Plane wreck, Vik area, Svartifoss, Glacier Lagoon and a trip onto Vatnajokull. Days 4-6

We spent the whole night sleeping in the tent to the sound of water, and it was cold too. But on the morning of July 17, as soon as the sun came up, it started warming fast and even felt hot. The weather was excellent.

We packed up, refilled our water, and continued along the route. It was going to be a long day. We reached the first point, but there was still about a kilometer of walking to do. Halfway there I realized I had left all our documents and money in the car. We shrugged and kept going. This was Iceland, after all. To remind you, in Auckland, New Zealand, where there are plenty of idle Maori guys hanging around and looking ready to steal, our car actually was broken into. The window was smashed in a parking lot and some of our things were taken. So here, compared with that, it felt relaxed. We reached the glacier. At first we did not want to get too close, but then decided there was nothing especially dangerous about it and walked right up to its edge. We did not climb onto the glacier itself. There were very few people there.

We went back, had a snack right in the parking lot, and drove to the next location. It was the plane wreck on the black sand near the ocean. The parking area was already full of cars. We parked and started walking. We had about 3.7 km each way ahead of us.

While walking we kept trying to spot the plane. At first we thought we saw it and that it was already close, but after a few hundred meters its outline turned back into what looked like a lonely stone in a huge flat field of pebbles. We kept walking and thinking we had already been going forever. The road was straight and without climbs, but it was covered with stones and patches of sand, so it was not easy to walk. I do not remember exactly how long it took, but I think about an hour and a half one way and the same back. When we got there, a group on quad bikes was already nearby, but they left quickly, and most of the other people were leaving too, so for a while we had the place all to ourselves.

By the time we got back to the car, our legs were already buzzing, and I could not imagine walking anywhere else that day. The next location was supposed to be a mountain that required a hike according to the maps. But when we arrived, we saw a gravel road going up that was not marked as an F-road. It was steep, but after the previous long walk we gladly let the car's horsepower do the work. We drove up. At the top, all the most interesting views were within walking distance. The panorama was beautiful. This was the direction toward the plane wreck:

Somewhere out there it was lying on the black sand. I even took my other camera and zoomed toward the spot where it should have been, and I think you can actually make it out.

This was the view toward Vik:

Then came another classic Iceland place for us: we wandered around and looked at beautiful landscapes. Somewhere there we saw a dead shark lying on the beach.

Then we drove on. Along the way we stopped to cook and eat some fried potatoes, and then went closer to Vik to a beautiful beach with this famous rock.

While driving past lava fields covered with moss, we decided to stop and photograph them.

It was getting late. The day had already been packed, and we were starting to wonder where we could spend the night. Since we did not find any campgrounds on the way, we decided to squeeze in one more stop: a canyon where some famous film had been shot.

We also noticed an interesting road phenomenon there. Sometimes while driving you could hear stones hitting the underside of the car, but not normal stones. They sounded almost sticky. Probably in some places the road had recently been resurfaced, or maybe the asphalt was softening in the heat of +17 C. Their road-building method looked curious: they spread stones and then poured something over them.

We reached the campground and checked in. It was decent enough, and there were enough shower cabins so there was no queue, although showers were paid separately. You put in 150 ISK, about 90 RUB, and got five minutes of hot water. The place for the tent had a slight slope, which was not ideal, but we managed.

The morning of July 18 arrived. We woke up, washed up, and got moving. The weather where we were staying was not great, but as soon as we drove beyond the mountain, we entered completely different weather. It was still nice there.

We drove on. A beautiful waterfall was next on the route. The first parking lot was paid, so we skipped it and went to a second one. We parked, could not find where to pay, and simply started walking into the mountains. Along the way we began peeling off warm clothes. At one point I was already walking in a T-shirt, for the first time in Iceland. Quite quickly we covered a couple of kilometers uphill and ended up not far from this waterfall.

We decided not to go closer because by then we had already seen plenty of waterfalls. Then we moved on to the next point marked on the map. I had thought we might skip it because it was far away, 3.2 km, but we went anyway. It was a long walk, and I realized I had been right: the place was genuinely impressive.

