The super Jeep picked us up from our hotel early morning. And when I say super I mean it. The biggest tires I’ve ever seen and so high that getting in and out of it all day turned into a work out. Of course ‘the boys’ were stoked. Whatevs.
Told you!
Boys’ toys and what not BUT as it turned out we needed this beast because we went everywhere…
from volcanoes (long dormant, no worries there). Classic cone shape. Huge.
to cute shepherds’ huts built on lava fields… the sheep here in the highlands are left to roam free, so if the shepherds are caught in bad weather when out to round them up or if someone is out hiking… they can find refuge in there
from farm land (grass is grown for animal’s winter feed)
to canyons. The canyons are my favourite… geology in action… rivers cutting through year after year…
to waterfalls. this one is Dettifoss and it has the biggest volume of water of all in Iceland and the second in Europe.
from hidden woodlands with enchanted lakes. Now, this is a magical place. Surrounded by barren volcanic land, Asbyrgi Canyon is an unexpected oasis of green. A viking legend says it was formed the Odin’s eight legged horse left a footprint on the land. It has tall beech trees and native rowan trees, blueberry bushes and redcurrant end lots of other flowers. On it small lake swim and nest rare birds. It’s a real gem.
to ancient lava fields. There are many. And all different depending on how fast the lava flowed, how long ago, how hot it was. Absolutely fascinating.
to a giant scary crater (in Icelandic this is called ‘hell’, because it was thought to be its entrance. There are quite a few ‘hells’ dotted around the highlands.)
to the place full of cracks where the tectonic plates are actually pulling the earth crust apart… (I don’t know about you, but this blew my mind)
on and sheep… we saw a lot of sheep!
And there was so much more. It’s impossible to capture the sense of space, the smell of the air (Icelandic air smells amazing), or to recount all that our guide Tor told us. He was brilliant and his love for this country was obvious and strong.
the-wanderings.com 