24/08/2008 Iceland: Land of Fire and Ice

Today we drove down from the north, around the east side of the island. The journey took most of the day, but was not without at least some interesting sites.

Our journey took us on the main road across the north-east of Iceland before reaching the coast just in time for lunch. We stopped just before one of the longest tunnels I've ever travelled through (where we took some nice pictures of rift-wards dipping lava flows, and a small waterfall), called Reyðarfjörður. The food was what John aptly called an 'EssoBurger' and the drink Appelsin (which, strangely enough, was orange-flavoured and remarkably like Fanta).

After that came a drive through more and more spectacular scenery until we reached a spot on the edge of a fjörð with some particularly strange formations - pillow lavas intruding into felsic material! At least, that's what John assures us was happening - we couldn't find the best exposures.

Our next stop was a geological center dedicated to British geologist George Walker (1926-2005), who mapped the geology of east Iceland. The center was in Breiðdalsvík, a very small village, and had only opened the day before. Dan thought it looked like a shrine - and hopes that no one does anything like that for him when he goes!

Next, we continued along the coast to Gígjukvísl, where a bridge was washed away by a jökulhlaup that took place from about 07:00 to 16:00 h on 5 November 1996. A small piece remains, removed from where it was left by the flood for tourists to look at, and, it appears, youngsters to graffiti. So far away from civilisation, it seems strange that anyone would want to do that to a bridge that wasn't even standing anymore!

Our final stop was at Jökulsárlón (glacial lagoon). Every year, more bergs float into this lagoon, which also appears to be a holiday home for numerous gulls and seals. I don't blame them either - it's the first time I've seen 'blue-ice' - it's beautiful.

Eventually we left, in what was now driving rain, to arrive at Kirkjubæjarklaustur, at the edge of the Skaftáreldar (Skaftá river fires), produced by the Lakagígar (Craters of Laki) in the 18th Century. We stayed the night in Geirland, just inland, in a rather nice hotel where Arctic Char and Iced Skyr-cake were enough to make the day complete.