shetlands from Aberdeen and then pick the  Iceland ferry up which called in there on its way from Norway. In 2014 the shortest and easiest way is to take the Harwich-Esbjerg ( Denmark) ferry  and drive 150 Km up Denmark to the ferry we are on now ....a 4 day journey from home and over twice the distance it once was is the only choice.

It is going to get another step harder next year......The Harwich -  Denmark ferry makes its last ever journey in September this year and when it does a 1400 Km drive from Calais will be needed to further complicate the trip.

Coming to Iceland has been a lifelong wish.....volcanos, waterfalls, glaciers, dirt roads, hot springs, geysers, proper wilderness and real isolation; it has everything. When I was at Uni in 1985 we planned a month long trip to Iceland for the summer holiday at the end of our 1^st year...... I bought the map and I even had our route marked up and mounted on my college room wall. The cost of getting there put paid to the trip and we took our bikes to Norway for a month instead. So to bring my own car and be able to explore anywhere and almost everywhere without  any real time pressure has been a life long dream.

 I know that an over-loaded small camper van is not the vehicle to do exactly what I wanted to do back when I was 19 but perhaps doing this trip with a family it is the right vehicle as it will keep us away from the deep island interior where there will be no campsites, showers, shops, electricity etc...

So there are just 3 U.K. cars on this ferry; well over half are cars from Iceland and the Faroes with the bulk of the others from Germany and Netherlands, they get everywhere.

Torshavn - Faroes - K and C

Charlie loves the cabin with its ‘double decker couch, ladders and TV’  - the rest of us think of it more as  our 48 hour windowless cell.  Jack and Katie sleep most of the first afternoon whilst Charlie sweats it out with the other small kids in the caged play pen......

 Late in the afternoon of the 2nd day, after sailing for 30 hours, the ferry makes a short stop over at the Faroe Islands and we watch about 100 vehicles off and on load. The approach into the collection of islands is stunning, the mist hangs low over the hills behind the capital of Torshavn which appears to have a roof of every colour.

 It gets even better when we leave as the Ferry runs up through the islands’ fjords – I have never seen such perfect glacial geography so close up -  hanging green valleys, vertical sided valleys, corries, truncated spurs....there are few signs of inhabitation and it is so so beautiful .

As we head to open sea and towards Iceland we pass the most impressive of sea stacks.....We have booked 3 nights in the Faroes after our 2 weeks in Iceland – we have a treat in store.....

Day 67     Stavanger ( N) to Lonstrup ( Dk)      262 Km           Total     10000 Km

Day 68     Lonstrup ( Dk ) to Hirtshals (Dk )        27 Km           Total     10027 Km

Day 69     Iceland Ferry 

Day 63 to 66 Jack and Katie join us - Champagne, Pulpit rock, mountain lake and fjord swimming - all with The' O'Briens' in Stavanger

Day 63 to 66 Luxury...beds, Chablis

We were off up the coast early again in uncharacteristically hot weather. An interesting fair and market at Farsund ( with poor bloke melting in bear suit) and then we were off up to Stavanger and to our friends; Eddie and Clare and their kids...Emer, Edward and Con.

We hadn't seen them since meeting them at Lake Tahoe in California in 2009 when Susan stayed at home being pregnant with Charlie. Eddie was my best man and now works for ConocoPhilips; I met him many years ago when he was on the reactor desk with me at Heysham 2.

We have spent 3 truly great days here.......08:00 am on Friday and with the sort of hangover you should have after not seeing your very best of mates for far too long, we carried his canoes down to the fjord ( Hafrsford) and we went out in the still of a perfect morning.

Mid morning we all took the bikes down to a fresh water lake( Stokkavatnet) and swam again and again in the warm water. Edward, E and C's lad misjudged a corner on the track back and almost killed himself by riding straight into a shed- sprained wrist, arm and legs bruised and the bike written off with bent front , he was properly lucky not to have been knocked out with more than a few broken bones...

on the ferry to Pulpit Rock

Charlie has no fear

Jack - mid front flip

Late Friday afternoon it was the great to pick Katie and Jack up at the Airport and within a couple of hours later we were down again at the fjord in front of their house on the diving board.

Saturday morning we were all up at 06:30 and off in the car and van to Pulpit Rock ( Prekistolen), a geological phenomena  - a 600m vertical rock cliff into the Fjord below. The drive to it has a ferry crossing to get to the car park and then a 90 minute walk to the 'rock'

Tombstoning in a lake on the way down

As we had lunch looking down on 'Pulpit Rock' a 30 strong choir of Lithuanians brought all
around to complete silence as they sang out...it was proper proper special.

Half way down we stopped off for a swim and jump in a lake - the lake is warm and we are as demented lemmings....leaping off again and again.

We continue down the now crowded route to the car park and have a drink before the drive home and another 'stunt' session on the dive board.

Pulpit rock - Truly awesome and properly scary

Eddie cracks the champagne on return which moves to Prosecco and then a nice red...a Bowmore before bed and it is about the best day you can have.

