By Road across Iceland
Millybrown
Mark Hillmann
Fri 4 Jul 2008 18:30
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A long days drive across Iceland to pick up
Adam from Seydisfjorder. I arranged to hire a cheap
car in Husavik, they gave me a new small 4 wheel drive, now why not
just a little Toyota? They knew more about the road across
perhaps.
Into Akureyri, with sunshine and snow on the
mountains behind the fjord, to pick up a part for the watermaker - I
will tell you about that, if it works.
It was a day when each episode made the drive
worthwhile.
 Then a long drive across Icelandic badlands, some
recently volcanic, perhaps 15 years ago.
This area had steam collection and power
generation.
 A missed turning outside Egilsstadir took me
down a long earth road, then up over a pass, hairpin bends with 20 km/hr
signs. Jeremy Clarkson stuff: This is why Icelandic vehicles
have big studded tyres. Even in a 4wd I
obeyed the signs; down the other side with clouds cloaking the mountain
sides, then round the sea.
There were diggers working to put the road
back, where it was slipping into the sea.
I arrived in the wrong village, turned around
and worried about running out of petrol all the way back to
Egilsstadir.
On down to Seydisfjordur for Adam, where the
cafe would not serve food, too late for lunch and early for tea.
Adam then drove back up to Egilsstadir for a
cheeseburger and on into the badlands.
  Volcanoes ahead, they practiced for the moon walks on the south side of Iceland.
It may be barren and rough to us, but just right
for families of pink footed geese.
 We stopped just across the hill from the generation
plant, in an area where fumerols release steam and sulphur
continuously. There were steam patches as far as you could
see.
On the map they extend to the coast; as
we know from a week ago, they carry on out under the sea. What we saw previously was on the line of these
vents.
Back to the boat, where another English yacht had
tied up alongside, shared some beer and coffee and then sleep, 500 miles
done.
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