Tuesday 27th August
An early morning start with the alarm
going off at 6am, breakfast at 7am and departure at 8am. With some of
the clothes from the previous day being damp we’d spread stuff all
over the bedroom with the heaters on. That meant that getting the two
of us moving, checking the overnight emails, mostly packing our bags
and getting down to breakfast, took the best part of an hour. This
was to become a bit of a ritual for us each morning of this tour.
But when you are on a group tour, such as this one, you are really
dependant on everyone else being ready to get out the door on time.
Luckily enough we had a group that thought along similar lines and,
while we had a few instances where people were 5 minutes late, it
wasn’t a big problem.
The main item on the agenda for today
was the glacier hike. Vatnajökull glacier is the largest glacier in
Iceland, covering some 8% of the island’s land area. We were going
to one of the glacier tongues that fed off the main ice cap.
Our tour company, Arctic Adventures, had
a company hut in the car park of the glacier visitors’ centre where
we were to be fitted out with our spiked crampons and ice axe. It
also provided me with the opportunity to trade-in my undersized
waterproof trousers for a bigger pair. The company had a number of
tours running over our tour period so we had to time our arrival for
a certain slot to be able to be fitted out, and to connect with our
specialized glacier tour guide. All was successful. We had another
couple of people added to our bigger group which meant we were
separated into two teams. Crampons fitted, adjusted, and then removed
to be carried, we headed out.
 |
| A new purchase |
The glacier has retreated quite a bit
over the past decade or so since the Visitors’ centre was built so
we had a bit over a kilometre to walk before getting to the
“interesting” bit. That gave us a good view of the glacier we
would be tackling but, like all ice, the devil was going to be in the
surface detail.
 |
| The walk towards the glacier |
 |
| Approaching the glacier |
First obstacle was a wood and rope
bridge across the run-off river, easily traversed though it could
only safely hold two at a time. Then the slight climb up to the edge
of the ice, crampons fitted, and a stern lecture from our guide: “If
you drop your phone, do NOT rush after it. Tell me and I’ll get it
if I can. If I can’t get it then it’s gone.” “Do not move
sideways suddenly. If you fall down one of the crevices then that’s
probably it. If you are lucky you’ll break something, if not we
WON’T be able to get you out.”
 |
| The bridge across the meltwater |
So, safely encouraged, we headed off. A
quick lesson in how to walk on the ice (“Put your feet down flat
and straight, not sideways, and not driving forward so the toes hit
the ice first.”) and we followed in a straight line behind the
guide. The weather had been a bit drizzly when we set out but by the
time we got to the glacier the wind had dropped and the sun was
trying to peek through the clouds. And so it stayed for the hour and
a half we were on the ice. It’s an experience not to be forgotten,
especially the deep sky blue of the old ice in the deep crevices.
 |
| Cold but happy |
 |
| Looking up towards the icecap |
 |
| Crevices await |
 |
| Intrepid travellers |
 |
| The view towards the coast |
 |
| Our guide's ice axe |
Our time came to an end and we headed
back just as the weather started to turn again. We had been lucky in
that regard and no-one had dropped anything or gotten into trouble.
Equipment dropped off, a meeting time agreed and it was time for a
break.
Lunch back at the Visitors’ centre
was a few sandwiches. I was trying not to keep track of the costs at
this time, as there didn’t seem much point: you either ate or you
went hungry, and hungry wasn’t very appealing. Robyn seemed to be
writing everything down, mostly with a shake of the head or a frown.
I didn’t dare look.
Back on the bus
we headed off to Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon and Diamond
Beach, which is on the edge of Vatnajökull national park and which
is fed by meltwater from the larger icecap. And this meltwater also
contains icebergs, some of which get stuck in the lagoon outlet and
languish there for a time as they slowly melt.
 |
| An iceberg attempts to melt its way under the bridge |
Then onwards towards our hotel for the
night located in the town of Höfn.
I dozed off in the bus a couple of
times during the afternoon. I don’t think I was the only one.
No comments:
Post a Comment