Skógar
1
209
208
F208
Landmannalaugar
After the evening with the entire group the program was again split for highlanders and tourist. But before that we had to sing for Helge who had his 60th birthday.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY HELGE!
Presents...
The tourists took the 1 to the west, we had to go the opposite way. At the Vik petrol station we met Anne + Carsten again, they had spent the night on the Vik camping and were impatient to join us again.
My bonnet is higher than yours
This day I had Jukka as a passenger, the son-in-law of Helge and Christine. They also wanted to drive to Landmannalaugar, but using the northern road because Noomi and Jukka didn't want to drive into the highland with their rented Suzuki. Otherwise Helge would have needed to drive the way twice but we had enough free seats in the cars.
Half way to Kirkjubæjarklaustur we left the 1 and took the 209 and afterwards 208 which leads into the highland and changes to F208.
Collective deflating. This does not remove ripples but makes them a bit more tolerable
After a number of kilometers and some fords I found one shock absorber where the piston rod had been screwed out(!) from the eye. Strange things happen... But this was much better than just cracking, so I could screw it back in, maybe it would last for some time?
The landscape looks really beautiful in this area, black ashes and light green moss. The road is quite good to drive, sometimes with ripples, but ok. It would be worse in the future...
Great landscape
Somewhere on this road Thorbjörn showed up again. He had spent the night in this area and where we wanted to go. Andre was happy about Thorbjörn later...
There were many fords this day, and while we were looking at one of them a ranger came with his car. We were curious if he would say something about us and our cars in the 4x4 area. He did say something: "May I take pictures?" - "Of course, just do it" Then he told us that a few days ago someone had won the jackpot right in this ford:
- He was driving his Pajero outside the labelled ford,
- this can be considered as driving offroad,
- which is strictly forbidden in Iceland and gets punished
- He managed to drown the Pajero,
- which was a rental car
- and is not insured for river-crossing damages
Congratulation!
Ranger at work, its yours to read what is written on the door
In another ford Andre was a bit too fast and got stuck. Someone had to help him out...
No wave: bad news
Help is in progress, Thorbjörn really wanted to support a 2CV
The frozen chunks under the knees are called FEET. Did he regret it?
There were not only water crossings this day but also some quite steep parts. Nicolas got stuck with his Acadiane. Drive back down: Not wanted. Drive up: not possible. The Toyota team (Anne+Carsten, Thorbjörn) could not arrange who was allowed to help, so they played "scissors, paper, stone" to find out. The Landcruiser won against the Hilux, this was ok as it was the most slim of the 4x4 cars.
It's narrow
There was another nice scene in one of the fords: On one side a car with flat tyre, getting equipped with an emergency wheel. This is certainly a wonderful idea in this area where wheels should be bigger, not smaller.
On the other side a car built by a bavarian company, which many people in central Europe consider to be offroad-capable. It is not. This was the only car of this brand which I saw in the highland while spending several days there.
"Carry me!"
The front number plate was missing, this might tell that he was too fast while driving into the river. We don't know and it's not important... Probably the driver was not completely happy while we took a look at the crossing and then just passed through the water with 9 2CVs.
After lots of small stories of that day we finally reached Landmannalaugar. Only 2 water crossings left, then the day would end. But there was a lot of additional fun for all of us. Jean-Pierre collected water in the car. Annie was pulled by Helge and Alex walking(!)
This time it really collected water (and pissed it afterwards)
Meharis are light weighted, they can be pulled manually
A Landcruiser is not that big. The rescue team guys were busy taking pictures
I modified corrected another road sign. An Icelandic man watched, laughed and
said: "You have proven".
Nothing else. It seems to be ok to decorate traffic signs...
What's the purpose of driving to Landmannalaugar? Yes, taking a bath. When I was sitting in the pool someone talked to me in German: "Ah, the 2CV drivers are here now. You have certainly parked outside?". This was meant as not passing the water. A clear question gets a clear answer: "No, why?"
The Pool in Landmannalaugar. At the right side: the "changing room"
Later in the evening, after preparing the camp, dinner and some of us having taken a bath, we celebrated Helge's birthday. Early in the morning Helge had asked Christine if he is an old man now. Her answer: "Old men don't drive all over Iceland, they sit at home in a rocking chair". Karen offered pancakes for everyone, we had them along with delicacies from Finland: Reindeer piss (wodka with brandy) and Reindeer shit (something like licorice). Together this tasted quite good ... I had imagined these ingredients tasting worse. Dan played the saxophone, completing the nice party.
Helge serving Reindeer piss
Let's start the party
Party in progress
Chris had a minor problem: he had lost his front number plate in one of the rivers and was now searching for something white or light grey which could be used as background for a home-made spare number plate. It was not easy but he found something: Chris was not the first to loose a number plate, this is quite common. Alex had found an Icelandic one. This was nearly white on the back and matched Chris' demands. Using black tape he could create a new number plate for the Mehari and was driving more carefully when he had to cross rivers from now on.
Above: original - below: spare
Last change 21.06.2020
© 2005-2025: Daniel Galbavy, Endaglemmer Mühlacker e.V.