Safe Return Doubtful

I wrote in the last post that I thought 95% of the campervans on the Iceland roads at the moment were rentals, but it’s more than that. I’m at the Reykjavik campsite at the moment and there’s about a hundred vans here each night. They all roll in between about 6 and 10 pm, and leave early the next morning. There’s just me and a French Mercedes van here that aren’t rentals. That number is tripled at least in the summer months. The rentals are usually for a week, so it’s straightforward to calculate the number of rentals on the roads. It may seem expensive, 2000 euros rental, and around 40 euros campsite fee a night, but it’s the cheapest way to see the country. There’s few campsites open, they need to have an indoor heated kitchen, and few do. There’s rental vans don’t have indoor cooking facilities, so it’s outdoors, where it’s below zero, or a restaurant, or a campsite kitchen. 

The picture I’m trying to draw, is that being in a van from overseas here is very different than other countries. The Icelandic tourist economy does well from the rental businesses which vary from big companies to individuals who renovate and rent out through AirBnB. It’s also why wild camping is strictly forbidden and controlled in busy tourist areas. With over 2000 vans on the roads in the summer, and the renters not being aware of any van etiquette, it’s a headache for local people. 

It’s a negative for me, as I like to wild camp, and find peaceful wild places to do it in, though the hours of daylight are lessening rapidly and the temperature is dropping. A bonus is that the large kitchen and lounge here at the campsite is lively and sociable, good for a few days. There are people here from all over the world.

I left Snorrastaðir on Wednesday morning after a ten kilometre out and back hike to the Eldborg crater rim. Eldborg is a splendidly formed crater rising 60m above the surrounding lava. The spatter cone is the largest crater along a short volcanic rift, 200 m in diameter and 50 m deep. Its last eruption was about five to six thousand years ago.

From there I wanted to head to Þingvellir National Park, Iceland’s first National Park and a UNESCO Heritage site. The Alþingi, or Iceland’s parliament, was founded there in 930, making it the oldest operating parliament globally. The parliament continued to convene at the fields of river Öxará for 868 years or until 1798. It has a the unique geographical setting at a rift valley on the divide between the North-American and Eurasian continental plates. However.. there was rain forecast, and the temperature inland was below zero, so it was falling as snow and the roads were becoming increasingly dangerous for my two wheel drive with its basic snow tyres. I abandoned the venture, and instead took the slow road around Hvalfjörður and settled for the night at a sheep farm, Bjarteyjarsandur, that offers stayovers and has a luxurious kitchen and lounge.

There’s fjord is known for hiking trails, and as soon as I arrived, on what was now a fine early evening, I took a couple of hours hike along the beach. 

On Friday I headed into the city. I’m not a city person at all, the last city I was in was Helsinki about thirteen months ago to visit a friend, and before that, I really can’t recall.. it was a long time ago. But Reykjavik is small, a population of about 140,000 only, and I thought it would make a good base for the weekend. 

I’ve used the excellent swimming pool twice. It has two 50 metre pools as well as several other pools for kids. It has six hot tubs at different temperatures between 38 and 46C, a cold tub at 8C, and steam baths. It’s a great experience to swim outdoors while it’s snowing and minus 3C outside. They open from 6 am until 9 pm, and once a month throughout the night, with the possibility of seeing the Aurora Borealis. 

I watched a lot of rugby as usual, and took a long city walk this morning.