Iceland Day 5 – Myvatn Geothermal Area

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.

Iceland Day 4 – Icebergs, Rugged Eastern Fjords

Jokulsarlon is a glacier fed lagoon that has the unique feature of the glacier carving creating a lagoon filled with icebergs that run through a 100m passage to the nearby sea interspersed by a handful of playful seals who call this place home. We watch in awe as a few of these truck size icebergs crash into each other on the out flow – creating a traffic pileup as the must bed on the shallow outlet too heavy to be carried by the fierce current.

The northern lights dance again this night and we wake to a crystal clear sky with full views of the icecap, glacier and magnificent sunrise. We explore the nearby beach coffee in hand where the icebergs wash up small and eroded away but crystal clear in beauty inspiring forms. This is hands down one of the most magnificent things either of us have witnessed.

The road takes us north and we call in at horn to charge up and take a break and a bite. We get a tip off about a secluded hotsping and an hour later sees us flying up the coast road in glorious sunshine to a bathtub overlooking the sea with steaming waters just south of Djupivogur – another quaint little hamlet perched at the southern end of the reugged eastern fjords. The hotspring is  the definition of perfect – just the two of us in this wild untamed scene with a wondrous place to relax (sorry the superlatives don’t do it justice). We strip naked and bask in the warm water and sunshine. Blissful.

We’re at the southern edge of the eastern fjords – a hand full of small fishing villages and farms that thread their way around some finger inlets of fjords and a backdroped by thousand metre snowcapped cliffs and mountains – and as you guessed by now that are all teeming with waterfalls. Is this not valhalla? I wonder what the viking lords who settled here from Norway in the mid 11th century thought….

Town by town we pass as the hills roll by find our selves fatigued and in need of a coffee. We pull over on the side of the road and nap instead. One of the best naps Ive ever had as its a soothing place to rest with the sounds of gulls and waves crashing down below against the cliffs. We wake and hit some coffee before soon-finding our selves heading back inland to make nightfall just past the crossroad town of Egilsstadir to camp the night by ourselves again in a beautiful spot by Lagafljot lake. We arrive jus as the sun calls it time on the day to few wispy orange glows on the far horizon.