My last hurrah trip round Iceland

[Sparks61]

Well my year here in Iceland is nearly finished - I haven't been on the board much with doing exams and final projects. But that is all done now and it is home time on the 1st, so four of us have decided we need to take a farewell trip in the T2 and go the whole way round - roughly 1700 km without exploration trips. We have only seven days, so time is tight, but it should be nice now the weather is improving (it is above freezing now). Map of the trip below - the alternate includes the West Fjords which is dependant on time and I have been there before. There is actually a ferry between point H and I but it still comes in at over 2000 km.
I have a mate who owns a farm up at point F so will have a few days there. We can't go into the highlands yet because (1) most roads are still not open and (2) you really only go with 2 trucks minimum. We will venture of the beaten track as much as possible though.
I thought I would post pics up as I can as we go if anyone is interested.



ALTERNATE



Wish us luck - D-day is the 23rd. Just hope the T2 keeps going

[makeitfit]

Oh good man have it large mate I know I would
As Zippy would say, where's the pics ?
#Good luck and enjoy, I'm sure the T2 will be as good as gold, enjoy.
You lucky, lucky barsteward

[spiderpig37]

good luck mate and enjoy weathers just above freezing here

[96terrano]

U bringing the t2 back to the uk?

[Fez_uk]

why would you want to leave such a cool country??

[Sparks61]

I looked into bringing the T2 back but it wasn't practical and I do better selling it here.
Don't really want to leave but I have a new "significant other" at home waiting and my Uni course over here is finished - I have to get home to do my dissertation.

[Kamsin]

It aint true if there aint no pics.........

Snap everything and post the lot, show us what we (And you) will be missing.

I dream of a trip like that, all i get right now is a Sunday in the Peaks, .

[Sparks61]

We leave Wednesday morning. Looks like we are doing the alternate route including the North West Fjords but it depends on weather - Sunday onwards looks a bit iffy but that can change . Pics will depend on Wifi or 3G access but hopefully 26th and 27th we should have internet.

[Sparks61]

This is a very late story but it has been a long and messy 3 months since I got back to the UK.
The trip was done and was ...... fantastic. if you can manage it - do it. So over the next few days I will post up the trip in day by day version.

So DAY 1 was Reykjavik target Höfn. However the T2 let us down late afternoon and we ended up at Kirkjubaerklustur until a new battery was found.
Here is the map of day 1

First stop (B) was at Seljalandsfoss waterfall - this is a cool fall - quite tall and you can walk all the way round the back. Rigth next to route 1 so an easy stop.





Plunge pool from behind.





Next stop (C) was Skogarfoss falls - again an easy stop and pretty cool



Then it was on to Dyrhölæy which is just fantastic. it is a few km off route one on mostly tarmac but the last climb up to the top on gravel. Some of these shots are form an earlier visit as it was a bit rainy but it is great. Notice the dots on the cliff top which are people for scale !!





This is the view down the black beach from the top



From there we moved on to another random fall at the side of route 1 - stop (F) which is where the T2 let us down :-(



When we got back to Kirkjubaerkluster (E) we did go for a wander to a local feature called the "Church Floor" which is actuall the worn tops of basalt columns - like the Giants Causeway in miniature.



Next post will be day 2 - I need to sort the images.

[96terrano]

nice pics mate looks lovely

[wildbri]

Looking forward to seeing more of your adventure. Bri

[Sparks61]

Day 2 began rainy and 'orrible and so not much was seen for the first hours. leaving Kirkjubaerkluster (A) there is a bit of nice scenery and then a LONG drive across a flat flat black sand outwash plain - about 35 miles of it !! The first stop was at a place I have been to before called Jokulsarlon (B) . This is a huge lagoon with a glacier at the north end which calves icebergs into the water. The bergs then hang about in the lagoon til they make their way out through the outlet to the sea. They are pretty small at that stage and get washed onto the beach where they melt into wonderful sculptures.



You can see the glaciers in the background here.



Yours truly leaning on an iceblock on the beach



Sculptures on the beach



The rain kept coming down but there was still cool things to see - like Reindeer



As the rain started to clear the clouds covering the mountains were amazing - here is a shot of a perfect dome shaped cloud over a mountain near Hofn (C)



The scenery and mountains were stunning as we drove out of the rain round to the lighthouse at the SE most point (D)





This is the lighthouse at the SE most point ( D)



I have more of day 2 to load but will do it tomorrow

Bryce

[Sparks61]

Oooopss
Forgot the map

[Sparks61]

Weather starts clearing up in the afternoon. From D to E is pretty gorgeous - not sunny straight away but improving.



We came across these huge falls. The scale is hard to tell but the second picture has one of our group standing at the bottom left and the part you can see is just the lowest section.





The T2 to prove it was there :-)



The sun starts to break through



The sun finally breaks and wow. This was taken around (E)





We get onto the gravel finally.



The last sight of the day was another falls - so many spectacular huge falls in the east fjords.

Note my mate perched on the right side for scale





The day ended with a typical Iceland sunset



Our accommodation - for reference it sleeps 6 and the cost each (slpit between 4 of us) was £20 each - includes a barbecue and a view to die for.

[jims-terrano]

Stunning!!!!