Tag Archives: Iceland

Iceland-September 2018

Iceland in September-Post 2

January 30, 2019 Edgewise Wendy

Iceland Air

Our 8:30 pm Iceland Air flight from Baltimore, Maryland to Keflavik/ Reyjavik, Iceland, was three hours late taking off. The water system on the plane was not working and the mechanics would not venture out in the thunderstorm to repair it. After 2.5 hours of sitting (with stale air) trapped in the plane, the pilot announced that BWI had just closed the airport due to the storm. So we sat another half hour. Not the best start, but at least my claustrophobia did not kick in.

Iceland Air gave us very little information and offered nothing to us the whole time we waited. Free headphones would have been nice. We could have watched an entire movie- with sound. Finally, the plane took off for the five hour, red eye flight, and we arrived in Iceland about 9:00 A.M. Iceland time. We were tired and so ready to get off and stretch our legs.

GoCamper

the flight attendants herded us down 2 sets of stairs, fore and aft, leaving us to trudge across the cold and windy tarmac to the terminal, where we picked up our luggage. It pays to have a jacket with you in your carry on. Our GoogleFi phones had a good signal and we called GoCampers for the 40 minute ride to our rental van. While we waited, Jeff managed to get some cash from a kiosk using his no fee credit card, but it took three tries.

Be sure you get your pin number from your credit company well in advance. You might also want to familiarize yourself with the Icelandic Krona to prevent confusion over the exchange rate. We accidentally got more cash than we wanted. Currently, 1000.00 ISK is about $8.81, but they use decimal points in strange places. We basically found that moving the decimal point left two places gave us a rough (high) estimate of dollars.

The folks at GoCampers were quick to get us set up and we scrounged through the free box for food left by previous campers on the way out the door. I was glad to see that this was like New Zealand, with everyone sharing their leftovers at the end of their journey, since food is very expensive on the island.

The van was a 6 speed stick shift with 10 feet of space behind the drivers seat, similar in size to one I used to drive at work, so it was easy to get used to. I was glad it was not any bigger and that Icelanders drive on the right side of the road. When we saw the meager blankets that came with it, we were really glad we had packed our sleeping bags.

Since the van did not have a toilet, we would need to find a campground each night and partake of any facilities along the way. We discovered fairly quickly that some people think nothing of leaving their toilet paper and waste behind at pull offs, something I cannot understand, and which is causing problems for everyone.

The day was windy and cold (6 C or 42 F)with blasts of sporadic rain so after looking at the weather radar on the phone, we decided to try and get away from the coast and drive the Golden Circle before heading out to the East along the Ring Road. The best part of renting a camper van is the ability to change plans whenever you like. We had no reservations or obligations ahead of us.

Before leaving town, we stopped at the Bonus grocery store and spent 8900 ISK (Kronar) on Skyr (yogurt), bread, lunchmeat, spaghetti sauce, broccoli, eggs, cheese, milk and juice. It all fit in one reusable bag. You will have to pay extra if you use their plastic bags, which they do not encourage. By our loose estimates, our one bag of groceries cost about $89 US dollars, although actually it was closer to $78. I had brought granola, pasta, nuts and some Ramen from home. We did not want to shop too often and were not sure how hard it would be to find a store once we got out of town. The camper van had a cooler size fridge running on 12 volt, so we packed it all in and started our trip.

Thingvellir National Park

Rainbows led us along Route 36 to Gullfoss ( foss at the end of a word means it is a waterfall).

The rain was letting up when we reached Thingvellir, a place where the North American and European Plates meet, forming a natural amphitheater.

This place had been an annual meeting place for the Vikings for over a thousand years and the rocks, waterfalls and vistas were gorgeous. So was the sun. It was fun to try and imagine molten rock forming the radiating rings and drip castle forms all around us. Throw visions of Norsemen at a huge market place and political tribunal in and current life ebbs away.

The temperature here was about 45 F degrees (7C) and windy, but the sun kept trying to warm things up. Good rain gear and easily added layers makes for comfort in Iceland. Be sure to pay for parking at this park as they have a camera recording your plate as you leave and your rental company will charge you extra for the hassle of them getting your bill. Your plate number and a credit card will be needed for the kiosk, so carry it with you.

Driving out Rt 37 and Rt 35, our next stop was Geysir, a hot bed of volcanic steam vents and, of course, a geyser that forms a huge bubble and then shoots up about 30 feet into the air, every 8 minutes. Click the link for a video.

