Day: 5 September 2019

September 5, 2019 Hella

The breakfast at this small hotel was pretty good considering the locust – like behaviour of another tour group.
On Mark’s strongest recommendation Vic had booked a bus trip to Landmannalaugar in the Fjallaback Nature Reserve. This is the site of one of the largest geothermal areas, and a popular hiking area. The two hour bus trip involved 57 km of dirt road, all washboard with various pothole fields, plus a couple stream fordings.

It was a bus capable of fording streams and dealing with kilometers of washboard gravel roads.

Off limits to rental cars, they say.
Landmannalaugar itself consists of a toilet block, an information kiosk and a collection of derelict buses that serve as a coffee shop.

These buses act as a cafeteria where you can eat your own food or have their wonderful soup and not really great coffee.

There are any number of hikes that start there, including some of several days. We opted for the standard 5 km loop.

Bit of a steep climb to begin with then easier and quite difficult through the lava field.

The first bit was easy, if steep, on a graded trail. At the high point there was an area where large amounts of sulfurous steam issued from various holes in the rock. The return trip was through a lava field. This involved crawling over and around huge boulders of hardened lava, attempting to follow a vaguely marked trail. Good exercise for the arthritic knees.
The scenery was great, virtually undescribable. Well worth the trip.

Interesting lava formations but difficult to walk through.

After the walk we checked out the hot pool. The water issues from the ground too hot to hold your hand in. After the stream meanders over the plain for a couple hundred yards, it is cool enough for a pool. A sign indicated swimmer’s itch was on offer, so we opted out.

Hot swimming hole.

We caught the return bus to Hella, arriving back at 5. The rain held off all day, with the sun even breaking out once. No need for the ponchos, but the warm clothing was useful.
The scenery on the dirt road is largely flat plains, probably volcanic ash with little or no vegetation. There are a few sheep around, but it is not obvious what they live on. The large hills on either side are quite green and lush looking. On closer inspection, that coating is less than a quarter inch thich thick, largely moss, and even spotty at that.
Back in town, Google discovered a second resturant, in a newer, more up-market hotel. Vic had plokkfiskur (q.v.) a local speciality (the Polish waiter said), and I had the best baked cod ever (small praise).