While sitting there, we began to notice a rain front approaching us, possibly the same one that had been hanging over the campground in the morning. So we got up and rushed back to the car, because there was still a lot left to see that day. Next came a small glacial lagoon. We spent about half an hour admiring it.

But a much larger lagoon was still ahead of us. While driving there, the rain front kept trying to catch us, yet we made it in time and even bought tickets for an amphibious boat ride on the glacier lake. The tickets cost 11,000 ISK, around 7,000 RUB for the two of us.

Afterward we walked around the area.

Then it was time to look for either a campground or a hotel. There was basically nothing nearby at an acceptable price. There were only two campgrounds: one farther away but in a town, and another closer, though far off the road and nearer to the mountains. We chose the closer one. We cursed for a long time on the way there because the road was nasty: big sharp stones everywhere, and I was afraid of puncturing a tire. At one point we even had to cross a small stream about 2 cm deep. That was not scary in itself, but I worried that after a night of rain it could deepen by the next morning. Anyway, we got there. The campground was self-service. We had to pay ourselves by putting money, 1,230 RUB, into a box together with a note about us and our car. After paying, I went to a German guy in a big SUV and asked whether that small stream cutting off the campground from the road might turn into a serious obstacle after overnight rain. He said only if the rain lasted for several days. Fine. We set up camp and started cooking.

We slept well. It rained during the night, but the stream did not rise even a centimeter. We had brought a thermometer with us, and it showed about +8 to +12 C at night. Cold, but our warm sleeping bags saved us.

Morning of July 19. We packed quickly because I had noticed an excursion with a very good discount. I had spotted it back in Dubna, and the day before we had driven past it while looking for a campground. The company sold tours onto Vatnajokull, the largest glacier in Europe, in special jeeps. I had not booked in advance because I prefer doing things at the last moment whenever possible. We drove there and simply asked whether they still had seats. They did: about 10 Chinese tourists were already booked, and there were five places left. I bought the tickets, 22,500 RUB for the two of us, and we hurried to get ready. When we climbed into the jeep, the guide came over to introduce himself. He asked where we were from, and when he heard Russia, he switched to broken but quite decent Russian. He was from Latvia and had worked on Elbrus the year before. He also said he did not see Russians there very often. He told us that in his spare time he hikes in the mountains with a sleeping bag simply to keep himself trained. This is what the vehicle looked like inside:

It was a long jeep with huge wheels, built by the company out of two different vehicles.

At first we drove on a regular road, and then we took an F-road climbing into the mountains. It was steep enough that we never would have dared drive our Kia there. Along the way we met two old ladies in a Duster. I still do not know how they were not scared to drive that road. At one point we passed a place with a view of the glacier, where we would later stop.

We reached a camp where some people left their cars and continued on snowmobiles. But our vehicle was big with huge wheels, so we simply drove right onto the glacier. Here we made a stop.

Other jeeps like this were driving there too, though slower than ours.

In the next photo, the black dot is another jeep that had gone far out onto the glacier while we were enjoying the snow. Back in Dubna, I should note, it was about +28 C at that moment.

And in this photo the altitude is 1425 m according to the GPS.

By the way, we crossed crevasses in the glacier several times, but with wheels like those there was no real danger of falling in.

All in all, the excursion was worth the money. As a bonus they gave us jars of salt from that region. And there was a funny coincidence: the jar had been produced on my birthday, February 5, when we had been in the Maldives.

Then we drove on. We stopped by a waterfront with lots of eggs in one of the towns.

On the way we booked a hotel. That was where we were heading. We were unable to do as much that day as planned because half of it was spent on the glacier trip. We managed only a few beautiful photo stops.

It was a long drive to the hotel, but eventually we got there. It was decent, and there was even a sink in the room. But getting into the shared bathroom was surprisingly hard because some pushy Chinese guests had hung a sign saying "In use" and kept running in and out.