Day 15: Golden Circle, f-road, eating like a Viking

Today was overcast in Reykjavik this morning.  Paul did some stuff with Yoda first thing this morning and I worked on finishing up and posting yesterday’s post.

We walked to the local bakery and got some bread and pastry for breakfast and enjoyed them with some homemade (camper-made) hot cocoa. Before too long, Bob joined us as we planned out the day for the Golden Circle. 
For those not familiar with the local term, this is a driving route that takes you through Thingvellir National Park and some interesting natural sights not too far from Reykjavik.  They include the area surrounding two tectonic plates which is also where the Icelanders held their first parliament, Gullfoss (perhaps the best waterfall), Geysir (Icelandic spelling), along with other interesting things to see along the route.

We started at the national park where we could picture the early Vikings meeting up to take care of their social business and walk among the earth’s plates.  Bob had gotten a four wheel drive rental so we could try an F-road. These are unpaved, un-graveled, rutty and rocky roads, that go into the highlands and wilderness areas. Paul asked a park ranger about a possible local road we might try out.  The added benefit of this road is it would take us close to Gullfoss. He came back with a photo of a tabletop map and advice from the ranger.  The ranger had asked about the type of car we were driving and the answer of 4WD pasted muster. He then checked online for the road conditions for the specific road being discussed. As of the last report, it was passable.  So the ranger said it was ok to use the road today. The ranger said good luck and finally added that he was not responsible for anything that might happen to us by sharing this information.  

So we jumped into the car and off we went on our F-road adventure. The first part of the road was paved, and wound it’s way up a mountain. It wasn’t too very long before it turned to dirt and big rocks. Woot! Now the fun begins.  As we traveled along we hit some dried up river beds, sandy-ashy spots (perhaps volcano dust, will need to check on that) and some lunar looking landscapes.  We climbed up and around some mountains with lakes in them. We even saw some farms and sheep keeper outposts up there.  At one point, we passed an xTreme camper vehicle that was visiting from Denmark. 

The driver, let’s call him Mad Max, pulled down his window to exchange greetings as we passed by.  F-roads are notoriously slow as the going is rough, at one point the road took a turn into a deep valley and some of the road was washed away.  That was a little unnerving.  We came to an area of another glacier, the ski was very overcast and misty so we couldn’t a very clear view of it as viability was poor. But we could see it stretching out there in the distance.

Finally, we came to something Bob had been hoping to avoid on the F-roads. A river crossing.  Their depth and force can change during the day based on melt.  We were told the road was passable, but should we go for it?  Turning back meant hours more driving. We use the highly scientific process of tossing rocks into the river to listen for the sound of the kerplunk to gauge depth.  After Paul some how magically made it to the other side, we determined we could get through or, if not, at least Paul had a good vantage point to capture it on video.  So we forded the river before us, slow and steady.

We made it across, happy and full of confidence much patting of backs and congrats going around, only 2 more kilometers to go and we’d be looking at those falls.  Mother Nature said not so fast, I got another fjord for you to cross.This one was larger, much faster and looked to be a good deal deeper.  There was much going back and forth with this one as well.Another car came up from the other side of the ford, we would waiting for them to cross to see how they did.  They turned around instead.  Now we were waiting for Mad Max to reappear.  Although our car could almost fit under his vehicle we figured if we got stuck he could take us to the falls for help.  So we waited and waited, we thought he might have taken one of the other spurs.  Then finally just when we thought we would have to turn around, like the cavalry in old movies, he appeared from around the bend,  down the hill he came, words were exchanged, more rocks tossed into the water and we watched where the water hit his tires as he moved through the fjord.  He offered to come back across another part of the river to see if it was less deep, but our courage was strengthened and off we went into the water.  We made it!!  Thumbs up all around and off we went to check out the waterfalls.

Bob and Paul went down to the falls, I stayed up top and did a bit of shopping.  Then off to our last stop dinner at Ingolfsskali. This was a really nice location outside Reykjavik in a very large turf restaurant made up inside like a Viking hall. Food was great, music was good, and we left full and happy with our day.

Well we are packing up our stuff and will be heading for the airport to head home in 24 hours.
One more post after this one. Off to bed.