It was a very early start as we were planning a 2 hour journey, a 5 hour hike and a hire car drop off by 3pm. We collected our hilarious packed “breakfast” from reception and were on our way by 7.00am.
All we saw for a while were deserted roads apart from the odd car doing silly speeds. There was an interesting pipe running parallel to the road but we weren’t sure what it was – unusual to see in the normally unspoilt landscape. We saw geese and sheep and the beautiful Icelandic ponies but not much else. Both kids went back to sleep, so there was peace in the back and the front!
When we reached Hvalfjordr, we realised we had a tunnel to go through under the fjord. It was weirdly v-shaped tunnel: 6km long with an 8% decline and then a 10% incline. It made our ears pop. I don’t think the children even noticed!
After that it was a much busier run into Reykjavik and, after a quick stop for pastries and fruit, straight out the other side towards the active volcano. We were a bit tense as the weather had been shocking the day before and the site had been closed. The notice put up at about 10pm said they would update the website after the 10am meeting on the next day. We had been planning to start our hike at 9am to make everything fit, so we figured we would get the drive done and wait in the car park if necessary with baited breath.
Handily, when Keith checked the official website at a junction at about 8.50am, there was a notice saying all routes were open. With much woohooing, we drove the final 10 minutes to the parking and found a spot amongst another 50 cars. They were frantically building a new parking area, even at that time in the morning in the middle of nowhere, but it wasn’t open yet. We had to yomp across some open land (apologising to the delicate flora as we went) to cross the road and get the nod from the policeman. The family in front of us got turned back as the children were quite clearly under 12. They have had to put an age limit on it as gas pockets collect close to the ground and short people are particularly susceptible. Cue all the jokes about my height…
The start of the path is the one used last year to get to the previous eruption. It is a wide and easy climb to the cooling lava flow, which doesn’t look that big when you are right next to it. The path keeps climbing and around another switchback you can see the extent of the flow. Immense and SO black. Another few climbs got most of the 990m of ascent completed and all of us very hot! We shed many layers and set off again. The path was still pretty easy and took us across an undulating area. We came to another lava field – this one still steaming in many places. Understandably we kept our distance. Here the path went many kinds of wrong – essentially disappeared – and left us with posts to follow through scattered rocks in moss. I would love to know the statistics on twisted ankles and broken legs – it was awful and lasted about 1km. We had to go so slowly and you couldn’t look up at all with immediately tripping on a very rough rock.
The path reappeared amongst diggers and workmen trying to improve the route and the relief in all the walkers was palpable. It wasn’t super busy, but we overtook a few parties in our enthusiasm. I am not sure when I became the slowest member of the family, but now my little legs hamper me!!
We had a small drop in elevation round and past the end if another lava flow. I checked and it was cool, but after Oli’s warning I didn’t fancy a walk on it. Other people did. Natural selection did not take place, to the mutual dissatisfaction of all the people tutting on the path!
The last rise was a slow incline and revealed it’s treasure incrementally. Mila and I both squeaked as we saw red being shot into the sky in the diference. A couple of American ladies had exactly the same response and we shared that the 6km hike was already worthwhile!
As we approached the edge, the crater was revealed with a small lava lake just outside and a single lava flow around to the right. We took our places on the steep scree slope to watch and take photos. It was like being in an amphitheatre and the crowd was very appreciative of the drama: a chunk of the crater edge fell into the lava with a sound between a crash and a gurgle (we have had a family discussion and no-one can come up with a good description of the noise, sorry!)
It was very surreal eating sandwiches and Giflar while watching a volcano erupt. Puts A-level results day into perspective anyway!
We sat for about 30 minutes while Keith took (more than 1,000) photos. Danny identified and worried about the drones flying around and about the crater. We have been watching “Ian in London” on YouTube, who has been filming the eruption using various drones – most of which he has melted, getting too close to the lava. I am not surprised, we could feel the heat coming off it from 300m away.
Shock horror, I had every scrap of clothing I owned on by this point (having walked up in a jumper) and was shivering with white fingers. I didn’t want to curtail Keith’s fun, so I didn’t moan, but when he was ready to go, I was very ready! It took me half way back across the awful bit to get sensation back in my fingers and then 5 minutes later I had to take my coat off again!
