Day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Map
Snow sweeping across the road on a very windy morning journey to Hekla
From Route 26 the trail to Hekla
As we had a temporary tyre and had been heavy snow, it didn't seem like a good idea to take the car up the track to the base of Hekla. This extended the journey on foot considerably and the wind was harsh.
Paul
Taking a break
At this point the route seemed clear. There was a hell of a long way still to go.
Another rest on the lava flow
Here is where it all went wrong. We made a mistake earlier by coming off the marked track and following some 4x4 wheel tracks. This took us to a point where we came to a dead end. We were stuck between 2 huge lava fields and there was no way we were going to be able to safely cross over them. It was the afternoon and to back track around the lava field and continue to the summit was going to take several more hours. Then we would have had to come down in the dark. Geordie had used his video camera to zoom in on the peaks. They looked like they had 3 feet of snow on them.
So feeling defeated by the elements and annoyed by our poor judgement we turned back.
Nice snow drift
Walking up the snow drift but not feeling too happy
I nice picture of deep snow
Búrfell on the other side of Route 26
Returning to Reykjavik for our final night
It worked! We had encouraged Paul and Geordie to hit the town. Lee was excited, we all got hammered and I fell off the top of that bunk bed. We had a great last night in Reykjavik.
Iceland Rules!!!