Iceland 2019 (#8)

Part 8: August 3rd — 5th

By Watracz Is Traveling

April 21^st, 2023

Day 31: Skógafoss waterfall, Kvernufoss waterfall, Þakgil

August 3rd, 2019

Skógafoss waterfall

Somehow I manage to make myself get up before 6 am and, finally, I'm at the waterfall by myself. Skógafoss really makes an impression. The water column is 62 meters high and 15 meters wide.

After an hour's shooting photos, I go back into my warm sleeping bag and sleep for a few more hours. It's past 2 pm when I wake up, so it's high time to get going.

Kvernufoss waterfall

This waterfall is a mere 1.5 km from Skógafoss. You can get there by following a short trail along the river valley.

I ride to Vík, where I fill up my bike and stock up. 5 kilometers east of Vík, I turn north towards Þakgil canyon.

Road to Þakgil

The next dozen or so kilometers is exactly the Iceland I came here for. Narrow gravel roads, hillocks covered with yellow-green moss, and wide river deltas. Even though it's 10 pm and it's about to get dark, I'm not rushing to get to the campsite, I'm just enjoying the magnificent route. It's really worth coming here.

2 kilometers before the Þakgil campsite I turn right and reach the spot where the road ends, and the tourist trail begins.

I arrive at the campsite 20 minutes past midnight.

Þakgil

The campsite is surrounded by craggy hills. Unfortunately, there are no other bikers here, but there's quite a lot of tourists, and most of them are still up and about.

Day 32: Fjaðrárgljúfur, Stjórnarfoss waterfall

August 4th, 2019

After breakfast I take a short walk to a small waterfall, some 400 meters north of the campsite. You can easily walk it even wearing motorcycle gear.

Around 2 pm I leave the campsite, heading towards the Ring Road. On the way, I stop a few times to take photos, so this dozen-kilometer stretch takes me two hours to ride.

I go back to Vík to eat lunch and get groceries. The waitress tells me that all of the employees of the shopping center are Polish, apart from one girl from Venezuela. After lunch I head further east.

Laufskálavarða

A lava field right by the Ring Road, with lots of small stone cairns.

Around 8 pm I get to the town of Kirkjubæjarklaustur. There are two campsites here, but one of them doesn't let you park a motorbike, there's no kitchen, and you can't do laundry — so I go to the other one.

The other campsite, with the lengthy name of Tjaldstæðið Kirkjubær II, is much better equipped. The price is 1800 ISK for the night, plus 300 ISK for a shower and 1600 ISK for laundry and drying. I set my laundry cycle and ride out to explore the area.

Fjaðrárgljúfur

A 2-kilometer long canyon, about 100 meters deep. There's a viewpoint here, a small waterfall, and it's only 400 meters from the parking lot. It's worth seeing.

Stjórnarfoss waterfall

The waterfall is next to the Kirkjubæjarklaustur campsite (the one without a kitchen or a washing machine). It's not tall, some 10-15 meters, but it's very picturesque.

It's 11:30 pm already, so I take a few shots, go back to my campsite, pick up my laundry and hit the hay.

Day 33: Route F206, Lakagígar, Route F207

August 5th, 2019

At the tourist information office in Kirkjubæjarklaustur, I ask how to get to the craters of Lakagígar, about 30 kilometers north of Kirkjubæjarklaustur. The road is hard to find, since it's not on Google Maps. The lady working at the office gives me pointers on how to get there, but she does warn me that I'll need to cross three deep rivers on the way. After the last few days' major rainfall, the water level is supposedly way higher.

Route F206

I ride to the Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon, then further north on route F206. F206 is an approximately 30-kilometer stretch of gravel going to the Lakagígar.

The first river is not too deep, so I cross it without issues. Cars also don't have a problem with it.

The second one is quite a bit deeper. I watch other vehicles dealing with it to assess how high the water is. Two tourists in a Dacia Duster decide to go back, it's too deep for them. I stick to the poles on the left-hand side, and I make it to the other bank.

Lakagígar

Unfortunately, as soon as I arrive at the craters the weather gets worse, and fog comes over everything. There's a small tourist office next to the parking lot. The lady there tells me there's no point walking up to the top of Laki, because I won't see a thing anyway; instead, she recommends taking the short tourist trail going through the craters at the foot of the mountain.

Walking through the craters

The trail takes about 15 minutes, but it's really interesting. Volcanic rocks on both sides of the trail are covered in moss, and the thick fog adds to the experience.

I keep on route F207, which then meets route F206. The two routes are a loop around Lakagígar.

Tjarnargígur crater

5 kilometers west sits the water-filled Tjarnargígur crater.

Route F207

The next 10 kilometers take me through a desert of black sand, in places overgrown with green moss. The weather keeps getting worse. The temperature falls to 7°C and the rain and fog make the visibility really bad, so I need to ride with the visor open. My face is wet and frozen in the wind, but at least I can see where I'm going.

Time for the final river. It's deep enough to make me wonder if I shouldn't just turn back. But it's 8:30 pm, and crossing the river will save me a lot of time. On the right side of the ford, there are poles in the river, marking the path to take, but the river bed is so uneven that I veer to the left a bit, where it's much deeper, and water starts to seep into my boots. The climb up to the riverbank is so steep I don't manage it on the first go. I go back into the river where the terrain is flatter, I gather speed, and make it up. It was dangerous, but I made it.

I reach route F206 and go back the same way to the campsite in Kirkjubæjarklaustur. I get there around 9 pm, wet and cold to the bone. I hang up all my wet clothes, and put electric heaters into the boots (I took them with me for this exact situation).