Iceland 2009: The South
Thursday 18th June: Kirkjubæjarklaustur - Skógar (107 km)
You know you are cycling in Iceland when ... it never gets dark.
Iceland is located just south of the Arctic circle, between latitudes 63-67 degrees north. Between late May and late July sunset is at about 11:30pm, sunrise at about 3am, but it never gets all that dark during the short night. Winter is the opposite: short days and long nights. At the campsite at Kirkjubæjarklaustur a few people stayed up all night to celebrate Independence Day. They were just going to bed as we were having our breakfast. At the next campsite (Skógar) two young women walked down from the mountains at 6am and asked us for directions - they had walked all night from Þorsmörk.
The black sands of Mýrdalssandur with Mýrdalsjökull in the distance
Nowhere to hide
Although not native to Iceland, lupins are planted to combat soil erosion
Skógafoss
Having fun
Skógar camp site seen from the top of Skógafoss
Karen's diary:
What a lovely blue-sky morning, too good to waste! Everybody was up late partying last night (except us). The Swiss and the Danes were still sleeping in their tents when we left at 7.30am. It seemed warm and we cycled without our heavy jumpers - pretty soon we removed our jackets, too. The gentle tailwind increased in strength until it was blowing a gale and we moved fast. The sky was so clear that for the first time we could see (far away to the east) Öræfajökull, the huge mountain that we had circled around two days earlier. It looked big and majestic and even from this distance we could make out some of its glaciers. Ahead of us (to the west) we could see Mýrdalsjökull, another icecap ringed by glaciers.
The road took us across Bólhraun, a bouldery lava field similar to yesterday's. It is a fascinating landscape. Bólhraun is a part of Mýrdalsandur, another huge glacial flood plain. Towards the end of the sandur, where the lava field ends, masses of lupins have been planted to stabilise and improve the soil. The lupins have a sweet scent, especially in warm sunshine. The sandurs have been subject to severe sandstorms and sometimes the road has to be closed. We had been warned not to try riding across the sandurs if the wind was too strong.
And the wind was strong. Ahead of us was a strange sight - tall plumes of brown, smoky haze, billowing across the horizon - we guessed that it must be a sandstorm and I started to feel a bit nervous. When we passed through it, however, it was almost unnoticeable. A long line of campervans had pulled over on the side of the road; the occupants were standing on the roadside, pointing their cameras at the strange phenomenon.
At the end of Mýrdalsandur the road skirts around the base of Mýrdalsjökull, following a line of tall, broken sea-cliffs. The cliffs are full of nesting birds. Soon we reached Vík, a pleasant coastal town nestled in a narrow, green valley with sea-cliffs on both sides. We had almost run out of food so our first stop was the supermarket and our second stop was the picnic table across the street. The sea-cliffs to the west of Vík are impassable so the road climbs steeply up the valley behind the town. It crosses a grassy ridge (from which we could see the ice-cap) and descends again, crosses another short, steep hill and the rest of the road to Skógar is flat. Now we could see Eyjafjallajökull, a higher mountain than Mýrdalsjökull but much smaller in area.
Skógar, a little village at the base of the mountain, was our final destination for today. At the end of the campground was Skógafoss, a very beautiful waterfall. You can walk right to its base (and get soaked!) or up a long stairway to the top, where there is a very fine view of the coastal farmland. The stairs also provide access to the hiking trail from Skógar to Þórsmörk, one of Iceland's most popular national parks. The sky has clouded over now but we have had an excellent day.