Varmahlíð
752
F752
F821
Laugafell
Quote: (the writer knows the originator who wants to stay anonymous): "Save the whales!"
No, Wilfried, that's not my text...
The plan contained the next highland trip, at least for some of us. So we needed to go shopping before starting. The shop is in the petrol station so we stopped there. While Blacky was inside the shop a busload of German and Austrian tourists spotted his engine area.
This is the result of parking the car open-hearted
Washing is overrated
Our destination was Laugafell, which is very close to the middle of Iceland, and not so easy to reach. The first part of the road followed a river in a valley and was flat and in good condition.
Tractor for sale, needs repairing
When the road leaves the valley it gets really steep, on loose gravel. Here I needed assistance for a few short passages uphill, grmpfff... The Acadiane has more weight than a 2CV, and unfortunately this is not on the front wheels. Thanks Anne + Carsten + the Landcruiser.
A few kilometers later Blacky stopped and took a look under his 2CV. Diagnosis: Shock absorber bolt cracked. He unscrewed it for later use.
Blacky has thrown the anchor, but what's the use of the first aid kit?
This is the hole where the shock absorber landed when the bolt cracked
Corpus Kaputti
Strange look
After fixing the shock absorber problem the better parts of the day started. The road was still rocky but there was no more damage and we could drive to Laugafell nearly without additional assistance.
We had to pass this one
Better be prepared instead of diving in the river...
Jean-Pierre in the river
and afterwards start the water flow...
Above I mentioned "nearly without assistance". This is related to one more river which comes from a glacier. This is different to rivers from normal springs. The water is cloudy so that you can't see anything and this one was quite deep, wide, with a lot of big stones and strong current. And the ford was leading a bit upstream. So this was something like the first prize.
What to do now?
Once again we sent Anne + Carsten through the river to check how this looked with the Landcruiser. It started easy but then it changed...
The decision was quick and unanimous: "We can't do that on our own." Therefore the small cars were put on the rope on dry land, towed through the river and freed on dry land on the other side. It was worrying how slow the HYnimog can drive and how heavily it shakes, especially while you hear the water splashing under the Acady...
Jean-Pierre towed behind the HYnimog
When we had finished the crossing we met the Germans with the old offroad truck which had spent the first night with us at Laugarvellir. They stopped, but not to check the river but to welcome us and have a talk with us.
It's easy with heavy offroad equipment
There was one more small water crossing to clean the tyres, after that we reached Laugafell. At first we prepared the cars for the night, afterwards we started the comfortable part: take a bath!
Taking a bath in the sunset
On this campground there was a group of the Icelandic rescue team. They are volunteers who spend one week of their holidays somewhere in a hut and help hikers, tourists and drivers who have any kind of problems and emergencies. We sat in the pool together while they told some stories from their rescue job and about life in Iceland. It was a entertaining and interesting evening.
Last change 21.06.2020
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