Day 8
Door: Elke
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Elke
14 Augustus 2017 | IJsland, Grafarkirkja
The road that we took is apparently only accessible for about three months during the summer. It was a dirt road slaloming through hills and rivers, that you were only allowed to take with a proper four-wheel-drive vehicle, as explained on big signs sponsored by all the large car-rental companies. Although recent rains had created large potholes in the road that would make Belgium look like child’s play, I did get the impression that the maintenance of this road was taken seriously, something that became clear when we were driving back three days later on a road that had been evened out again. This probably also had to do with the scheduled coach services that were provided through this terrain several times a day between the campsite and other cities in the country. The 56 kilometers that we had to take, took a few hours and provided a lot of challenges for our driver, although he had indicated that according to him this was the best place we would go to during this trip, so I assumed he must have enjoyed it as well.
We stopped for lunch that we consumed in a drizzle and then took a 1 hour hike to a nearby waterfall on a relatively flat path that was doable on my sneakers. On our way back to the truck the drizzle had however transitioned into a more steady stream of rain. The driver did not let us take our wet coats into the front of the truck as the windows were already fogging up during the drive before our lunch break, so we hung them in the back of the truck with our luggage. This was however still not sufficient to prevent the windows to fog up further and being wet (partially from the rain and partially from hiking wearing a rain coat that is essentially a plastic bag) I got cold as well.
When we arrived at the campsite, I think many of us hit a moral low point. The surroundings looked amazing, but the ground was barren and covered in rocks and stones of various sizes. Some people compared the sight with the refugee camp at Calais and while I don’t think it was quite that bad, I could see where they were coming from. Although it wasn’t raining a lot when we build our camp, winds were quite strong, so we used the rocks and stones as additional anchors for our tents. Unfortunately we did not really get properly dry or warm during the rest of the evening. Rain and wind kept us from going out and walk to get warm that way, so we all grouped up in the big tent. At some point a jug of coffee found its way into our tent. Don’t ask me where it came from, all I know it was there all of a sudden. One person tried the coffee and said it tasted like crap, so nobody would have it. I figured that even though it may taste like crap, it’s still warm and that’s how I found out that if you hug a coffee jar for about 1.5 hours one evening while staring at the ground in front of you, people will be extraordinarily kind and helpful the next day.
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