Mila did a fantastic job – she has had a cold and has had a sore throat for 3 days now. She didn’t moan at all and kept going like a regular trooper. Travelling with teenagers is so much easier than when they were younger – practically a joy!!
We got stopped twice on the way back by British people wanting to know how far it was and whether it was worth it. We were as honest as possible. We saw two babies in backpacks and about four children that were too small. We also saw some spectacularly poor outfit choices: jeans and fashion trainers being the most popular choice. So many people didn’t even have a coat with them and most people weren’t carrying water… to walk for four hours!! (EDIT: Keith – or waterproofs, gloves, hats, emergency bags…..no risk assessment at all).
There were a LOT more people walking up by the time we were walking back and they didn’t seem to appreciate that the path was not one way. Made for some shocked expressions when they finally looked up! I did feel sorry for the search and rescue volunteers on duty. On the surface, it looked like they had a great job – driving off-road golf buggies up and down the path (with an almost Portuguese disregard for pedestrians). But they all looked absolutely miserable. We decided that they probably get called all the time by tourists who get tired and want a lift. Thor warned us about that.
My highlight was the two geography teachers (I mean who else?!) who calmly rode past us, separately, on e-bikes to get to the eruption site. I didn’t get to see them getting over the rough bit, which I was disappointed by. I am guessing it took some skill.
More information about the volcano van be found here:
https://anywhereweroam.com/fagradalsfjall-volcano
https://safetravel.is/eruption-information-site
We were pretty tired by the time we got to the bottom but we very much enjoyed the French family having a loud discussion about the fact they had forgotten the portable charger . Theirs is definitely a blame culture!! The car park was complete carnage, with more than 500 vehicles parked on every scrap of level ground and some not so level. I was worried that we wouldn’t be able to escape, but in the end Keith managed to squeeze the trusty Santa Fe back onto the road. We said thank you to the long suffering policeman and headed back to Reykjavik.
We filled up with petrol and found the hotel with relative ease. The receptionist did not think unloading in the bus waiting bay was a good idea at all, so Keith tucked the car behind the hotel while we checked in and put everything in the rooms. We left the kids to have showers and chill while we took the car back to Avis. The stupid sat-nav took us to the wrong place to start with, but we got their in the end and giving it back was hassle free. The nice lady was impressed by the 2,987 km we had driven in a week and explained how the e-scooters worked so we could get back to the hotel without navigating the buses.
Keith downloaded the Hopp app and handily it showed him that there were two scooters very close by. We worked out how to select them (even adding another to the same account so I didn’t need a backy!) and set off. It wasn’t entirely obvious how to get them to go (push off and press Go!), but we used our collective engineering and management degrees and worked it out! They were a bit binary and it took a while to work out how to go at anything other than full speed. Keith was much braver, but very tired. It is a good thing that pedestrians and scooters have priority, otherwise he would have been squished flat by the car that he didn’t see because he looked right and not left. It started to become fun (it would have been a 47 minute walk, so it was a considerable distance) but then it started raining. Again… We shouldn’t complain as it didn’t rain when we were climbing the volcano this morning, but it is not pleasant to have rain smack you in the face as you stand on an e-scooter doing 25 kmph. That has made me giggle just typing it. We were drenched by the time we got back. We hadn’t put rain coats (see my judgemental comment about inept climbers from earlier – karma!) on and our puffer jackets were ringable. Ah well.
Back in the hotel, we hung up the wet stuff and got warm and dry. We had a precious hour and a half before dinner and so sat down. Imagine!
We went to an Icelandic restaurant for tea and had delicious food. Even the service station burgers have been good here. It is pricey, but never rubbish. I think we may have developed scurvy though, I am planning many vegetables when we get home. Not as bad as Japan from that perspective, but choosing cheaper options often means chips and not greens and when a salad is as expensive as a local fish pie, who is going for the salad?
Back to the hotel to drink decaf instant coffee without cooking in the kettle. By the way, if anyone can explain to me why the kettle has a tea/coffee setting on it, I would love to know. I made a cup of tea, having boiled it with the lever set to coffee and nothing bad happened… yet!
Our last day tomorrow and lots planned, including an 8.30am start, so now to bed.