Less of a Saga than a Post

bigjackbrass

Nomad
Sep 1, 2003
497
34
Leeds
Iceland has been mentioned a time or two on the forum and I was wondering if anyone has spent time there camping. Being fond of the old sagas I've a mind to trek out to a few of the locations mentioned in them one of these days, but most of the guidebooks about the country seem to focus exclusively on getting extremely pi-- err, pie-eyed in the capital, rather than on the laws and logistics of hiking and camping there. It seems to have garnered a reputation as a hip destination for Bjork fans and people into mad 4x4s, whereas I was more interested in something low-key and on foot. Any thoughts?
 

Doc

Need to contact Admin...
Nov 29, 2003
2,109
10
Perthshire
The Lonely Planet guide (Iceland, Greenland and Faeroes) covers hiking quite a bit. You can have mine if you want as my planned trip never came off.

Also the thriller 'Running Blind' by Desmond Bagley has a surprising amount of info for a fiction novel.
 

arctic hobo

Native
Oct 7, 2004
1,630
4
38
Devon *sigh*
www.dyrhaug.co.uk
bigjackbrass said:
Iceland has been mentioned a time or two on the forum and I was wondering if anyone has spent time there camping. Being fond of the old sagas I've a mind to trek out to a few of the locations mentioned in them one of these days, but most of the guidebooks about the country seem to focus exclusively on getting extremely pi-- err, pie-eyed in the capital, rather than on the laws and logistics of hiking and camping there. It seems to have garnered a reputation as a hip destination for Bjork fans and people into mad 4x4s, whereas I was more interested in something low-key and on foot. Any thoughts?

I agree - it's all I can find in the guides too. If anyone does have info I too would love to hear from them.
 

Tvividr

Nomad
Jan 13, 2004
256
38
Norway
www.gjknives.com
Iceland should have pretty much the same rules with regard to travelling as the ones you will find in Norway, Sweden and Finland. One thing that I do know, is that if you think that Norwegian prices are steep, then just wait to you get to Iceland :shock:
Never been there, but this place looks interesting (Landmannalaugar):

bildenr2325.jpg


For your hiking trip check these links
http://www.fi.is/English/english.htm
http://www.nat.is/
http://www.fjallamennska.is/english.php
http://www.outdoors.is/
http://www.lmi.is/landsurvey.nsf/pages/index.html
 

alick

Settler
Aug 29, 2003
632
0
Northwich, Cheshire
My wife and I went to Iceland several years ago on one of he organised group treks that are available. Although normally you end up on a large bus as part of a group of thirty plus, we were lucky and ended up in a small group of only 10 plus driver/guide travelling in a new luxury minibus.

We chose to go in the very first week that the road across the middle of Iceland was likely to become passable - it's blocked due to snow etc for all but 8-10 weeks of the year. Our tour took us from Reykjavik, around the south and western coasts up to Lake Myvatn (pronounced "meeva"), then back across the middle of the island to Thingvellir (pron "thing-kvet-lee") via Landmannalaugar.

On these trips , you camp at organised but still very rustic sites. The tents are provided and are stored at the site so that there is no need for them to be transported. You take your own clothes, sleeping bag and essentials. Food is in a communal mess tent, basic but plentiful and cooked for you. Everyone mucks in with the clean up afterward. We took out own dome tent which anyone is invited to do if they wish. It was a good idea, on one site the weather was so bad that we were up in the night working to stop the big tents provided by the company from being blown flat !

Although there isn't the same freedom on an organised trip, it's important to realise that iceland is a fragile environment with very limited settlements and facilities outside Reykjavic. I would say it's best to go with a guide just to get the most out of the visit. A small group is very much to be preferred. If you are well enough off, hire a 4x4 and driver and make up your own party, but remember that essentially there is one road around the coast and one across the middle, so there isn't a lot of option for exploring "off the beaten track". The track is beaten - full stop ! The guides will show you things you would never find out about on your own - like the best places to go and bathe where hot springs feed into rivers, birds nesting sites (puffins, how to get yourself dive bombed by arctic skuas) and the like.

Also bear in mind that this isn't an entirely trivial exercise if you want to go drive on your own. Only about 10 miles of road on the island are concrete / asphalt. Most of the road is unmetalled and can get swept away by floods and the like. Icelandic 4x4's are specially adapted with high clearance long travel suspension, high level air and exhausts, long range HF radio as well as VHF and cellular etc etc. Our driver - despite plenty of experience managed to drown the engine of our vehicle fording a river with the water level halfway up the doors. We were lucky to get a tow out and three of us then spent a long day working in sub zero conditions to remove the injectors and empty the water out of the engine before we could continue.

On 3 occasions we had to rescue european holidaymakers in unsuitable vehicles who had gone off the road and been bogged down to axles in volcanic dust or careered off the southern highway which for 50 odd miles is just a rough road scraped along the top of a twenty foot high earth bank.

There is a good guidebook to Iceland but I can't remember which one it is because my copy is out on loan and I can't recall who borrowed it ! It's small format, and inch thick, with a red cover and picture on the front. I've bought others from this series including south central France and they're excellent guides.

If you have questions, ask away.

Cheers, Alick
 

alick

Settler
Aug 29, 2003
632
0
Northwich, Cheshire
Just a general point by the way - Iceland ain't little and the middle is one big, black cold desert with no plants bigger than a centimetre high or a bit of moss around the steam vents and a few roadsigns so blasted by wind and grit they look like the machine gunned ones in the Pyrenees ! This doesn't exactly make for good walking. If you want to go on foot, do pick a bit where there's something to see. This is why a driving tour is a good idea. It gives you the freedom to go place to a place of interest, get out and walk around the area, then drive 3-5 hours to the next place.

Given that even the main road across the middle of the island is only open 8-10 weeks a year, I wouldn't expect to find much in the way of trails across the middle surviving the 3 cold seasons.

That said - there is a spectacular circuit day walk that you can do from the camp in the middle of the island. It goes upto or across a high, narrow natural rock bridge if I recall. I'd have liked to do that if I hadn't had to muck in and do engine repairs.

Cheers
 

bigjackbrass

Nomad
Sep 1, 2003
497
34
Leeds
Wonderful responses, thank you all. And thank you Martin for pointing out probably the only pun I've ever made that wasn't actually intentional. Better get my coat too, while you're up.

One of the reasons that I was asking for reliable and recent info is that in the sagas Iceland is heavily forested and covered in lush pasture... and even I know that things ain't like that any longer. I've only ever been to the main airport, staring wonderingly out of the window waiting for connections to Boston, and it was frustrating not to be able to get out and see something of the country. I'll certainly look more seriously into an organised, or semi-organised, trip. Thanks again.
 

alick

Settler
Aug 29, 2003
632
0
Northwich, Cheshire
Yup - it was wooded just as you describe - but very slow growing and when the explorers from Denmark or wherever it was started to visit and settle, the trees (which I think were probably more akin to large bushes) were rapidly used up and couldn't regenerate. I think a similar tale applies to Greenland - it didn't get the name without reason.

I'll see if I can fish out and scan a few more pictures for everyone's general interest. :biggthump
 

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