Central Highlands of Iceland

"Landep News"

The light woke me up only around 9am. The rest of the group was already downstairs having breakfast, but I was wearing earplugs and therefore had not heard them.
Inside the shelter, and especially upstairs, it was warmer than outside, but it still felt very chilly when coming out of the sleeping bag. I kept on the thermal underpants and changed the rest into regular clothes. Then I went downstairs and had a quick meal consisting of something like what we had the night before: hot chocolate, orange juice, rice sweetened with cinnamon and sugar, and toasts with pate, and shrimp dipped in mayonnaise.
Going to the toilet outdoors required braveness: it was very cold and it had been raining, which made the atmosphere rather gloomy. It slowly got better though, and by the time we left the cabin it was good enough for us to take some pictures and walk to the nearby lake. It was beautiful there, with the nearby Swan Lake – Alftavatn - surrounded by high mountains.
To pay for the cabin / mountain shelter, there was a place to put our money, coherent with Icelandic trust. We paid with a credit card transfer to the hikers’ club which owns this cabin though, so we did not have to leave money in the cabin. We just left it all very clean for the next people to visit and then packed the car to continue our trip across the highlands of Iceland.
Onni took a walk and found a way to bring the car closer to the cabin, so putting our things back on it was much easier than taking them the previous night. Then we started our drive in the Central Highlands of Iceland, where we would spend most of our day.
One thing I forgot to mention in yesterday’s post, and which was also a highlight of today, was crossing the river close to the cabin. This river is called Sydri-Ofaera, which is Icelandic for “the southern impassable”. It is quite deep and with lots of rocks in the bottom. This morning also, there was a strong current from the rain. We still managed to cross it slow and steadily, while people in another car, who had stopped in the opposite side and did not dare try the crossing, stared at us with their eyes wide open. The river was about 70 cm deep.
We would be driving all day in what is known as the northern way behind the mountains. There is also a southern route between the mountains and the coastal area, but the sights our friends would take us too were in the northern route.
Our first stop was Eldgja, this is a popular starting and arrival point for hikes. We parked the car and took a short hike inside the canyon, created by the biggest eruption on earth in historic times. After walking on the side of a cliff, avoiding the rocks for some 20 kilometers, we got right in front of a beautiful waterfall called Ofaerufoss, after the Ofaeruriver where it is located. The waterfall used to have a stone arch people could use to cross it, but the arch fell down in the 80s. We took some group pictures and then walked back.
The total hike was 3.8 kilometers. It was wet outside, so I borrowed hiking boots from Una. Unfortunately, the boots were a bit too small for my feet. The hike back was especially painful and once back in the car I realized I had gotten blisters, but Una had special thick band aids for the back of my feet. I felt better after putting the band aids on and changing back into my shoes.
Feeling warm after the hike, we had some candy and continued our way to our next stop: Landmannalaugar. This is the most popular destination in the Central Highlands of Iceland, so it was not surprising to see a lot of cars there.
Popular among the hikers, Landmannalaugar is also a place where many hikes start and end. There are some cabins and camping areas, as well as toilet and shower facilities and roofed picnic tables. All these facilities, simple but very functional, were built due to the presence of hot springs coming from the volcanic mountain; there is, therefore, a natural hot pool and a hot river in the area.
We had a picnic lunch in one of the tables. It was kind of chilly outside, and some of us doubted going in the water. Fortunately, I had brought a second swimsuit, as the first one was still wet from the previous day. We changed in the toilets’ area and then ran the roughly 200 meters that separate it from the entrance to the river wearing only our swimsuits, a jacket and flip flops.
It felt very nice to get into the warm water. It was not more than 60 centimeters deep, so we could sit comfortably, close to one of the many streams of hot water, and just move around to find the right temperature to pleasure our bodies. We spent a long time in the water, probably more than one hour, listening to French, Spanish, Catalan, English and Icelandic while in there. The place was definitely popular among tourists.
Coming out of the water was not as bad as expected, since our bodies kept warm –once dried- on the way back to the changing area. Once ready, we took a short hike up the lava hill. From there, we had a great view of both the mountains around us and the river below us.
Continuing our trip, we stopped once more in a great crater called Lgotipollur or “ugly puddle,” probably due to the fact that there is no fish in it. It was formed out of a single explosion in 1480, and consists of several shades of red, black and green. The contrast with the blue water was amazing!
The original plan was to spend the night in Olinda’s farm and enjoy one more day in the nature. Nevertheless, Onni had to go to work the next morning and the farm was not a convenient stop. On top of that, one of the girls was missing civilization a bit too much. I am not really aware of how the decision making process took place –not always easy to follow in a multi-lingual group -, but the result was a last minute change of plans and an earlier return to Reykjavik.
On the way back into the city, we stopped in the nearby town of Stokkseyri, where we ate dinner at “By the seashore”, or Fgorubortid. This is a restaurant which specializes in baby lobster. Most of the group had the lobster tails –and loved it. In my case, as I was feeling too lazy to peel each single lobster, I decided to try a lobster soup, which was very creamy and tasty.
Once back at Una and Onni’s house, and after a hot shower and some work, we all went to bed, there was a lot of sleep to catch up on.

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