May 10 – Today marks the half way point of
our Iceland saga. The day dawned with snow, an arctic gale and two degrees at
7am . By 8.30 the snow had gone but the wind and low temperature persisted. We
left the haven of the hotel, and decided that the wind chill factor would be
around 10 degrees less. We had a number of features to visit so there was no
time to waste. Our first stop was a great little one hour walk called Hofdi
(apologies for omitted Icelandic grammatical marks). This walk took us through
a peaceful birch forest and around the edge of Myvatn Lake. Standing out were
pillars of lava rising out of the water. We climbed up to a lookout – the wind
was fiercely cold and we were only there long enough to take a photo. We
managed to see some new ducks for us – black ones with large white patches in
the middle of the black. Our next stop was a place called Dimmuborgir, the site
of jumbled and contorted lava shapes. The pathway wound through fascinating
shapes, past some small craters, and at one stage, a structure called the
Church. It was true to its description, and had an opening that was just like
the pointed entrance to a church. It was uncanny, as the photo will show. After
an hour of wandering around this site in a state of wonder, we moved on to a
real bonus. It is a huge crater called Hverfjall, a huge cone consisting of
pebbles and dust. There is a track up the side to a point where it is possible
to look down into the crater. The wind was fierce, and we both ended up with
grit in our mouths and on parts of our faces. On the way down we were blasted
by the wind. It sounds pretty unpleasant, but the climb was worth it for the
benefit of having climbed an accessible crater. It is around 180 metres above
the surrounding ground level. The next stop was the unpronounceable Grjotagja (‘groto’?
with unshown accent marks). This featured a fissure around at least one hundred
metres long and around 180 metres across at its widest points, although the
whole length was quite contorted, as one would expect. We didn’t enter any of
the caves underneath, as the sulphurous atmosphere was very strong, and we
didn’t want to risk it (locals used to take hot baths there until volcanic
activity in the 1970s when lava flowed
beneath the caves and increased the heat of the water). We drove on to an
astounding area called Hverir, a wasteland of steaming lakes and rocky outlets,
set at the base of steep slopes coloured yellowish by sulphur contact over the
years. It was like a desert, maybe a moon scape (like most of the Myvatn area).
Our last feature took us 7 kilometres out to an area called Kafla, the site of
massive eruptions over many years. The whole valley sits on a vast steam
reserve, and a geothermal power plant has been built on the valley floor. The
main plant was surrounded by dome shaped steam collectors, each one joined by a
large pipe to transfer the steam back to where the generators were sited. We
drove beyond the plant, up the mountain to view Viti Crater, which has a lake
in it which is usually green. At the
moment however, it is still frozen over.
Having avoided being blown down the crater by the fierce, cold wind, we
headed for home, mulling over the situation that to avoid unmanageable crowds
in June and July, we were a little early for most of the migrating birds, and
also for the greenery and colour that would develop late May and into June.
However, we appreciated the quiet and the ability to take photos at lookouts
without having to jostle hundreds of other tourists for vantage points.
pics 1-6 on our Hofdi Walk
Next 2 are from Dimmuborgir with 'the church'
then the Hverfjall Crater
the Hverir sulphurous wasteland,
the Grjotagja fissure
The Katla power plant & Viti crater, finally
broken lava fields on our way back to our hotel
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