The North East

 Dettifoss Waterfall.

 The falls into the canyon upriver from Dettifoss.

 The pool at the end of Velkomin i Asbyrgi.

 The harbour of Husavik.

 The lava structures of the Dimmuborgir.

  Namafljall.

The geothermal pools at Myvatn.

Saturday, August 19^th.

Started a little earlier this morning, 8:30, and headed off on a damp, cold, dreary morning. The first stop was at Dettifoss waterfalls. This is at the north edge of the same national park we were in two days ago, Vatnajokulspjodgardur NP. We hiked about 800 metres over a vast lava field and flood plain to the viewpoint. Unfortunately, it was very overcast and raining lightly. Luckily I wore my layers and my rain outfit, because when we got to the lookout the spray was like it was raining really hard. This waterfall is huge and has the highest volume of water of any of the Icelandic waterfalls. After a good look we hiked back.

Then we drove to a huge canyon that was carved out by a super violent flood a couple of thousand years ago. The theory is that there was a sub glacial eruption that melted a lot of the ice which was trapped under the glacier until the dam broke and over a million gallons of water per second raced down the mountain and carved out this canyon. We hiked through the only forest I have seen here in Iceland, to the end where there is a small lake and a great view. The trees, mostly scrub birch, grow here because they are sheltered from the wind and the elements. It was still cloudy but the rain had subsided.

After walking back to the van we drove down from the highlands to the north east coast to Husavik, a small fishing village. As we drove the weather cleared and it was blue sky and sunny when we arrived here. We walked around the port area and the business/tourist district. This town is the main village for whale watching tours. After taking photos in the harbour, I had lunch at the small fish and chip shop. It was the best cod I'd ever had, light, flaky and very lightly battered.

Next we drove to a geological area called the Dimmuborgir. This is an area where they think that lava poured into a large marshland and the water was trapped, boiled and then the steam burst up through the lava crust to form these weird formations. We took a short hike through there admiring the different shapes. We got back in the car and drove past a lake that had similar formations in it.

We continued a short distance to Namafljall, a high temperature geothermal area with fumaroles and mud pots (boiling mud), the same as Bumpass Hell in Lassen Volcanic NP in California or Yellowstone NP. We wandered around there looking at the formations, the boiling water and mud, listening to the hiss of the steam escaping from the vents and smelling the whiffs of sulphur.

Then we loaded up for our final destination of the day: the geothermal hot pools at Lake Myvatn. This was the same idea as Blue Lagoon. We all entered and enjoyed an hour and a half of relaxing warmth after a day of cold and damp. In the pool Mohammad and I met the Jordanian biker friend we met outside one of the restaurants a couple of days ago, and his new Norwegian biker friend. Both of these guys rode their motorcycles to Denmark and then took the ferry to Iceland where they have been riding, separately, for a couple of weeks. It would be a great place to ride with lots to see, if it weren't for the weather. It's too cold and wet for my liking.

Finally, we loaded up and drove to our new guesthouse, which as usual, is out in the middle of nowhere. At this one we are all in a 100year old farmhouse about 200 metres from the main building and reception. Tonight's meal was included in our trip and was a very varied buffet. A beer and a few fish dishes and I was happy.

Then back to the room to relax and sleep.