Posts for June, 2015

As you can see we are "back on the air" and if you are one of our "subscribers" you may be surprised to get the email announcing this "update" to whiteacorn. During our extended break from travels we received a number of enquiries asking about our situation and/or health and so I feel a brief explanation of the six-plus months gap in this journal is required.

There is not much to say about today, simply a day of driving and organizing. But in order to put the reader in the pciture I should say we are on our way to Hirtshals in Denmark to catch a ferry to Iceland, we hope our story will become a bit more interesting after that.

So today was more driving and another truck stop. But the good news is that the very conjested traffic of yesterday has thinned a bit and driving today was a little more relaxed. We also had another round of supermarket shopping in prepararion for our 4 weeks in Iceland. We have been led to believe that supplies will be limited and expensive once in Iceland so we are taking the opportunity to stock up.

As the title says we crossed into Denmark today and discovered that the roadside rest stops often have RV dump and water facilities so that gave us an opportunity to fill our fresh water tank. It also turns out that some of them have nice picnic areas with individual parking spots beside a table and bench, so we picked one of those for the nights camp. About 100 km from Hirtshals and the ferry.

We only had a short drive today to the ferry port of Hirtshals. Even so it took us until early afternoon to get there. The slow progress was partly due to more shopping (those last minute food items, and some hardware pieces so that our fresh water hose will fit european faucets), but also due to crappy weather which put us in the mood to rest/doze rather than drive.

Boarding was scheduled for about 9:30 this morning, but as you can guess people were up, going and lining up in their vehicles well before that time. To add to the developing traffic jam the 30 or so vehicles that parked in the lot last night were joined by a steady stream of additional vehicles (many of them motorhomes). This abundance of vehicles quickly overwhelmed the official staging area and the traffic marshals resorted to parking the new arrivals in yet another gravel lot. When boarding finally started it was quite a crush unpacking the jam and getting everyone into an orderly line. But like many chaotic human activities it all worked out in the end.

The ferry turned out to be quite comfortable. We had a small two-birth cabin with bunk bed and a private shower/toilet. The seas proved to be pretty smooth with only a gentle swell to test our sea-legs, and had we needed it a number of cafe/restaurants provided a range of food (we brought our own with us).

As we got underway this morning we did not know what the day would hold. Our plan was to venture into the highlands of SE Iceland and see how far we could get on the Icelandic F roads (mountain 4x4 trails) before our way was barred by a "closed road" sign. From last nights camp our way led up a steep series of switch backs on paved road to an alpine plateau and then south for some miles to a spot that provided our first views of Vatnajökull the massive ice sheet that covers a good portion of SE Iceland.

Today we visited the towns of Reyðarfjöur, Eskifjörður, Nesaupstaður, (try saying those names 3 times fast) and camped the night on the southern side of Reyðarfjöur. These are all small sea-side communities, in picturesque settings; though today with cloud covering the mountains and keeping the sun at bay not particularly photogenic. The route between E10 and N11 involved some steep switch backs, dense fog and a 600 meter long oneway tunnel. The tunnel confused us for a while. The signs at the entrance seemed to indicate that access was controlled by a set of lights (clear - go, red - don't go was how we interpreted the minimal signs), but we noticed a number of vehicles exit towards us with out seeing any red light. Eventually we asked another driver about the process and discovered that there were two passing spots in the tunnel so "just go ahead", was the advice.

Today we continued following the coast line south, entertaining ourselves with views of wind (and rain) swept headlands, precarious roads, isolated communities and sheep that are in various stages of shedding their winter coats. This place sure does have dramatic scenery.

Today we continued with wind and rain swept fjords, though now there is a bit more traffic, and the road surface is mostly sealed as we are on Highway 1. Mid morning we stopped at a little village (Djupivogur) to see a display of stone eggs called Eggin I Gledivik. The display was put together in 2009 by a local (and internationally recognized artist) Sigurdur Gudmundsson.

I decided over night that one of the things I wanted to do in Iceland was to ride on a Glacier in one of the large-tired vehicles, "Jeeps" they call them here but they are really Toyotas, Nissans, Dodges - anything but Jeeps. So this morning before setting off, and among our other chores, we dropped in at the information center to find out that to get such a ride we had to drive a little way West down Highway 1 to a hostel where we would find a group called Glacier Jeeps.