We continued to drive around the golden circle, stopping at anything cool and finally setting up camp for the night at Skjol. There is a pub attached to the bathroom block if you need someone to fix you dinner and a brew. We had to ford a huge puddle to get out to the camping field but they were obviously in the process of fixing the drainage problem. Iceland has had an unusually wet and cool summer, just like we have had at home in West Virginia. There were maybe ten other campers, so no wait for the restroom. We were tired from all the traveling, so we cooked a quick dinner of egg drop ramen with broccoli, and dropped off to sleep in our camper van just after dark, about 9pm.

Day 2

There is a lot to see on the famous golden circle drive and today we backtracked a little bit. We headed out Rt 30 and stopped at a reconstruction of an old Viking sod house, which unfortunately had closed September 1, yesterday. We got out and walked around and tried not to be disappointed that the doors were closed. The sod built structures blended into the landscape with grass growing all over them and there was a nice waterfall close by.

Along the way we came across a Skafholtsrettir, or sheep fold. This is a round pen made of sod and stone walls, divided like a pie into sections with a circle in the middle. They have been used to sort all the sheep brought down from the highlands each fall for hundreds of years. This one was renovated in 1954 but then an earthquake destroyed it on June 17, 2000. The sod and stone walls were beautifully rebuilt in 2001 and the annual rettir will be starting this month, so maybe we will see it in action.

Waterfalls are one of our passions, so the next stop was Urrigafoss, Seligenansfoss and Gijufurafoss. Foss means waterfall.

Seljalandsfoss waterfall — Seljalandsfoss

Seljalandsfoss is quite famous and there were a lot of people there, but not so many that it bothered me. September is a good time for smaller crowds. The next waterfall, Gljufrafoss, is a short walk away, where some folks enjoyed squeezing into the crevice to get wet. There are signs with stories about each place.

Down the road a little way is Uriddafoss on the Pjorsa River, where salmon and trout spawn and seals come up to feast on them. The Landsvirkjum power company is planning to dam the river just above the falls and divert much of the water. Iceland is powered by water and geothermal steam and still, like everywhere, there are issues of conservation.

We continued on, stopping at the Volcano Center, where we learned about the numerous volcanic eruptions, hotspots, earthquakes, glaciers and floods that occur all over Iceland. The entire island is actively changing all the time. It is a little scary.

Our finals top for day 2 was at Skogafoss, a beautiful place where we camped out to the sound of the waterfall all night. There were sheep across the creek way up on the hill, and a hike up many steps to the top of the falls. A photographer was taking pictures of a bride in her long white, strapless, wedding gown, who kept putting her puffy parka on between shots to warm up.

We splurged and ate dinner at the restaurant with some really tasty, local Artic Char, sweet potatoes and a Lava Stout. I would not be drinking much beer on this trip at these prices, $11-$18 a glass.

The mountain behind the falls had a glacier sitting on it that we could not see from up close. The sky cleared and the temperature dropped as the sun went down and we glimpsed our first sight of a wispy Aurora Borealis, just a fleeting glance of a greenish glow over the mountain that quickly dissappeared. I was left wondering if I had even seen it. This gave us hope for other chances to see the northern lights on our trip to the north.

Stay tuned for the next leg of our 16 day Iceland trip.

-Wendy lee, originally writing from my homesteading site at Edgewisewoods, Gardens and Critters and then moving all my travel and hiking writings to my new site EdgewiseTravels .com

Iceland-September 2018

Iceland-September 2019-Post 1

January 26, 2019 Edgewise Wendy

16 Days in a Go Camper

We spent the first two weeks of September 2018 traveling around Iceland’s ring road in a camper van. Sixteen days of driving to new places, exploring cool things, and meeting people from all over the world.

We were prepared for cold, wet and windy weather, which we got plenty of, but when the sun was out it was instant happiness. Iceland is a land of stark contrasts, bleak beauty, amazing vistas, gorgeous waterfalls, hellish volcanic steam vents and a resilient people.

We took thousands of photos, many through the windshield as timeline documentation and memory tokens, but also, capturing beautiful scenery at every stop. Our first day we saw rainbows everywhere as the rain and sun competed for top spot.

Jeff did alot of research in advance, so that we sort of knew what to look for, but we did not have an actual schedule, just a list of interesting places along the way. Living out of a camper van allows you to get as far as you want to and then look for a campsite at the end of day, wherever you happen to be. No reservations required. Since we were at the very tail end of high season, we were a little worried that some campgrounds would be closed for the winter, but it was not a problem.

