Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Hveravellir
Route 35's mid-point is marked by a short detour west to a grassy depression at
Hveravellir hot springs
, where you'll find a campsite and well-appointed overnight huts.
The only bathable
pool
is a small, waist-deep affair next to one of the huts, above
which boardwalks head up a calcified slope; encrusted with sulphur, the hotter springs
here bubble, belch and occasionally erupt violently. One of these is named
Eyvindarhver
, after the outlaw Eyvindur (see box below) who lived at Hveravellir for
two years and used the spring to boil up sheep for his dinner. In summer, the springs
can get busy, so try to time your dip to avoid scheduled daily bus arrivals in the early
afternoon - or stay overnight and have the waters almost to yourself.
Kerlingarfjöll
A short way of Route 35 just southwest of Hofsjökull,
Kerlingarfjöll
is a rough cluster
of peaks rising out of the landscape, with a tiny permanent dusting of snow and ice
covering the 1477m summit. here are some excellent
hiking trails
here, including a
three-day, 50km circuit of the region, for which the small cluster of privately-run
mountain huts at
Ásgarður
makes a good base.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
KJÖLUR
By bus
SBA (
W
sba.is) crosses Kjölur between Reykjavík
and Akureyri daily each way from June 18 to September 10.
The journey, which includes sightseeing stops at Geysir,
Gullfoss and Hveravellir, takes 9hr 40min and costs 13,000kr.
By car
The unsealed section of the Kjölur Route,
between the Ringroad near Blönduós south through to
Gullfoss, is around 200km; if driving yourself, allow at
least five hours.
8
ACCOMMODATION
Ásgarður
Kerlingarfjoll
T
664 7878,
W
kerlingarjoll
.is.
Large campsite with toilets, and a range of
accommodation in basic dorms, or double rooms in huts
with made-up beds (which include breakfast). It's largely
self-catering, though there is a basic restaurant. Closed mid-
Sept to early June; restaurant open mid-June to mid-Aug.
Camping
1500kr
; dorm
5100kr
; doubles
25,500kr
Hveravellir
T
894 1293,
W
hveravellir.is.
Sleeping-bag
accommodation for around fifty people in two separate
huts with toilets and showers; there's a small restaurant
here too
but you n
eed to
check in
advance to see if it's open.
Camping
1500kr
; dorms
5500kr
EYVINDUR AND HALLA
Iceland's most famous
outlaws
were the eighteenth-century
Eyvindur
and his harsh-
tempered wife,
Halla
. They are the only Icelandic outlaws to have managed twenty years on
the run, thus earning themselves a pardon; many places around Iceland are named after
Eyvindur, showing just how much he had to keep moving.
Originally from the West Fjords, Eyvindur and Halla set up at Hveravellir, robbing travellers
and stealing sheep from nearby properties. Eventually chased on by a vengeful posse, they
shifted south to the Þjórsá (west of Hekla) for a few years - the easiest time of his outlawry, so
Eyvindur later said - then to remoter pastures on the Sprengisandur, which at that time hadn't
been crossed for many years. Caught after stealing a horse, Eyvindur and Halla were held at
Mývatn's church, from where Eyvindur managed to escape by asking to be untied so that he
could pray. As luck would have it, a thick fog came down and he was able to hide nearby until
people had given up looking for him, thinking him far away. He then stole another horse and
rode it south to Herðubreiðarlindir (see p.313), where he somehow survived an appalling
winter in a “cave” he built into the lava here. Later on, he met Halla again and they drifted
around the country, always just managing to evade capture but forced by hunger or pursuit to
kill their infant children. Tradition has it that after being pardoned they returned to their farm,
where they died in the 1780s.
