Iceland
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Highlands II, Askja, Viti – F910 / F88
1. The night was cool, 24°F to the thermometer of VivaLaVida.
2. The Vatnajökull ice cap is really close.
3. At the beginning of the day, as at the end of the previous one, the track was really chaotic through lava fields and screes. VLV did not drive faster than the average of 2 mph to take care of her occupants well shaken!
4. We are happy when she found vast alluvial plains…
5. Drawings…
6. We then cross the Black Sand Desert.
7. Lunar…
8. We reach the site of Askja, a large caldera of approx. 8 miles in diamete. Part of the crater contains lake Öskjuvatn.
9. The opportunity to go discover the site of Lake Viti.
10. Lake Viti is nestled in a crater on the edge of the lake. Its temperature varies between 75° and 82°F, great for bathing.
11. Gorgeous!
12. Lake Öskjuvatn with several lava flows of different periods.
13. The trail leading to the start of the 2 miles hike crosses another lava fiels.
14. The Dreki refuge just outside of the caldera.
15. View on the plain toward East.
16. …
17. The famous mountain Herðubreið looking like a huge pastry.
18. We are now following the F88 track toward North and stop at Gljúfrasmiður canyon.
19. The Öskjuleið river rushes into it in pretty falls…
20. … before meandering along a lava flow.
21. …
22. Some iron colors…
23. End of the day light.
We had a nice wild camp in a crater before discovering the Mývatn region. To come soon…
Highlands I – F26 / F910
1. After refueling VivaLaVida (with about 10$ a gallon of diesel, it’s more than 400$.- to fill VLV!), we begin the crossing of the Highlands to the Northeast via the F26 road then the F910 which passes north of Vatnajökull.
2. We took two days to reach the site of Askja through beautiful and immense landscapes.
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7. Giboulée…
8. Notre piste…
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10. …
11. After about 150 miles exclusively mineral, we found some vegetal colors again…
12. At 2400 feet elevation, snow is close.
13. Moss grows along furrows carved by surface water, forming geometric shapes.
14. The sky ends up opening to the north.
15. The opportunity for Emile to stretch his legs! 😉
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18. As we borrow the Southern variant of F910, as we gain altitude, the weather decays and the snow quickly covers the lava.
19. While snowing, VLV is the only color note of this landscape.
20. Naturally monochrome landscape.
21. …
We spend a cold night not far from the Kistufell refuge, near the Northern end of the VatnaJökull.
Continuation of VivaLaVida’s journey soon! Thank you for your loyalty.
Landmannalaugar and F208
After the gorgeous detour presented in the previous article, we reached the track F208 which leads to Landmannalaugar, a spectacular volcanic site but too touristy for me.
1. The small lake that hosted us for the night.
2. VLV on the trail.
3. It was cold that night and it snowed at about 2,700 feet.
4. Contrasts of shapes and textures…
5. The weather is still changing.
6. Following F208.
7. Arrival at Landmannalaugar.
8. The colors are very different, definitely warmer.
9. Still contrasts…
10. …
11. Despite our still small Emile, we went for a “hike” of 4 miles km and he did it very well apart from a loss of balance making him fall into a hole at the edge of the trail, which impressed his mom more than him.
12. The mix of colors and textures is amazing.
13. We go up the bed of a nice stream…
14. … up to sulfur fumaroles.
15. The upper part of the refuge / camping, which is a real small town where too much rooms, tents, buses and camper mingle…
16. As it was difficult to make longer hikes with Emile, still too small for that, we took the trail toward North with a detour to discover the Lake Ljótipollur and its particular blue-green color.
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18. Sigöldufoss, at the North end of road F208.
19. We spent the night at the coast of another lake, Fellsendavatn, along the road F228.
The continuation with the crossing of the Highlands all soon.
