Day 14 - Svartifoss

 We left camp in the morning and first stop was Dverghamrar – a basalt rock formation just off the side of the road.  Nothing to write home about, but we took some obligatory snaps and continued to the next destination – Lomagnupur, a mountain of sorts, which involved a 3km drive down an old riverbed, once again putting the trusty 4wd thru it’s paces.

Next up was Svartifoss waterfall, advertised as a 1 hour hike round trip plus time for taking pictures.   Schlepping camera gear, it was a 5.36kms 2 hrs 51 minutes hard slog up very steep inclines.  It was a nice easy path for the most part, but towards the end near the river it was icy and very slippery, so it was slow going.  Having a backpack changes your centre of gravity considerably and makes navigating the icy slopes that much more difficult.  It was worth it though, the waterfall was spectacular, surrounded by basalt columns that pretty much appeared from nowhere.  

Svartifoss


We faffed around for a while taking photos, waiting for idiots to get out of the riverbed where they had walked despite all the instructions saying to stay away from the falls for risk of the columns breaking away.  



Then the reverse trip back, although the sun had melted some of the ice a little and it wasn’t quite as slippy going back.  But we were knackered by the time we were done, and decided we couldn’t face the walk to Mulagljufur canyon that was next on the list.  Instead we drove to Diamond beach on a reccie to see where might be the best spot to park ourselves for tomorrow morning.

On the road

We stayed the night at Skaftafell Campsite, which has ….. showers …….. no coins required.  I was in, and it felt oh so good.

We were both shattered and it was lights out by about 9pm.  Too windy for the tent so we are sardines in the van.

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