Woody at the Top of the World

A country of fire and ice, a geological microcosm of how the earth was formed, this northern country at the top of the world has a lot to offer a visitor.

I walked out of Reykjavik early in the morning. My sleeping bag and food were in my knapsack and my cameras were in my bag which I carried in my right hand. The climate was chilly but I wore a fur coat. I also wore strong walking boots. Intent on having some adventure, I decided to walk to Thingvellir, site of the world’s first parliament, about a full day’s walk from the Icelandic capital.

I had about one week to experience Iceland after flying from London to Keflavik. My main aims were to see as much of the country as possible and to take photos of the landscape. I was hopeful of an interesting adventure.

I walked along the open, narrow roads of Iceland for about an hour, enjoying the scenery and pure fresh air of an unpolluted environment. Suddenly, a dog appeared in front of me, a mongrel with white, black and brown colouring. It seemed friendly and I patted it on the head. I continued walking and the dog followed. At first it didn’t bother me but an hour later and five more miles into the journey with the dog close behind, I decided to separate myself from my new canine friend and verbally encouraged it to leave. The dog ignored me so I threw a couple of stones at it. Nothing seemed to work so I eventually gave up and accepted that my new friend did not want to part and would become part of my adventure.

Along the way very little traffic passed and I didn’t meet any people. The route was deserted. The green undulating hills and far off snow covered mountains were beautiful to behold. Trees were totally absent from the landscape. Horses or sheep penned up in fields were the only visible signs of life.  Farmhouses made of wood with coloured rooves indicated some civilization on the landscape.

The most noticeable thing about my walk was the rapidity in the change of weather conditions. During the space of one day the conditions changed from cold and clear skies to freezing mist then snow and raging blizzards before reverting back to calmness and clear skies. I had never witnessed such rapid weather changes before. Perhaps this is how things work at the top of the world.

As darkness fell I continued my journey with the dog following closely behind. By this time I felt quite warm because of my exertions although in reality the climate was quite cold. After succumbing to almost total exhaustion after a long day walking, I decided to bed down for the night on a flat, exposed rock in an open field not far from the road. I spread out my sleeping bag on the rock, climbed in and fell asleep almost immediately.

After about five hours I awoke, surprised to see my dog friend sleeping several yards away. I climbed out of my sleeping bag, wrapped it up, put it in my knapsack then opened a tin of corned beef, ate it with some bread then washed it down with water from my water bottle. I was soon on the road again with the dog following closely behind.

I reached Thingvellir about four hours later. The area was strange and eerie with large rock formations on the landscape with narrow valleys cut between. In the background snow capped mountains towered over a glacier. I walked around the area amazed that this had once been the site of the world’s first ever parliament presided over by Vikings. The sun was shining and the sky was clear blue making it a nice April day.
Apart from the scenery there wasn’t much else of any great interest except the huge glacier in the distance. I decided to make that my next destination.

As I made my way towards the distant white mass that resembled a great white river frozen in stillness between the towering mountains, I noticed a moving red object from the corner of my eye. As it got closer I saw that it was a red Volkswagen. The car eventually drew up beside me and the driver, an Icelandic man, told me in English that it was inadvisable for me to continue because severe weather had been forecast. He told me that he was returning to Reykjavik and that I should go with him. He allowed the dog to climb in the car; we took off, dropped the dog at the spot from where it had followed me and continued on our way to Reykjavik.

This was not the end of my Icelandic adventure as the next day I was speeding down to the southern coast by bus to catch the daily ferry to the Westman Islands where my destination was Haimey Island. This is where a volcano had erupted in 1972, destroying the town and causing the evacuation of all the inhabitants. A new island had also formed closeby and was said to be still steaming as it protruded from the sea.
As I bent over the toilet being violently seasick I began to regret my decision to travel by ferry to this new destination. The waves were the highest that I had ever experienced. The boat was carried incredibly high then down again, over and over again. This unwelcome experience lasted for about an hour until the terrific gale force wind had died down and the raging sea became almost still.

As I went up on deck to have a look around I saw two large black cliffs emerging out of the sea in the distance, they resembled the entrance to Jules Verne’s Lost World. As the ferry got closer I could see a plume of white smoke winding into the sky. This came from the volcano at the opposite end of the island. Masses of seagulls and puffins flew around the cliffs and I even saw a whale briefly emerge from the sea before disappearing under the water again. As the ferry got closer more detail emerged from the island. I could see wooden houses, huge piles of black volcanic basalt and small fishing boats in the harbour.

The town on Haimey Island looked as if it had recently been dug out of the black basalt piled high on the edge of the town. The centre was completely clear but there were remains of crushed houses and parts of houses emerging from the black basalt cliffs. A strong stench of burning fish came from the fish processing plant and the smell of sulphor came from the towering volcano at the far end of the town. The inhabitants didn’t seem to notice as they went about their business totally unconcerned.

My aim was to take photos but it was impossible because the sky had clouded over with a blanket of dark grey and as the afternoon wore on the light faded even more. With the ferry due to depart at 6 a.m. the next morning my only option was to wait on the volcano until the clouds cleared, allowing me the opportunity to take photos. As I climbed the steep slope I had a tremendous view of the scenery around me which was quite stunning. However, as darkness fell I decided to look for a place to sleep. By chance, I found a half constructed house near the summit of the volcano. I went inside, happy to find shelter from the unpredictable weather and found a huge pile of string on which I was able to sleep. The string was so soft and comfortable that I fell asleep quickly and luckily awoke at 4-30 a.m. after a sound sleep.

The hissing of escaping gas and the terrific smell of sulphor are two things I remember most about walking around the perimeter of the volcano summit early that morning. Luckily for me the cloud had cleared and conditions were very favourable for taking photos. As I only had about one hour before the ferry departed I took as many photos as possible. The best were of the new island emerging from the sea. Silhouetted against a light background, the black land steamed heavily as gulls and other birds flew nearby. As the sun came up behind it I was able to get some stunning shots.

As usual , when  taking photos, I lost concentration with regard to time and had to run to the ferry when I noticed that only five minutes remained before it  was due to depart. I grabbed my bag and ran to the dock where I just about got aboard before departure. As the ferry moved farther and farther away from this lost world at the top of the planet I pondered over my Icelandic adventures and thought carefully about where I should go next.

David Wood 2009