Tuesday 29th July

On Tuesday we headed off in a taxi back in the direction of the LoftLeidir to take our internal flight to the north. This was conducted in a slightly noisy but nonetheless comfortable and efficient turbo-prop aircraft which seats about 85 people.

We collected our Hertz hire car at Akureyri Airport. A Toyota Corolla Sedan in a forgettable shade of green, the only remarkable thing about it being its total blandness and lack of character. That, and of course the abominably poor ground clearance that had us scraping on roadsides, gravel tracks and indeed anything more than a couple of inches from the road which might come in contact with the underside of the car. I was beginning to wonder at the reason behind Toyota's very evident and widely established following in Iceland given the complete lack of apparent suitability of this type of vehicle to the terrain and conditions.

We didn't see much of Akureyri (billed as the "capital of the north") as we sped through it on to our first destination, passing some interesting beauty spots and natural attractions on the way. We followed the itinerary given to us at Hotel Island as part of the guided tour, and took in lava fields, strange rock formations, and a defunct volcano at Krafla (although officially still active as it last erupted 80 years ago!) which was full of water and surrounded by smelly sulphurous fields of mud and discoloured rock. This area contains a lot of lava fields, valleys, hot springs and sulphurous muddy bits. It's very beautiful and captivating if the weather conditions are right.

The biggest collection of sulphurous muddy bits is located at Namaskard, and has been made into a tourist attraction with the thoughtful addition of wooden platforms, walkways and signage which explains the phenomenon. There are several bubbling holes in the ground full of very hot, grey, gloop, which one would certainly not wish to fall into, as they are also mostly composed of sulphuric acid. It is fascinating to watch and listen to, being very steamy and more than a little smelly. The sulphuric acid, in making a bid for freedom from the bowels of the earth, is heated to 100% and then attacks the rock on its way earthward, causing it to turn to mud. The ground all around is stained fascinating shades of yellow and green, and everywhere there are dried veins of caked, acid-stained rock which illustrate the paths taken by the acid as it has trickled off in various directions. The whole area is constantly steaming and it is difficult to bear the sulphurous smell for more than a few minutes.

After our a circuitous tour of the locality, we drove to our accommodation for the night: a guest house at Narfastardir, where we were greeted by the smiling owner of this converted farm establishment with simple but pleasant accommodation. We ate at the guest house which serves simple meals in what appears to be a large converted barn, arranged in the manner of a youth hostel or school dining room. Mushroom soup followed by boiled fish with boiled potatoes and a kind of creamy sauce was sustaining but unmemorable. Later that evening we drove on a mission for chocolate as I had developed a strange craving for it Several miles down the road we found the Mars Bars and a fantastic selection of other sweets at a roadside stop. The Icelanders are very keen on sweets, or so it would appear, and the variety available in even a small shop was quite impressive and reminded me a little of my childhood when sweets used to be available individually, unwrapped, at prices ranging from a penny to 3p for a daring chewy snake. [Quite independently of this story, does anyone know what has happened to Sherbet Dips with the liquorice sticks in them? Replies by e-mail please if you know.]

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© Richard Harrison

All photographs are © Richard Harrison and Samantha Coe 1997