Many of the farms, especially on the far east coast, have set up guest houses for extra income and some of them have camp sites as well. Not all of them are winterized, but I think getting around to the far reaches of the country in the winter might be difficult anyway. There are many one lane gravel roads with steep drop offs and no guardrails. Tourists could be a major hazard in the winter and you would need four wheel drive. The center of the country requires 4 wheel drive anytime, and a guide, so we did not do any of that. We would have needed more time and alot more money.

We rented a supposedly 5 person van from Go Campers, mostly because they were already out of the 2 person model when we advance booked in June. It was a 6 speed manual transmission diesel, with a 12 volt icebox, a sink, a one burner camp stove, a comfortable queen sized bed that morphed into a sturdy table and benches, and best of all-it had a small 12V diesel heater to take the chill off when we were parked. We thought it would be too big but it was really nice to be able to stand in the cooking area and be able to cook and hang out inside, especially since it was often chilly and rainy. I cannot imagine living with 5 people in there, however. The bunk above the table had no headroom and was good for clothing storage but little else. It took me 3 days to learn not to hit my head every time I sat down at the table.

We were seriously glad we packed our sleeping bags since the 5 little blankets that came with the camper were not substantial enough to keep us warm. We used every blanket, plus a pack towel, plus got in our sleeping bags, and wore flannel pajamas or long johns almost every night. We turned the heater on while reading and getting ready for bed and then again in the morning to warm up the space before we emerged from the covers. We are used to sleeping cold with fresh air and did not want to risk any fumes coming in.

Jeff used his GPS and mapping skills to draw the routes we traveled, using a different color for each day. There is some overlapping of colors where we backtracked. We started outside Reykjavik (we never did go into town) and drove the nearby Golden Circle, then continued counter clockwise around the Ring Road, redoing part of the Golden Circle on our last day.

The south coast was much colder and windier than the North, which we thought odd, but we had the right gear for any weather, so it was all good. Good rain and wind gear is important, as are varying layers of fleece. I brought fleece lined snow pants that I loved, a vest, a jacket, gloves, ear bags, fleece hat, rain jacket and pants. I used it all. Waterproof hiking boots and a pair of comfy slip-ons are a must.

Our big, microfiber pack towels were useful, dried really fast, and took up very little space in our two suitcases. We soaked in 5 different hot springs while traveling around and it was cold outside that water, standing around in a wet bathing suit. You have to shower before getting in the town springs. Getting out was not so cold as the getting in, as the heat we had absorbed stayed with us for about 30 minutes. I wish we had hot springs like them close to home.

We enjoyed Iceland and it’s people. In the next few posts I will show you where we went and what we did so you can be sure not to miss the good stuff when you go.

-Wendy lee, now writing hiking and travel stories at EdgewiseTravels and homesteading, critter type stories at EdgewiseWoods, Gardens and Critters

Iceland-September 2018

Iceland 2018-Post 3

January 3, 2019 Edgewise Wendy

September 3-Waking Up at Skogafoss

We were awakened from our peaceful slumber at 6 a.m. by a pack of rowdy tourists with no regard for sleeping campers. They pulled in right next to us and proceeded to smoke and horse around while leaning on our vehicle. We packed up and left. Looking back, we got our first view of the glacier sitting up on the mountain behind us.

The museum that we wanted to see was not open yet, so we drove down the road towards the Seljavellir hot spring for a good morning bath. We drove up the cove for a ways, parked and then walked up a bleak looking draw that we would have never bothered with unless we knew about it.

Bleak Looking Morning Stroll to Seljavellir

It was cold and grey but we grabbed our suits and towels and headed up the footpath. I had not even had coffee yet.

There was a changing hut and a cement pond built into the base of the rock which oozed hot water, and a pipe at one end bringing in more from another fissure. About 15 people were already there and we wasted no time getting in. One couple was from Richmond Virginia and we traded ideas while floating around. It was not the cleanest looking pool but a little algae didn’t bother me. It felt great.

This was a much better start to the day. Afterwards we went back to the, now open, museum. The sun was finally coming out through the clouds, casting a green glow on the musem’s sod farm buildings and houses.

When you enter, all sound is muffled by the thick stone and sod covered walls and you can imagine them being snug in the winter months.