Path less traveled…
After the Lakagigar, rather than go directly to the Landmannalaugar on F208, we decided to go to Langisjór Lake via some less traveled trails that proved to be gorgeous…
1. River in the rain, along Southern F208.
2. Rather curious sign, isn’t it? In fact, the trail goes into the lake on approx. 300 yards.
Here is a video of this unusual path done by Isabelle. The weather was windy, with rain and fog…
3. In places, everything is only mineral.
4. Langisjór lake in the rain.
5. Trail…
6. …
7. River…
8. Fog…
9. VivaLaVida riding the moon.
10. The rain finally stops.
11. Invisible track. Thank you GPS.
12. Desolation…
13. … and blackness.
14. But these landscapes are amazing.
15. The trail crosses another lake.
16. Contrasts are everywhere.
17. Our trail seen from the top of a hill.
18. After driving in a lake, here we follow the riverbed for nearly one mile to change the valley! 😉
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20. Fairy…
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22. Another ford.
23. … and another.
24. We walk and play too!
25. Selfie 😉
26. Emile loves it.
27. Late afternoon contrasts.
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29. In places, this track less traveled requires a good 4WD transmission, as here in a steep descent.
Here is another short video showing this trail. In video background, we can see the continuation of the track over the river, which goes up in the hills.
30. Rain showers are back.
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33. Another particularly saturated rainbow.
34. We spend the night on the shore of a lake, near a shelter already closed for winter…
Hoping that this update won’t have been too long… 😉
To be followed in Landmannalaugar soon.
Lakagigar – F206 / F207
Here we are to discover the Lakagigar region, driving our first “F Roads”, trails reserved for 4×4 because of deep fords and “in principles”
prohibited to rental vehicles. In principle because we saw many “unauthorized” rental SUV on these tracks.
1. F206
2. As in the Faroe Islands, sheep live in freedom everywhere.
3. VivaLaVida crosses completely mineral landscapes.
4. Here is the Lakagigar range, volcanoes that appeared only a few decades ago.
5. Small lake stuck between mountain and lava flow.
6. The F206 was created in the lava.
7. Only mosses and lichens manage to develop on volcanic slags.
8. The summits, more exposed, are often virgin of vegetation.
9. Enjoying the panorama in late afternoon.
10. And what a panorama!
11. F207
12. We boondocked on the shore of a small lake.
13. Sweetness of the evening light.
14. The next day, despite the light of a gray sky, the contrasts are amazing. The moss looks almost fluorescent.
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17. Laki volcano.
18. … and one of the new craters around.
19. The F207 winds between the hills.
20. Raw lava.
21. Ground is very dark.
22. The trail is sometimes not very marked.
23. Looking to North West towards Landmannalaugar.
24. …
25. Crossing a river with water temperated by some hot springs, the vegetation changes.
I posted a short video of a F207 ford here for those interested. 😉
26. The Fragifoss waterfall along the F206.
27. Last sight of these pretty volcanic hills.
To be followred on the side of the famous Landmannalaugar, probably the most visited interior site in Iceland.
South coast…
1. As Gaël requested it, here is the whole family. 😀
2. An example of the language at the checkout of a store, inapprehensible and unpronounceable for us.
And to show you what the rain can be there, here is a short video
of Isabelle made the day before where it rained like that almost all day long..!
3. Continuation of the South Coast to the East. VivaLaVida crosses many Gravel Bars, large river beds that regular floods clear of all
vegetation.
4. Showers that offer beautiful skies.
5. Waterfall Foss á Síðu along road Nb 1.
6. Rainbow in frontof the Vatnajökull ice cap in the distance.
7. Another one to celebrate VivaLaVida.
8. Gravel bar.
9. Shower on the coast.
10. Vatnajökull ice cap, the largest in Iceland.
11. It is crossed by many volcanoes more or less active.
12. In the evening, VivaLaVida finds a nice boondocking place to camp near a glacial lake.
13. First colors at dawn.
14. Camp of VivaLaVida, close to the glaciers.
15. Light beams…
16. … on raw elements.
