Another relatively short day today at under 10km. I guess this is to make up for the last 2 days which have been quite long. Heading out from Hvanngil, we followed the Kaldaklofskvísl river past hills decorated with a seemingly endless variety of bright green patterns. Of course, it wouldn’t be a day on Volcanic…
Our day started in the usual fashion – a breakfast of muesli, porridge, crackers, cheese, processed meats and various spreads, followed by the making of our packed lunches out of more-or-less the same ingredients. Then, once Kjartan had showed us our route for the day on the map, off we set up the relatively steep…
In contrast to yesterday, today’s hike was a long one – 20km worth! Yet we didn’t seem to be in any hurry to get going as we ate breakfast on the bench outside the Álftavötn Hut in the glorious sunshine under bright blue skies. There were several more river crossings to negotiate swathes of bright…
At less than 10km in distance, my first day of hiking in the central highlands of Iceland was a short one. While I was raring to go, this was a welcome “rest” for the others who had already been hiking for 3 days in very wet conditions. The mood at the breakfast table was resigned…
The Complete Volcanic Trails Trek by Icelandic Mountain Guides is a 9 day journey through the volcanic highlands of Iceland. Unfortunately, I was not able to do the first few days of this trip, but rather would join the group at the end of their 3rd day of hiking at Hólaskjól. I met the Icelandic…
On the last day of the In the Shadow of Vatnajökull trek with Icelandic Mountain Guides, we awoke to a cloudy morning with low fog hanging over the tops of the mountains. Quite a contrast to the brilliant finish to yesterday! We made our final lunches out on the deck before heading across the river (thankfully…
Sunrise at Egilssel Hut. Yes, once again I was up at about 2:30am to see this. Totally worth it! 🙂 After another relaxed 8am breakfast, we retraced our steps from the day before around the lake and started to ascend towards a higher plateau. There were fantastic views back down over the lake and hut, despite…
It is always a good idea to get up for sunrise … even when it occurs at 3am! It is also a good idea to go back to bed afterwards, and when we finally crawled out for our 8am breakfast, we were greeted with bright blue skies and loads of sunshine. We helped ourselves to…
My trip to East Iceland started out a little too early in the morning and I’m thankful for 2 things: the fact that it never gets dark here in the summer makes it easier to drag oneself out of bed at 5:30am I’m staying very close to Reykjavik domestic airport and didn’t have to get…
When you start researching things to do around Sisimiut you very quickly come across excursions to Assaqutaq – an abandoned settlement about 10km away. The Hotel Sisimiut offers a boat tour to and from the settlement, but what I really wanted to do was take a boat out and then hike back. I contacted Jan from Sisimiut…