Reykjavík Grapevine - 01.07.2016, Page 72

BOOK YOUR FLIGHT OR
DAY TOUR AT AIRICELAND.IS
ÍSAFJÖRÐUR
ICELAND’S WESTFJORDS
ARE ONLY 40 MINUTES AWAY
Let’s fly
ÞÓRSHÖFN
VOPNAFJÖRÐUR
GRÍMSEY
ÍSAFJÖRÐUR
AKUREYRI
EGILSSTAÐIR
REYKJAVÍK
is
le
ns
ka
/s
ia
.is
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LU
7
32
63
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15

How to get there:
The bus runs May-October—book at via re.is
59The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 9 — 2016 TRAVEL
Distance
from Rvk
145 km
with peeling red paint, half-hidden
amongst the flora and rubble of this
perfectly untouched wilderness.
On high
The next day, we head out to hike
the Tindfjöll circle, the longest
route on the map. It begins with
a walk up the Krossá valley. The
flat grey expanse is unexpectedly
colourful up close, with patches
of orange moss, white-flowering
anjelica and purple Arctic thyme
growing amongst the earthy lava
pebbles and ashen sand.
After an hour, the path enters a
wooded mountainside, and quick-
ly becomes a narrow, winding
ledge, etched into the mountain-
side. We’re soon hundreds metres
up on the wooden slope, scaling
a variety of obstacles and taking
vertigo-inducing scrambles to
find the onward route.
Another world
The halfway point is a high,
rain-lashed plateau studded with
gleaming black pebbles. To our
east, the Mýrdalsjökull glacier rears
high above a foggy range of tex-
tured, pastel-coloured purple bulg-
es and greenish mountains that re-
cede gradually out of sight into the
thick mist, and to the west we look
down onto the top of Valahnúkur,
which seems small, suddenly, from
this elevated perspective.
The second half of the circle
sees the path skirting the undulat-
ing lip of a spectacular canyon. We
wind our way along the dizzyingly
high cliffs, crossing steep scree
banks, pausing at a huge standing
rock known as Tröllakirkja (“troll
church”). The path vanishes in-
termittently, subsumed by frozen
snow. We kick footholds into the
ice to cross the sheer surface, test-
ing with every step in case of wa-
ter flowing beneath. The near-ver-
tical drop to our right is dizzying
and ever-present. The Tindfjöll
circle is not for the faint of heart.
Eventually, we descend once
more, walking down the peak of
a long ridge into a glorious, bright
red forest. The lights of the Vol-
cano Huts appear in the distance,
and we walk the last stretch look-
ing forward to a long soak, a hot
meal, and a final deep and well-
earned sleep in this oddly moving
and truly unforgettable place.
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