Day 5: July 11, 2007 Hveravellir to Reykjahlið
Trip Start
Jul 08, 2007
1
5
21
Trip End
Jul 23, 2007
Reykjahlið,
Iceland
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Hveravellir had terrible weather during my three previous visits but I slept soundly with my tent door open. The brilliant sun awoke me at 6:15, shining through the door. We ate breakfast and broke camp. Our bad tire was completely flat. Magnus could only find a tire in Akureyri ~250 km away. Since the vehicle was a dually, he felt we could make it that far.
We headed north and soon came to the Blöndulón Reservoir where we stopped at the overlook and had a perfect view of the small Eiriksjökull ice cap. I had forgotten what a perfect shield volcano it is.
After 80 km the road turned to asphalt. We took it into Varmahliğ , stopping above town at an overlook to view the Skagafjörğur and glacial valley. We ate lunch outside of the coffee shop/grocery store and then headed for Akureyri under pristine skies. I guess I had never had clear weather for that drive before because I was astounded by its amazing beauty. There were many cirques cut into the stacked basalt flows. We reached Akureyri on the Eyjafjörğur without incident. The shopping center was next to the Goodyear store so Audrey, several others, and I did grocery shopping while Magnus got two new tires.
We left town about an hour and a half after we arrived and drove north up the east side of the fjord, stopping for fotos at a beautiful overlook.
The drive toward Mıvatn was as spectacular as always, passing by cirques and gigantic landslides. Our stop at Goğafoss was beautiful. I explained the geology and let everyone explore it on their own. I walked with Kathy to the falls. Then we joined Mal to walk up to the drainage reversal area.
Our final leg was a straight shot over to Mıvatn and Reykjahliğ. We arrived at the Bjarg campground but they had no record of our reservation and no one ever told me which campground to go to. The French attendant called my friend, the owner Sigfus, who was in Akureyri. He was happy to hear from me but could recall no reservation. Disappointed, we checked out the campground at the hotel at the north end of town, but they had no record of us either. We returned to Bjarg and finally got a hold of Magnus Ólafsson's office in Reykjavík, who told us to stay where we wished. Bjarg is my favorite. We camped right on the shoreline, as we had in 2004.
We set up camp amongst tens of thousands of midges and finally ate dinner around 10:30. Everyone went to bed exhausted immediately afterward. A strong, cool breeze made us yearn for our sleeping bags as the fog crept across the lake. It died down when the sun finally set and we fell asleep to the rhythm of the small waves breaking gently on the shoreline.
