05-Sep-2003 --
A cloudy day starts in Iceland. We - the Explorer
Magazin team - leave Akureyri in the north of Iceland for Husavik to find a track into
the montains to the confluence N 66° W 017°. We drive a pick-up with a camping
box on it, therefore we can drive on dirt tracks but the tracks should not be too rough.
We wonder a little bit why nobody attempted to reach this confluence until
now, as it is situated only a few meters away from a track. In Husavik we
find the fuel station and behind it a track leads in the desired direction. A
check of the map shows that the track can be driven to a shelter hut, 5 kilometers away from the confluence. The quality of the track behind the
shelter is unknown. The weather becomes sunny but very windy. We reach a plain
between the mountains with the lovely lake Höskuldsvatn. The storm blows in the same direction
but faster than we drive due to the stony track. Therefore we are overtaken by
the sand that we whirl up. We must close the windows rapidly because within one
minute everything in the cockpit is covered with sand.
We reach the shelter hut and in the guestbook we leave a note that we're passing by on the way to the confluence.
We follow the track and a few meters behind we pass a gate. The track becomes
worse but it is still drivable for us. We advance nearer and nearer to the
confluence and when just 260 m away from it, the GPS shows us that we
must leave the car and go uphill.
We are on the worst part of the track, there is no possibility to leave it
and parking would mean that we block the track. The region is really lonesome,
but you know: Whenever you do not expect anybody, somebody comes and he is in a
hurry.
We find a spot where the track is a little bit wider and we hope that if
someone will come it will be a real Icelandic Bigfoot which can pass us
off-road.
We leave the car and follow the GPS up the hill, watch the track before and
behind us and take a CD of our magazine with us which is packed together with a
message in a little plastic bag.
At the confluence we have a fantastic view and we build up a small cairn and put our package into it. Maybe someone will find it and send us an e-mail.
We follow the track to road 85 to Asbyrgi where an native icelander from Husavik
tells us
that the mountain track we drove was a very important road and the sole
way to drive from Husavik to Asbyrgi several years ago.
In the evening we sit in the sun, have a confluence party with beer and a
wonderful sunset.
A few days later ... Again we visit the DCP website and find out that the
confluence has already been visited on the 24-Aug-2003, a few days before our
trip. We are a little bit astonished that the visitors could not drive the track
from Husavik to Fjöll. We could, because it was open and a road sign in Fjöll
indicated that the track is officially open.
We are not very disappointed to be the second visitors, because the visit was a
wonderful trip
through the Icelandic landscape.
If you want to read the whole story about our trip, you will find it (in
German) in the Explorer
Magazin (from issue 11-12/03).