We learned that wood has always been scarce in Iceland and people depended on driftwood from shipwrecks and logs floating in from Siberia for the building of doors and furniture.

Inside the Skogar Museum were a lot of cool artifacts related to sheep farming, spinning, weaving, fishing and wintering. One display was about the Yule Lads, an Icelandic Christmas tradition.

Roads are a modern invention here, and like New Foundland, transportation has been mostly by boat. I wonder what the sheep thought of this adventure? And how well might they swim?

Dyrholaey Seaside Cliffs

Next stop was at Dyrholaey seaside cliffs, where we saw a large Minke whale swimming dangerously close to the beach and some seals riding the waves.

It started to rain and we moved on again.

Black Beach- Reynisfera

We love geology and wanted to see some Columnar Jointing so we drove to the Black Beach at Reynisfera. Lots of people here, so glad it is off season. There was still a wedding party and a drone hovering above though.

The formations are huge and the possibility of a giant sneaker wave coming after you is apparently real. The pebbles (not sand)on the beach are all polished black lava and flow through your fingers sounding like a clean rain stick.

We continued on, gassing up in Vic and looking for a sweater for Jeff, but all we saw was stuff made in China. Some of the sweaters said the wool was sourced in Iceland, but still made elsewhere. We are holding out for Iceland made.

Volcanic Ice Flow

We drove along the coast until we came to an area that looked like a humongous herd of sheep had laid down, turned to stone and grown moss over themselves. Then a pull off marking the spot where a village had once stood but every single person had been killed by an eruption and cairns of rocks and flowers had been built in memory of each one. Iceland has its share of live volcanoes. devastated by a flood, with twisted remains of a bridge and a scoured landscape. In 2010 there had been a large volcanic eruption under a glacier, causing an extremely fast melt and expulsion of sulfuric acid gasses, ice, ash water and rocks which tore out a huge flood plain and disrupted airplane traffic in Europe for days.

Camped at Kirkjubazjarklaustur in the rain at 40 some degrees F.

Sept 4-5 Skaftafell National Park

We woke to the sound of rain and sheep. There are sheep everywhere in Iceland.

I boiled water for hot chocolate and coffee, ate some bread with lingonberry jam and we drove east out route 1. We stopped at a few roadside waterfalls and drove on to Skaftafell National Park, where it had stopped raining and we signed up with Iceland Mountain Guides for a 4.5 hour glacial hike. Kyle, our guide was from Singapore and was able to converse with the older Chinese couple who had zero English (nor any Icelandic). He showed us how to use crampons, so we would not slip on the ice, fitted us out with climbing harnesses and ice axes and we drove in a big off road bus to a nearby glacier.

The usual glacier was deemed unstable so we had to go to a lesser one but it was still cool. Our little group moved very slowly but we got a chance to see blue ice, and climbed through icy fissures and, connected to a rope, we each went down into a hole.

The day was grey but stayed fairly dry. The glacier had a mushy top layer which kept us from slipping much but is indicative of them melting at an alarming rate.

We camped at the park that night, making good use of their brand new shower building, and woke to sunshine and a good hiking day. It was chilly so I wore my fleece lined snow pants and midway up the steep trail I got seriously overheated. I took off my pants and Jeff gave me his lightweight quick dry pants, continuing on in his long johns, hanging his ball cap for a sporan. We looked odd but it worked.

We took the Glacier Overlook( Skaftafelljokul) trail by mistake but the views were great and worth the additional time.

We hiked across open alpine terrain onto the Svartifoss trail , with more basalt columnar jointing

Then down to a recently inhabited sod house over looking the glacial flood plain way down below. I love the soddy houses.

Soddy homestead Overlooking Glacial Plain

We were tired when we got back from our hike and woke to 0 degrees Celsius and a brisk wind, but there was sun!

Everyday is a new adventure and as long as you have your wind and rain gear, the weather is fine.

_Wendy, writing at Edgewise Woods, Gardens and Critters

Travels and Hikes with a Practical Edge

Tag Archives: Iceland

Iceland in September-Post 2

Iceland Air

GoCamper

Thingvellir National Park

Day 2

Iceland-September 2019-Post 1

16 Days in a Go Camper

Iceland 2018-Post 3

September 3-Waking Up at Skogafoss

Dyrholaey Seaside Cliffs

Black Beach- Reynisfera

Volcanic Ice Flow

Sept 4-5 Skaftafell National Park

Near West Virginia and Far, Far Beyond