8/6/24
Sat: Woke up at 7.30am, had breakfast from 8.15 to 9am before we checked out at
9.30am. Clear blue sky today and we drove over to Skaftafellsstofa Visitor
Centre and took the route to the waterfall.
The
start of the hike at 11am was an uphill route for a while. There were a few
smaller waterfalls along the way like Hundafoss and Magnusarfoss. The original
hiking trail is said to be 8km and 390m at Svartifoss waterfall, but I was
tired and did not want to miss our glacier hike in the afternoon, so we walked
back down to Veitingar Cafeteria for lunch.
At
12pm, we shared a briyani (3000 ISK, S$29.44). It was not bad but just damn
expensive. *That’s yoghurt on the side btw… for people who can’t take much
spiciness we think.* Half an hour later, we took a five-minute drive over
to Skaftafell Terminal Tour Centre for our glacier hike on Fjallsjokull!
It’s a long-awaited hike for me hehe, but we had to rent a pair of ankle-height boots for 1000 ISK per pair because we did not know beforehand. Together with two other couples in the group, our guide Kate brought us out to fit the crampons on us.
It
was a bumpy five minutes’ ride towards the glacier. Once we arrived, we started
walking up the seemingly loose sandy path on those small “hills”. One can see
the exposed wet areas from the glacier underneath as we walked up, and soon we
saw exposed glacier.
We were taught how to put on our crampons a while after we started the walk before we stepped onto the rough ice glacier. *Kate said ice glaciers are rougher in summer but smooth and more “blu-ish” in winter, albeit the latter is harder to walk on too.*
At
the Fjallsjokull glacier lagoon which Kate jokingly pronounced as “Fat-yoghurt”,
she helped all of us to take photos. I was glad the weather’s good though there
was some wind too.
We
crossed a number of streams and saw water flowing to the lagoon below. Kate
came to a point and taught us an “interesting” way to drink water… in push-up
style haha. Potato did well as a "role model" but "push-up"
I cannot~
Some
parts were really steep. We went up and down and were on the glacier for close
to two hours and you really need some level of fitness and courage here. Saw some
waterfalls nearby too. Kate had to pave the paths for us sometimes so she
carved out man-made steps for easier access on the glacier. * Being on a
glacier and seeing them from afar is so different!*
Kate
said the ice on Vatnajokull, which is the biggest ice cap in Iceland and is
about 8% of Iceland’s size, could fill the whole of Iceland and be 30m tall
omg. The “highest point” we saw here was estimated to be 500m tall.
Anyway,
I turned to wearing gloves because there were once or twice when I accidentally
used my fingers to push against the “walls” as we were crossing above a
“stream” and causing superficial bleeding from the tips of my left thumb and
ring finger, I think. *The ice damn “chor” okay~*
Ended
the glacier hike at 4.30pm and PotaTOHs spoke a bit to the older British couple.
The lady’s father was in the army in Singapore last time I think. We drove to Lomagnupur
scenic spot and it was literally a “snap and go” place haha.
It’s
been some time since I felt “hot” in Iceland. We passed by Fossalar waterfall and
took some photos there. Foss a Siou was on private land, so we could only take a
photo from afar. *pumped petrol for 6000 ISK*
Decided
to try Wok in Vik, an Asian food eatery, for dinner at 6.30pm. Potato had Phad Thai
(3000 ISK). I tried their “Go Nuts”: rice noodle with chicken, cashew, peanuts,
bok choy etc (2850 ISK), which were already cheaper by Iceland standard (5850
ISK, S$57.42) but the portions were damn big. Still, I actually finished almost
everything in my bowl minus a bit of nuts leftover in that hour! Liked the wok
hei hor fun taste!
After
that, we drove to Hotel Burfell to rest for the night. There was lots of
greenery in the area and it’s lovely! Our room 19 was tucked in a corner~
Comments