Last days in Iceland

On Friday Tryggve took us and a couple of other folks for a walk on the glacier. As it is a bit icy to walk on we got all geared up (utrustade med) with crampons (broddar) and an ice ace.

It was lots of fun and we both want to do more of this. We got to see at least a 50 meter deep hole, a couple of crevasses and glacier mice.

A glacier mouse is moss that has grown around a rock laying ontop of a glacier. As the ice melts, the mouse rolls over so that the moss can grow on all sides. They can apparently become pretty big.




Proud collector of volcanic rocks by Vatnajökull. I'm not telling you how many rocks i'm bringing home...but we did have a bit of overweight...


After playing on the glacier we went for a 7 km hike to get to a good view point over the glacier. Along the way we encountered this cool waterfall. Well, it was the basalt columns next to the waterfall that was really cool.


Saturday was puffins day! We got on the tractor tour to Ingolfshofdi. There we got to see lots of puffins. They are so cute and look slightly hopeless as they try to take off from the water. Managed to get a couple of good photos :-) including one when hubby was attacked by a big skua (a chicken-sized bird)


After the puffins it was time to say good-bye to Vatnajökull. We had another 450 km to drive before we reached the airport. At least we got a day and a half to cover the distance, so no rush.

Eyjefjallasjökull - the volcano!


There it is. The volcano that caused so much havoc. It was still only steaming as we went past it.

The whole area was covered by a steam/ash haze making it hard to see anything above a couple of hundred meters. But just as we went past it, there was a slight clearing in the haze and we could just make out the steam plume. It's very much in the centre of the photo.


There was a thin layer of ash covering the ground. And as you walked a small dust cloud arose underneath your feet.

As we countinued our drive we could see the damages made. The road had turned to gravel at a couple of places. The road barriers lay all twisted next to the road. And the flood plain was filled with water.

The Icelanders were busy rebuilding it all. Lots of diggers, trucks etc all around. Signs said it was all expectad to be back to normal in July this year. That is quick work!



Our final night was spent in a cabin in Hella. We decided that it's more fun out here in the wilderness than in a fancy hotel in Reykjavik.



By the time we hit the airport we had all in all driven 1497 km. Not bad! So we treated ourselves with a relaxing swim in the Blue Lagoon before our flight back to UK.

The end of a very nice birthday holiday!