17. I couldn’t not show to Isabelle, a jewel fan, the “Diamond Beach”, famous for the icebergs that stand out from the Vatnajökull and flow
into the ocean by Lake Jökulsárlón before stranding on the black beach! 😉
18. Photo souvenir…
19. Jökulsárlón Lake.
20. Larger icebergs must melt before crossing the channel leading to the ocean.
In the next update, we will leave the coast to discover the Lakagigar area where new small volcanoes appeared only some decades ago.
First steps with family
My passengers well landed, we discovered the Reykjanes peninsula together before going to Reykjavik the next day to buy warm jackets to Isabelle and Emile.
1. Volcanic activity is strong on this promontory.
2. Emile is so happy to be back in “Dad’s truck”!
3. The lava that flowed to the sea creates beautiful cliffs.
4. Beautiful lake of Kleifarvatn.
5. Despite some showers, the weather is rather beautiful but a little cold, about 46F.
6. Lava fields covered with moss and lichen.
7. Iceland is undoubtedly the land of rainbows. 😉
8. Lava tunnel.
9. There are many here.
10. Assembly of 5 vertical images to show you a crater that appeared only a few hundred years ago.
11. After some shopping in Reykjavik, we had a very rainy day stretching the road on the South coast. We cross famous vehicles transformed to ride on the snow. Here, a van similar to VivaLaVida but mounted on huge wheels! VLV looks small compared.
12. The small church of Vik.
13. Dyrhólaey Promontory and its two natural arches.
14. Even if the site is very touristy, we take a walk to the Reynisfjara Beach and its needles.
15. Souvenir on the famous basalt pillars.
16. Dyrhólaey Beach.
17. On the other side, Reynisfjara.
More of the South Coast in the next update…
Crossing and first steps in Iceland
1. Here arrives the ferry that connects Denmark to Iceland, serving the Faroes.
2. Barely moored as the rear port opens to let out the arrivals before VivaLaVida embarks…
3. Honeymoon on the boarding park! 😉 I will meet the owners of this beautiful Land Cruiser, Kambiz and Filiz, aboard and meet them several times in Iceland.
4. From Tornhavn to Iceland, the ferry passes between the islands of the archipelago.
5. So I went in front of Gjógv again, off the coast this time.
6. Last look before the high seas.
7. The next morning, arrival at Seydisfjordúr, a fjord all teh way East of Iceland. The weather is rainy.
8. En route to pick up my family at the airport in Reykjavik, at the other end of the island or more than 500 miles away, VivaLaVida is quickly in the Highlands that fall colors have already yellowed.
9. These highlands are covered by a few roads or tracks.
10. Ambiance.
11. Canyon.
12. Rain showers.
13. Volcanic geology is omnipresent.
14. Here, water has no choice but to run on soils that are mostly free of all humus.
15. Perspectives are immense.
16. I find by chance Kambiz and Filiz on the track, in front of their first serious river ford, waiting for a vehicle to pass and show them the way. VivalaVida passes and I make some souvenir pictures.
17. Powerfull river carving its way in the basalt.
18. VLV crossing a lava field.
19. Natural pool shortly before night stop…
Well, that’s what I though. By switching on the freshly revised VLV heater, the dashboard displays an error code: defective hot air fan which has just been replaced pre-emptively in Switzerland. It is Thursday night, Isabelle and Emile arrive on Saturday and the only place I can repair is Reykjavik, 500 miles away. I decided to drive at night to be in Reykjavik on Friday. 400 miles until around 3am where I take a 4 hour nap. Arrived Friday morning in Reykjavik, I bring the heating to the Webasto dealer after 2:30 of work to get it out since it is well hidden under the rear cabinet of VLV. The technician discovers that during the work in Switzerland, a wiring harness has not been well attached and is hindering the movement of the fan. After a bill of more than 1’600.- Swiss francs, I was not very happy. But at least, the heating works for the arrival of my passengers tomorrow!
Soon to be followed.
D5 Creation