Kirkjubæjarklaustur
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Blágil
On Icelandic roads you can find many things which are not known elsewhere, e.g sheep, signs telling "4x4 vehicles only", "forbidden for rental cars" and some more. But this is definitely not the truth
A lie! It's not a "single-track bridge"...
Once again we had planned to drive into the highland this day. Therefore we had a short
maintenance stop at the last petrol station. Annie, Blacky and Tommie did a highspeed job in
greasing all the king pins which did not hide under the cars in the trees. They took a bit
more time than the mechanics in Formula 1 but there they have at least 15 people per car, here
there were less...
We were driving in a forbidden area, as this is a 4x4 only area. But asking questions may cause answers... There were a few small fords but they were all easy to cross.
Chris + Debbie, not dusty but clean this time - and with the original number plate
Fagrifoss
The river downstream from Fagrifoss
Close to one of the fords is Fagrifoss, with a car park about 100 meters besides the road. At the road there was a 4x4 car, the driver obviously did not dare to drive further. After we had passed him he changed his mind and also took the way to park the car.
Per and Barbro on the road to the Fagrifoss parking
The road to Laki is like a ring, first you leave the road 1 for about 35 km, then it splits up. If you turn right you come to Laki, to the left there is a campsite after a few kilometers, this is the only place where it is allowed to spend a night in the national park.
Driving a long uphill piece Annie had the idea to do it in 2nd gear. The engine power was not enough, so she slowed down and down, while I was getting closer and closer with my roaring Acadiane in 1st gear. It was clear: If I had to stop I would get stuck here. In a turn there was a bit space so I was able to pass her really narrow... Annie's comment afterwards: "Sorry, I knew you would kill me"
The road after turning right leading through the lava field towards Laki
Driving this road was a bit stressful because an Icelander driving behind us was very unrelaxed and excessively blew the horn because we were too slow for him. Another Icelandic car wasn't in a hurry, he followed us very patiently. Before reaching the Laki car park there is another place to stop, there we stopped - and the guy also. Thorbjörn is a Danish guy living in Reykjavik where he works in the theatre and has 2 months holiday in summer, as nobody visits a theatre in the Icelandic summer. He enjoyed our tour and was really enthusiastic about our cars.
View to the first carpark close to Laki
Panoramic view of the Laki area (2MB, opens in a new window)
Between both carparks there is a problem: about 200 meters of very steep, bumpy loose gravel. Blacky could do it, but others not... I asked Thorbjörn if he would take one of our cars uphill, as he would drive up anyway. His answer: "I would be honored..." After this he towed one of the old Swedish 2CVs up the hill and was really happy afterwards.
In this hole I got stuck with my Acady, 20 or 30 meters before reaching the top
In the background Anne + Carsten pulling Oli
Morten moving some dust - and driving up
Finally all of us had reached the Laki carpark and we went for a hike. Lakagigar is a line of craters, about 25 km long, which evolved from a huge eruption in 1783/84. This eruption had climate effects for the entire world. Similar to very many other volcanic and tectonic things this line is in southwest - northeast direction. Laki is the highest mountain in this area where the straight line of craters can be seen very clearly.
Pink is our track, the blue dots indicate the line of craters. Yellow is Laki, green Blágil campsite
View to southwest
the line continues to northeast
Another panoramic view, looking down Laki
A piece of lava
After coming back from the mountain we continued our driving towards the Blágil campsite. Parts of the road lead through fields of black ashes, giving interesting pictures.
Driving through black ashes
Anne + Carsten had told about a ford where nobody knew if it would be possible for us to pass. It was not shown at all on the maps, this is really helpful. When we arrived there we found out what was special here: the entrance is very narrow, so there is no choice where to enter the water. And it is deep enough that you can't see the ground.
So we asked the Landcruiser to go first as a guinea pig, to help deciding what to do
Yardstick is coming...
This was the result: the water is 40+cm deep, the ground ok but with some stones and only slow current. Should be possible. There were some worried faces as the previous fords were only about 30 cm...
I took it first and when I reached the end there was an ugly scratching noise, but my car worked normally. So I left the water and stopped to see what's going on. The home-made ground plate under the galvanized chassis had ripped off a bolt and was sliding on the ground. It was my own fault as I had done an awkward construction and bad fixing. So I removed it as the Acady is already loud enough and I did not need this additional noise.
Someone works while others have party
I did not need a jack, the hole was deep enough
To the others: Thanks for all the comments!
While I was working under the car I accidently noticed that one of the nuts, which should fix the shock absorber to the suspension arm, was missing. The rubber ring was almost pushed out of the eye. This should be fixed but not now. The day was already quite long and there were some kilometers to go. And I had already washed my hands (but they were not clean).
Losing a plate
Chris had ignition problems after passing this ford but later could go on. Everyone else passed without any problems. On the Blágil campsite there was discussion with the warden who is the head ranger of the national park.
There was a clear message: Do not drive onto the vegetation. Nice idea, the rest of the campsite looks like road works and beside this there is a gravel field. I drove in there and immediately dug a hole. With some effort I could leave backwards, but did not watch where I was driving and found another hole. The side of the Acady nearly leaned on the hill beside. This day was not my favorite...
Unfamiliar position, impossible to drop - and to sleep.
I had to drive backwards carefully because my tyres were nearly touching big sharp-edged lava stones. But I got out without damage and found a flat and, more important, stable place to stay for the night.
As a bonus for not driving over the plants we did not have to pay for the night. Nice idea, but we gave a donation instead... This day had been very dusty and was long and exhausting, but we had a very nice evening and a lot of fun.
Dust traps
Last change 21.06.2020
© 2005-2024: Daniel Galbavy, Endaglemmer Mühlacker e.V.