A new day and a long way to go – we make for the north coast and Myvatn geothermalogical area. But first the drive takes us up through the lava badlands that are an error reminiscent of some nuclear winter – black plains of mini volcanoes and the odd mountain pan the view as we drive onwards, snapping pictures as we go.
We swing right and further north to make for Husavik – a whaling town on the far north coast – not too far from the arctic circle but first stop is Detifoss – Europe’s largest waterfall which spans a chasm of a canyon 45m down and 60m across and the canyon runs for 50 odd kilometres until it where it peters out near the north seas. We sit by its crest for a few minutes, revelling and relaxing in this forbidding landscape and the power and energy of the entity roaring before us.
A windswept road and the dramatic scenery continues until we make it to Husavik beckoned by the promise of fish soup to warm ourselves – unlucky as everything is closed – its a short season from June to Sept here and beyond that most places feel like a ghost town. We roll on back inland to Myvatn where we make it an hour before dusk and explore the unique boiling mudpots that spew steam forth from the massive rent in the earth and try to find some more hot springs – unfortunatly they are either too hot, at 50 degrees, or too cold at 25 – however the hot ones were underground at a one of the most unique rock formations ever to lay eyes upon – a long rent in the earth split open that pops forth steam from the super heated ground. Im blown away at this surreal feature – its like from a video game or post apocalyptic move.
We spend the last light of the day watching the sunset from the crest of a nearby volcano over the Myvatyn lake in a glorious sweep of clouds and colour.