After the loss of the campervan roof I had managed to secure a marked ex-stock replacement. Having refused to pay the £170 courier costs to get it over to Norway I asked it to be sent to our home in Holme and Katie had crammed it into her luggage. Katie and Eddie took the screwdriver and 20 minutes later we had our roof back to contract state.

Edward, Clare, Emer, Kate, Jack, Charlie, Susan, Con, Eddie, Me

It is still warm Sunday morning and although overcast we head off to the beach for boules, crabbing, digging, rugby, dune jumping, frisby...

The 3 days have been all too short and we all know we have been so lucky to have been here in such perfect weather.

Tomorrow there will be 5 in the camper van and we will miss the 'O'Briens' King size spare bed.

Jack - mid flight

Heidi's

We strap the canoe and a rucksack of flippers and other beach stuff, that we don't think we will need in Iceland, to the bike rack to give some room for all the many many clothes that Katie has brought.

5 years has been way too long not to see the O'B's....thanks for our 5 star stay over......

Day 63     Farlund ( N)  to Stavanger ( N)        210 Km          Total    9534 Km

Day 64     Stavanger ( N) .......airport pick up    30 Km          Total    9564 Km

Day 65     Stavanger ( N) .......Pulpit rock        120 Km          Total    9684 Km

Day 66     Stavanger (N) ........Hellestostranden  40 Km        Total    9724 Km

Day 61 & 62 Scandanavian heat wave

Day 61 Denmark and an interesting coastline

When we awoke there was to be no swim in the Baltic; the sky was grey and threatening and it was clearly time to move on. We packed and just as we were about to leave the campsite we got an unexpected visit from the owner who came over to ask us what was wrong with our tyres....... Charlie had picked up on our earlier conversations about the bald rear tyre and had gone ( unrequested) and asked the owner where the local tyre emporium was....he has his uses.

20 minutes later we were in there and had chosen a small truck tyre - cheaper and apparently more hard wearing than the camper van equivalent.

We then started our painful acclimatisation towards Scandinavian supermarket prices ( outrageous) in a Danish supermarket. The very next day in Norway we would be welcoming the very chance to shop in Denmark ( cheap as chips cf. Norway) ....we look forward to Iceland where we have been led to believe that the prices are even more outrageous than Norway where you can't buy a load of bread for less than £3.

fishing boat perfection - Lonstrup

Lighthouse only a few years from falling into the sea

We cruised the last 300 km up through Denmark and camped in Lonstrup, high up on the North west coast. 24 deg C felt odd, but bloody good, for somewhere as north as Aberdeen. I knew nothing about this coastline but it has much to it... 90m high sand dunes and a stunning shifting coastline. We cycled to visit the church and its grave yard that was falling into the fast eroding coastline and then down into town late  in the evening for a walk on the beach before bed.

Day 62 Over to Norway and bizarre heat into the night 

Catamaran to Norway

I could watch the engines all day ! and did.....

The next morning, we caught the  10:00 a.m. 2 hour crossing to Kristiansand  in Norway on the high speed catamaran and it is pretty impressive when blatting away at 45 mph + .

we were then off, and up the coast road with the grass by the roadside burnt brown and it all doesn't feel as we expected Norway to be. We had set ourselves up for getting back into long trousers, hoodies and fleeces but it was a far cry from this as we camped at a sandy beach mid afternoon, swam and dug sandcastles....all in 26 deg C heat.......It is a far far cry from 1985 when I went to Norway by bike for 4 whole weeks; a trip where sun was rarely seen, heat was never and rain was our everyday companion.

Such is my ignorance of Norway that I didn't even know the country had such great beaches...the sea was as good as a sea can get...clear and warmed at the surface from the long day of heat and the sand was perfect for digging. The sun was still up well after 10pm and it was all very difficult to get the boy to realise that going to bed in the daylight was a necessity if the next day was not to be a write off due to tiredness and lack of sleep. The weather is definitely not of the norm for places this far north but it is a real added bonus to be chilling out at a campsite with daylight to midnight in Mediterranean heat.

The campsite is mainly populated by Norwegians and  they also have a few bungalows on the site. Susan gets chatting to a Norwegian mum with kids who spends the summer down at the campsite and as you walk around you start to see there are many more who are clearly installed for the whole summer. With their caravan and boat down at the harbour, or in the bay, and the lovely town of Farlund just a few Km away they pretty much have everything to make it a perfect summer spot.

Charlie by the small harbour by the beach.....Crab pots galore

Many times on this break the unplanned or the poorly researched ( if not .....'not researched') places have been the best and this was one of them. No real idea the day before where we would go but the result is perfect.

It's our last night as a 3 ( me, susan and charlie) as tomorrow we meet up with our friends Eddie and Clare in Stavanger and on Friday, Jack and Katie fly out to join us. It is also exactly 2 months since we left home and in a month's time our trip will be over and we will be home. Our 3rd and final chapter in what has been just the best trip, is about to start and it will be very different to the last month and our first month..bring it on.


Day 61   Genner Strand ( Dnk) to Lonstrup ( Dnk)     344 km            Total         9224 Km

Day 62   Lonstrup ( Dnk) to Lonsesanden ( Farsund) ( N)  132 Km   Total       9256 Km