Waiting for our super jeep – Illikambur
Lutz decides to hitch a ride with us back to Höfn this morning, so we hike back up the steep trail to Illikambur and wait for the super jeep. This time we’re picked up Gulli, who drives a Nissan Pathfinder with gigantic tires. Sissi, our driver on the way in, had a Landrover with pretty big tires, but this monster is actually hard to get into.
View south from Illikambur
Into the river we go!
… and (hopefully) out the other side.
Big tires make for faster cars :-) and we cruise back to Höfn, where we set up camp in out old spot, in no time. Not much has been happening since we left. Höfn celebrated its annual Lobsterfest, so the campground had quite a few locals with their campers, the town was decked out in orange balloons, and a few drunk people were sobering up on the lawn next to our tent. That was pretty much it.
Not much change in the harbor of Höfn.
We have lunch at Kaffihornið (free Wifi and excellent dinner options as well), visit the local pool, where we hang out mostly in the hot pots, and enjoy a lobster roll down by the harbor. Icelandic lobster is OK, but I have to say: Maine lobster is way, way better.
Hafnarbúðin – home of our lobster dinner.
Vatnajökull late at night
We have a second dinner with Lutz before heading out for one last stroll through town. The clouds cleared a bit and the light over the glacier was most impressive. The next day we take a taxi to the airport and descend back into the clouds of Reykjavik. With no specific plan we drove out to Hveragerði, but saw Egill, Alex and Sieglinde’s truck parked by the side of the road. They were sitting in a local dive enjoying meat soup, and since it was raining we wasted no time and joined them for a big bowl and unlimited coffee.
Egill parked in front of Littla Kaffistofan – home of excellent meat soup.
After a few hours we head out to Hveragerði, but bad weather and a lousy campground make us return to Reykjavik and on to Mosfellsbær. Here the campground is not much better, but we’ve already set up camp, so we decided to stay. Luckily, the nearby Hotel Laxness has a bar and we spend most of the day watching the World Cup.
Lupines started this bolg, so lupines shall end it…
… sunset in Mosfellsbær .
The trip to Ljónsoræfi was a success despite the rain. Trails are steep at the south end, but if one starts in the north and ends near Höfn it should be more than doable. The hike leads through plenty of Arctic terrain and has great views of the glaciers. Our three days felt a lot like the Laugavegur 30 years ago, so we might have a change in venue when we return back to Iceland three years from now.