What a day. Quite a feat in many ways, and definitely an awesome day. It started with me testing positive to Covid. No real surprises there. It’d taken a couple of days to show up but I’d had the same but lesser symptoms than John for three days. We’d both slept really well and felt that we were on the up, however thought it wise to try and take it relatively easy today. It didn’t quite work out that way.
We left our our accommodation at the early hour of 8am (over 5 hours after sunrise!) and headed for Studlagil Canyon. An unexpected bonus was a set of ancient Icelandic buildings along the way. One was thought to have originally been a Catholic chapel, but in 1550 it was turned into a smithy which it remained until 1949.
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| 400 years of being a smithy |
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| A couple of turf and stone sheep huts |
It wasn't long until we arrived at Studlagil. The info said it was a 10 km return walk to and from the canyon, so we thought we’d make a gentle start and see how we went. The track was mostly level and we took it gently. It was well worth the effort to go the whole way. The canyon was walled by immense stacks of basalt columns, either vertically or twisted and warped from intense pressure when it was formed. We had a wonderful time trekking up and down the canyon, as well as right into it. I’ve always wanted to see this kind of landform 'in the flesh', and it was every bit as good as I imagined.
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| Studlagil Canyon |
We hadn’t taken the car further in because all the info on the internet said it was far too rough and only a 4x4 could contemplate it. Yeah, sure. A campervan and many other cars had clearly driven an further 2km than we had, as we found out when we rounded a corner and there was a carpark half full. Anyway, we walked the whole way there, and on the way back the driver of a campervan stopped and offered us a lift for the last 2km. We very gratefully accepted. It turned out that the family inside were from Israel and had spent quite a period of time touring around NZ five years ago. They loved it, especially Wanaka and Queenstown. It was lovely chatting with them for that short period.
Back in our own car, we set off for the only other destinations for the day – three waterfalls which are all located close together. Pullover or rest areas are exceedingly few and far between in Iceland, so when we came across one we quickly swung in and had a small picnic lunch of crackers and cheese. The landscape around us looks a moonscape, rather like the Desert Road in NZ, but with no vegetation at all. To get to the first waterfall, Dettifoss, it was necessary to take a side road up a valley. It started out as gravel, and continued the same for the next 30km. It was quite a bone shaker, and we were starting to feel pretty weary from our morning’s effort. It was then a wee trek to view Dettifoss, which is the largest waterfall by volume in Europe. It was certainly impressive. It dumps 23,000 tons of glacial moraine debris every day. Hence the water was a churning brown maelstrom.
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| Dettifoss |
From here, we felt we couldn’t pass up the 1.4km trek along the valley to the next waterfall, Selfoss. We were definitely flagging by this point, but Selfoss was supposed to be magnificent. And indeed, it was. It comprised perhaps 30-odd individual waterfalls along one wall of the canyon, before they all merged into a huge barrage over a cliff-edge. It was possible to walk right up next to the heaving water, with no guardrail in sight. It was quite an experience, and the noise fantastic.
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| Selfoss |
It was a struggle to walk back to Dettifoss and then the car. However, it was only a 1km drive to the final waterfall Hafragilsfoss. This was a smaller waterfall but even standing in the carpark afforded a wonderful view down the canyon and valley at large.
By now we were truly buggered. Back in the car we clenched our teeth for the 30km gravel road back. Thankfully our accommodation was just 1 km further on from this. This time we are staying in an older couple’s house and they are very welcoming for us to join them in their living room/kitchen etc. They run a farm here. There grown up children have left to live elsewhere in Iceland, so they now rent out their spare rooms. They built this house 47 years ago and it’s a Norwegian kitset construction, erected by two Norwegians in two weeks. It’s a very nice place to settle into tonight.
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| When your diet is restricted, a bit of roadkill goes down a treat |
