Day 19 - North East Iceland

 As we rolled into town yesterday, we passed an alternative route to Dettifoss, and after checking the roads website that has all the latest info on road conditions, found that the alt route was slippery but passable to the falls and a  little way beyond, and then green for good after that.  So today’s plan was Dettifoss, and then we would do a road trip tp Arctic Henge and then around the northern-most part of Iceland and back down to Myvatn via Husavik.

The road to Dettifoss was indeed very slippery, with deep ruts of slushy snow that had re-frozen, so I drove like a Nana and got there safely.  We were once again so grateful for our Yaktraks.  The parking lot at Dettifoss was a skating rink, all melted ice that had re-frozen.  Lethal.  We spent the first 10 minutes in the car park laughing ourselves senseless at some poor weedy guy wearing running shoes was trying to walk by.

We set off, feeling very smug and superior as we blitzed past people in their Timberlands, slipping and sliding all over the place.  It’s only a short walk to Dettifoss, and in was a bit meh.   Very grey and not terribly inspiring, and the wind was unbelievable.  I took my camera off the tripod and went back to the camera bag, and while I was gone, my tripod got blown over in the wind.  So now my ice shiney new tripod has a big ugly scar from where it hit the deck.  

Dettifoss


Sigh. We took some snaps and then decided to walk to Selfoss waterfall, which was only another 600m upstream.  This was a much better prospect for photos, and slightly less windy.  

Selfoss


Then it was back to the van via the ice skating rink and heading north to Artic Henge. 

Ice skating anyone?


The road was pretty dicey for a few more miles, and then eventually cleared, and before long we were completely out of the snow and ice altogether.  It was a nice drive, past mountains, volcanic plateaus, sheep grazing, beach views.  We arrived at Arctic Henge just after midday, typically they have dug a big channel near the entrance to lay drainage, so it wasn’t it’s best.  We decided it would be an awesome spot to camp out and wait for the Aurora to show, or just a clear starry night. 

Arctic Henge

The Arctic Henge (Heimskautsgerðið) is under construction. Similar to its ancient predecessor, Stonehenge, the Arctic Henge is like a huge sundial, aiming to capture the sunrays, cast shadows in precise locations and capture the light between aligned gateways.

We decided to take the more remote route around the top of the peninsular, just to say we have been to the northern most part of mainland Iceland, and ended up in Husavik, where we filled up with diesel, bought a caramel donut each and some provisions for dinner from our favourite grocery store - Netto.

One last stop for the day, a small waterfall that was recommended by our itinerary guy, and it didn’t disappoint.  We spent about an hour taking pix until we were frozen, and decided to head back to camp.  



Tonight we are at a different camp just a few miles down the road from last night.  The toilets are very clean, and most importantly – WARM.  There is a bit to do in this locale, including some geo-thermal stuff.  We will suss out a plan for tomorrow before we head west, continuing our anti-clockwise tour of the ring-road.

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