Iceland 2011

Sunday12June

Sunday morning wake-up at Húsavík campsite.

The objective for this Sunday will be to reach the East region of Iceland. On the way, we will stop at the sites of Hljóðaklettar and Dettifoss.

The road passes by the cliffs of the Tjörnes peninsula

Hljóðaklettar is a site crossed by the Jökulsá á Fjöllum river. Here you can see basaltic organ formations of the most diverse shapes

One can only be amazed by all these hexagonal columns that seem to escape from these immense blocks of stone. They result from the slow cooling of basaltic lava. "The lower part, which cools or dries more slowly, fractures from the surface to the depth in the form of sub-vertical prisms with a decimetric hexagonal section"... © Wikipedia. 

My contribution to the ephemeral art of the cairn (or kern), that is, the stacking of stones often found on hiking trails.

A cave resembling a turtle shell with all its hexagonal "scales"

The interior of the cave

Dettifoss is also located on the Jökulsá á Fjöllum river

The weather is overcast and humid in this desert area, but it adds a shadowy touch worthy of an adventure film...  

Surrounded by basaltic organs, the water plunges from a height of 44 meters over a width of 100 meters. These are the most powerful waterfalls in Europe.

The landscape is lunar. In fact, I come across Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin wandering completely disoriented and dizzy from the site's too low gravity...  

A little further upstream, another equally beautiful waterfall vibrates to the rhythm of the organs surrounding it!  

Another super cute "cairn" :D

It's confirmed! Neil Armstrong definitely passed through here!!! One small step for man, but one giant leap for mankind!  

Woolly willow (Salix lanata) and its Icelandic dew...

We leave the site to catch up with Route 1 and reach the town of Egilsstaðir. We pass through the Austurland region of the Eastfjords. And here, as elsewhere, we always encounter more animals than humans... Here, whooper swans (Cygnus cygnus), one with a reddish/orange head, probably due to a diet rich in carotenoid pigments.

Here we are in Fellabær, a tiny village next to Egilsstaðir on the shore of Lake Lagarfljót. And tonight, we want to cook indoors! A farm offers pitches for camping but also a few small fitted cabins. As you can see, it's pure luxury... (yes, yes, it's the small cabin with the blue roof attached to the stable)...  

Our neighbors...  

Now we are equipped with the complete cookware set! We're going to have a real feast! Youhou!  

We're ready to compete with the restaurant "Butter Cuisine... Icelandic" (Smjörvi in this case!)