Sunday, July 24, 2016

Day 3 - Highlands

Today we are driving to the highlands - this is a MUST!  If you ever come to Iceland, do NOT cheap

out on your vehicle! You need to make sure you rent a 4x4 so you can drive the F-roads.  If not, you will miss this precious gem - the most beautiful thing I’ve seen so far - I can’t even explain it.  There were tears from being overwhelmed, and tears from fear.  Let me explain…

We made our way to Lan…. To do so, you need to go on “F-roads” - our version of off roading I guess.  The roads are very narrow - two cars don’t really fit… you may or may not have to drive through rivers, huge puddles, tons of pot holes - you get the point.  The road, as treacherous as it is, offers the most beautiful views! Every twist and turn is more beautiful than the last.  

At one point, we stopped to view this beautiful volcano crater - breathtaking is what it was! 

After I’d say 2 or 3 hours of this, we finally arrived to where we were going.  Mountains all around us - hiking trails galore - a real hiker’s paradise!  




Off we went hiking… We started off it looked like we were on a different planet.  The lava rock formation is something else! We ended up in a beautiful valley surrounded by mountains of different colours, met a few people on the way… We decide to take the green trail, then red, then white.  Well let me tell you… it was one hard hike!  Up, up, up, it never seemed to end!  We did make it to the top of the first mountain and found out we were not done climbing… but what else were we going to do? Turn back around? No way!  So up, up and up we went.  We made it to the top of the second mountain - and boy was it worth all that hard work!  Again, even more beautiful than when we began!  Didn’t think it was possible!  Down, down down we went, seeing fumaroles, craters with green water, rock formations out of this world. 


When we finished our hike, we went for a dip in the river that was supposed to be hot -well, it wasn’t really… but oh well, nice anyways.

It was time to leave this beautiful paradise and make our way to Vik.  We get on the F-road and keep going.  We had a choice to make - go back the same way - which added over an hour, or go south… South we went.  Oh my God!  I was a scared shitless a few times!  The curbs, the blind hills, the rivers I had to cross!!!  I had to cross at least 20 rivers - some shallow, some deep enough that the water came up over the hood to the windshield - scary!  I kept telling myself - don’t let go of the gas, don’t let go of the gas!   (will add a video shortly)

After another harrowing drive, we made it to our campsite near Vik at 11:30 - It’s not even dark out!  Time to pitch our tent and go to bed… not before admiring where we were!  We were surrounded  by mountains!  A tiny little valley amongst giants… Wow, just wow!  The pictures don’t give it any justice… 

It was quite the day!  Full of adrenaline - I’m hoping tomorrow will be a little calmer! 



Well, my laptop is dying, no where to plug it in... will add photos as soon as I can! 

1 comment:

  1. You guys are the super-heros of vacations... SO BRAVE!!!

    ReplyDelete