Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ACCOMMODATION AND EATING
Básar
T
893 2910, bookings
T
562 1000,
W
utivist.is.
Útivist's modern, well-equipped and spacious hut has
toilets, showers, kitchen and dining area, though just the
usual sleeping arrangements in bunks or on communal
shelves off the floor. The campground is close to the river
with so
me barb
eque a
reas and picnic benches. Hut
5000kr
; camping
1100kr
Húsadalur
T
552 8300,
W
volcanohuts.com.
A range of
cosy bunkhouses and cabins, offering private rooms or shared
dorms sleeping four (you need your own sleeping bag); the
campsite has an outdoor cooking area and the usual amenities
block. There's also an on-site restaurant, the only one at
Þórsmörk, open
throug
h the day
- ask in
advance f
or packed
lunches. Dorms
6000kr
; camping
1100kr
; doubles
14,000kr
Ì
ÌSkagfjörðsskáli
T
568 2533,
W
fi.is.
Ferðafélag
Ísland's lodge and campsite, beautifully located at river
level beneath Valahnúkur - you can sit on the porch and
watch vehicles coming to grief on the river crossings (the
hut has a photo album of four-wheel-drive disasters).
Inside there are two kitchens, a dining area, two long
dorms and a h
andful
of bunks;
the am
enities block is
separate. Dorm
5000kr
; camping
1100kr
2
The south coast
Southeast from the Þórsmörk junction, the Ringroad finds itself pinched between the
coast and the
Eyjafjallajökull
icecap. Though dwarfed by its big sister
Mýrdalsjökull
immediately to the east, Eyjafjallajökull's 1666m apex is southwestern Iceland's highest
point, and the mountain has stamped its personality on the area: an active volcano
smoulders away below the ice, responsible for major eruptions in the seventeenth and
nineteenth centuries. In 2010 Eyjafjallajökull awoke from dormancy in a fairly
small-scale event, but one in which massive
clouds of ash
, swept southwards by
high-altitude winds, caused chaos across Europe by grounding aircraft - something
that (along with listening to foreign reporters' stumbling efforts to pronounce
“Eyjafjallajökull”) created a perverse sense of pride in Iceland.
The base for exploring all this is the Ringroad hamlet of
Skógar
, with its magnificent
waterfall and superb
hike to Þórsmörk
via a pass between Eyjafjallajökull and
Mýrdalsjökull at
Fimmvörðuháls
, site of the 2010 eruption. Moving down the coast,
mountain ridges supporting Mýrdalsjökull - and occasional outlying glaciers, such as
Sólheimajökull
- intrude further and further towards the sea, finally reaching it around
Iceland's southernmost tip,
Dyrhólaey
, where they form impressively sculpted cliffs,
home to innumerable seabirds. Past Dyrhólaey, the sleepy village of Vík has black-sand
beaches, more birds and some easy walks, and marks the beginning of the long
cross-desert run into southeastern Iceland.
Ringroad
buses
pull up at Skógar and Vík, though you'll need your own transport
elsewhere.
Þorvaldseyri
Around 20km east along the Ringroad from the Route 249 junction at Seljalandsfoss,
Þorvaldseyri
is a small tongue of farmland which was nearly devastated by ash from the
2010 eruption. There's a fine museum here to the event, and it's also an easy trip inland
to some bathable
hot springs
.
Eyjafjallajökull Erupts Visitor Centre
Daily: June-Aug 9am-6pm; May & Sept 10am-5pm • 750kr
Housed in a small, bunker-like building on the Ringroad, the
Eyjafjallajökull Erupts
Visitor Centre
has an exhibition of photos covering the history of the volcano - at
800,000 years old, one of the longest-active in Iceland - and in particular the events of
2010. The accompanying 20min
documentary of the eruption
runs several times per
hour and follows the fortunes of the family at nearby Þorvaldseyri farm, whose fields
were buried under ash; the sight of the farmer's face when he first returns home is
heartbreaking. There's also close-up footage of the short but fierce spill of lava, and an
