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| Another emerald green volcano! Stora-Graenafjall |
National Geographic lists this epic 4-day 56km trail as one of the world’s top ten hikes. Jess thankfully managed to book places in the huts at the last minute (majority of spaces booked year before), narrowly avoiding the camping option, but we still had to carry food and clothes for five days. If you read my Poland blogs, you’ll know that they carried a “churches” warning; this blog carries a “stunning vista/ yet another green volcano” warning. I took 600+ photos which I’ve struggled to edit down - so bear with me! And if you’re contemplating a hike next year - do the Laugavegur. We absolutely loved it.
Note: if you’re reading this as an email, the pictures are much better viewed on www.blogger.com
Wed 11
After forcing down a bucket of porridge, we walked 20mins from our Airbnb apartment to catch the 08.00 bus to Landmannalaugar - arriving at 12.45
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| Annie, Jess & Ben at Reykjavik bus station 0730! |
Ben and I couldn’t resist a dip in the hot pool: a lovely cool, gravel bottomed stream fed by a hot spring running. Glorious!
Our hike to the first hut took us four hours, across stunning, multicoloured scenery: 12km / 470m elevation increase. We settled into our large packs, and were lucky not to get rained on - albeit it stayed grey all day.
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| Our first experience of the sulphurous vapours! |
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| Multi-coloured Brennisteinsalda |
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| Views from top of Brennisteinsalda (855m) |
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| Snowy section! |
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| Storihver - geothermal springs |
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| Plateau just before reaching the hut |
We were all very please to reach Hoskuldsskali hut, perched beneath Sooull mountain. We were allocated 1 double bunk and 2 singles.
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| Full hut! 3 rooms like this and a small kitchen |
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| Hut bottom right, with hot spring venting in gully behind |
The English warden (!) very kindly rigged up his laptop in his hut so that a bunch of us could watch England lose to Croatia in the semi-final of the World Cup.
Jess & Ben rustled up delicious supper in the busy hut kitchen - and then as everyone was settling down to sleep, Ben and I went for a stomp up the hill as the clouds cleared. So light at 11pm.
Thurs 12
The sun broke through the low level cloud as we left the hut, giving us an incredible walk across the snowy plain. Slightly less climbing today, but still 12km and a big down section to the end.
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| Looking back towards the Hut |
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| Ben looking more Icelandic each day... |
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| Amazing mountain patterns |
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| Look closely to spot Ben sitting precariously.... |
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| Annie - with Lake Alftavatan in the distance; the next hut location |
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| Annie & Ben tackle the first river crossing |
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| Lush vegetation as we descend lower |
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| Final walk-in to the hut (can just see it to the left of the lake) |
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| Alftavan hut: warden on left, our hut in middle, shower block to the right |
This hut was luxurious after last night: our own 4-bed room, a huge, recently refurbished kitchen and communal area, plus hot showers for ISK500 (£3).
We all went for a wander to the end of the lake,..
...then Ben and I opted to continue on to the awesome Stora Graenafjall - which means Big Green Mountain! This ended up as a 3-hour wal (I couldn’t dissuade Ben from pushing on) but the sun came out and we were blessed with glorious views of green volcanoes, glaciers, river gorges and waterfalls.
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| Tindfjallajokull glacier visible far left, and Stora Graenafjall centre |
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| Giant gorge with red stained rocks |
And as if the day couldn’t get any better, Jess had performed an epic Google search a week ago and booked us dinner at the little restaurant next to our hut. What a wonderful treat, and surprisingly good food.
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| Most isolated restaurant ever for dinner? |
Fri 13
Slow start, and full wet weather kit for the hovering rain clouds and a long day with 15km ahead of us, albeit relatively flat.
First river crossing and then a more serious one as the rain & wind increased.
We then walked for a couple of hours across an unbelievable black sand deserts of Maelifellssandur bordered by more green volcanoes. Luckily the wind was from behind us making the rain less of an issue.
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| Storkonufell on left (894m) |
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| Hattafell volcano (924m) |
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| Tired and damp - but still smiling, and nearly at the hut! |
We were delighted to reach the Botnar hut in Emstrur after 4.25. hours / 15 km. We were directed to Hut No2 which was already crowded before we pushed in to get our allocated space: 20 people on 4 giant bunk beds - and a tiny kitchen space (2 gas hobs) and a table with only space for 14! A slight come down after last night’s luxury, but it was very warm and a relief to be out of the rain. Jess somehow produced chorizo, red pepper & chilli pasta - and then after an evening of card games we all crashed out.
Sat 14
We set off at 9am - and the heavy mist cleared after 20 minutes of walking.
Today felt longer, although it was a similar distance to other days at 15km. More stunning landscapes and green volcanoes!
We paused on an open rocky plain for lunch and the leaders of the Laugavegur ultra- marathon came through: 55km took us 4 days: Ingi Jonnson from Iceland won it in 4hrs.10mins!! (His 5th win!)
As we reached the end of the day we were getting views of the impressive glaciers, which were feeding the last freezing cold river we still had to cross
And as we neared the end of the trail, we entered lush woodland
We reached our final hut in Porsmork at 3pm in glorious sunshine: tired but very happy.
Ben and I went to climbed Valahnukur next to the hut for fantastic views of the glaciers and out to sea.
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| Not one, but TWO glaciers! Myrdalsjokull (L) and Eyjafjallajokull (R) |
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| Steinsholtsjokull - coming off Eyjafjallajokull |
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| View out to the coast |
We cooked our supper (couscous, sweet corn, chorizo, yellow pepper) just ahead of a huge American group that loudly took over the large dining room - so we retreated to our room for the last couple of rounds of canasta and then crashed out.
Sun 15
Forecast was high wind and heavy rain - but we had blue sky for a truly magical 3.5 hour walk up the river and into the hills. An utterly perfect end to an amazing five days.
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| Glacier to right - and long vista to left the route we walked |
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| Last ridge, down to the hut |
All done. Fantastic, happy team!
Onto the 4x4 bus for some impressive river crossings and then a wait for the normal coach to Reykjavik: time passed watching France beat Croatia 4-2 in the World Cup.
I will do an addendum Laugavegur post with recommended kit, food, video of the bus fording rivers etc - as this post is already way too long!
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