Safe Return Doubtful

I met a German couple in their own self-converted van in Djúpivogur heading for the same ferry as I was, we have a lot of travel in common, and are a similar age. They wanted some information about the Faroes, as they will stop off there on the way back to Denmark. I expect we will be chatting quite a bit in the next few days.

Before leaving Djúpivogur I was keen to see the eggs, and took a slow wander to them, just out of town, on a windy morning on Sunday. Djúpivogur had served me well. It is an attractive looking town, especially in the snow, and at this time of Yrsa, the little campsite is fine. It’s a few kilometres off highway 1 and attracts less of the mad rental market folk. I set my projector up in the common area next to the kitchen on Saturday, after a swim at their local pool. I had both places to myself, and managed a 100 inch / 250 cm screen on the white wall to watch the rugby undisturbed. 

On Sunday I took the slow road around the coast to Egilsstaðir, on the Lagarfljót river. It is relatively, a new town, set up in 1947 to be the regional centre for the many rural communities around it. It has far less charm than the ports, and not being surrounded by mountains has something of a bleak and cold feel to it. Though much of the snow around sea level had gone, the temperature hovered between minus 2 and 4 degrees, but calm, with mist descending most evenings. 

The Egilsstaðir campsite is huge, though only a small portion of it is open at this time of year.  It’s expensive, but had a laundrette, which I was keen to use. The German couple were here also, so we had an afternoon doing laundry together. There was a problem with the machines at first, which meant we got the service for free. It wasn’t particularly quick, but we had all afternoon. I stayed two nights and both mornings found trails on the river to occupy my exercise needs. 

Yesterday, the Germans and I, drove over the pass to Seyðisfjörður together. There are cameras before you start the road that clearly show conditions on the plateau of the high point, at 700 metres asl, and although it was minus 6C, the road was clear of any snow. Some of the worst conditions arise when, though it isn’t snowing, high winds blow fallen snow across the roads, but this afternoon was also calm. We got out and took a few short walks during the journey also. 

Seyðisfjörður is a picturesque port at the end of the fjord that bears its name. Its wooden buildings and sheer mountains surrounding all but the fjord make it one of the most attractive of Icelandic towns. It is frequently used as a location for TV and movies; in Trapped the recent crime drama, and in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. 

Some of the earliest settlers to Iceland lived here, and there has been a town since  1848. It was an important base for the British and Americans in the Second World War. In December 2020 the whole town was evacuated for a month after a mud slide. 39 houses were destroyed. 

The ferry calls in every Wednesday, except for the winter months when it hibernates in its Faroes home, and departs on Thursday evening. This gives crew a break, but also maximises the potential for those passengers who simply want a cruise, and return directly after just a day in Iceland. 

We’ve had a wonderful winter clear day here today, and there is some good hiking around the edge of town. I’m just in from a walk up to two waterfalls which was just about manageable in three hours with the snow levels as they are. 

On arriving last night I had no gas coming through to the stove or oven. I had this problem once before, in Greece on some treacherous roads a couple of winters ago. On that occasion I solved it by getting the help of a gas engineer, who diagnosed very simply that the on / off switch had been knocked out of position. Unfortunately it wasn’t so simple this time. I had a look underneath the van with a torch but couldn’t see anything that struck me as a problem. I posted on the tremendous VW Crafter self-build forum and had a number of suggestions within ten minutes. It really is a useful forum to be part of. A number suggested resetting the regulator, which I looked into. Recent regulators have a crash sensor that stops gas from flowing in case of a bump, and sometimes that bump can be only small. It sounded possible. Such regulators have a reset button though, and mine didn’t, it’s actually more than 5 years old now. The LPG tank is new, but not the regulator. One guy suggested that the yellow button, or what appears to be a button, is actually a vent. This morning I contacted the company in Thirsk from whom I bought the equipment, and by chance it was the guy who suggested the yellow vent. That was indeed the problem, and quickly cleaned and sorted. 

Another British van, a self-converted Crafter, stopped to say hello in Egilsstaðir. They too are on the ferry tomorrow. He had a problem with his electrics, he thought his alternator not working properly, as he wasn’t getting engine charging. Fortunately I was able to help him, as I had this problem myself some years ago. In that case it was a question of the settings on the Victron app, resulting in the system thinking the engine had shutdown when it hadn’t, so just a matter of changing the settings. 

Im on the ferry tomorrow, which arrives in Denmark on Sunday. I’m hoping the weather is still warm enough to spend a few days in Denmark before heading south, but I’ll look at that and do some research on the journey across the North Atlantic.