Day 37 – 15 August 2023 –  Holabrekka (Hofn area) to Napur, Iceland

The day dawned with clear blue skies & no wind, perfect as today is glacier day for us. At breakfast we could see the nearby Flaajokull glacier clearly through the dining room window, no clouds on the glacier. Driving down the highway the size of these glaciers is overwhelming, we are only seeing the huge glacial fingers of the primary glacier, Vatnajokull. Vatnajokull is the largest glacier in Europe with an area of 770 square kilometres & a maximum thickness of 950 metres. Vatnajokull has a total of 40 glacial fingers & seven volcanic systems underneath this massive ice cap.

We pass glacier after glacier, each amazingly large & all different. Each of these glaciers has a large fast flowing stream carrying all the glacier melt water to the sea. We stop at Jokulsarlon, a huge glacier lake fed from the massive Breidamerkurjokull Glacier. The carpark is packed & again we are lucky to grab a spot as someone is just leaving. The glacier lake is full of ice & icebergs, the big ones stranded on the lake bed, the small ones floating out to sea. One of the big ones near to the shore is the size of a large house, it is massive & we are only seeing around 10% of its size out of the water, the rest is underwater. Just before the road bridge is a jam of icebergs stranded while trying to flee out to sea. We expected to see something amazing but this was more than amazing & well above our imaginations & the other tourist were awe struck too. There are boats full of tourists plus kayakers on the lake, the icebergs tower over the boats.

We watch as a larger iceberg slams into the ice jam under the bridge & starts a chain reaction of smaller icebergs breaking through & floating out to sea. The size & weight of these large chunks of ice is amazing. We walk down onto the black sand beach at the mouth of the river & look at the chunks of ice washed up onto the beach. It is extraordinary watching all of these large icebergs floating around. Over at the face of the glacier there are six power boats full of tourists, the glacier face must be 50 metres high, towering over the boats & making them look like insignificant specks.

Down to the next glacier lake, Fjallsarlon, smaller & not as much ice, but just as magnificent & imposing, again the face of the Fjallsjokull Glacier towers above the boats on the water, these glaciers are unbelievably large.

Continuing on we pass our hotel & have to backtrack again, these signs are so small (my excuse again). Iceland is terrible with their signage. After booking in we take our luggage to our room, very spacious modern room with one side floor to ceiling glass windows overlooking beautiful views. We head down the road a bit further to Dverghamrar, a small but impressive canyon with hexagonal basalt columns. Legend has it that these “Dwarf Cliffs” are the dwelling place of supernatural beings, either elves or dwarfs. Looking down along the canyon walls back towards the mountains is a small waterfall & the rock face resembles the head of a troll (these legends starting to get to us, we are starting to imagine images of trolls in many rock faces) with the water running down onto the nose & between the eyes. Could the legends be true?

Back to the hotel & a good dinner after another long day & lots of walking, around 7 kilometres today. Most days we average 7 to 10 kilometres, Tereza reckons she will be a lot shorter by the time we get home, because her legs are wearing away, but she doesn’t want to miss out so she pushes on.  Summer arrived today to Iceland, we had a sunny hot 20C. Another fabulous day.