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Today we take the coastal road for about 50 minutes to Ásbyrgi Canyon with its horseshoe rock formation standing 100 metres high. It's a beautiful day, sunny and warm. We spend some time in the Visitors' centre learning all about how it was formed by catastrophic glacier floods, which occurred when a volcano erupted underneath the Vatnajökull ice cap, thousands of years ago. The water didn’t carve the rocks into the current shape, it merely washed the soil away that surrounded them.
Legends say Ásbyrgi is the capital of the hidden people or Huldufólk, Iceland´s answer to elves. Psychics claim to be able to see their cities and they are said to inhabit the cracks here.
Kris and Siggi take us to walk one of the trails along the valley floor to a beautiful lake where we watch the ducks and gaze up in awe at the wall towering above us which seems to lean forwards at a precarious angle.
Siggi has persuaded Kristberg to allow us to go 'off Piste' so to speak, with an unscheduled visit. Kris only agrees if we are all sworn to secrecy so this must go no further! So, we're once again on a rough gravel road heading for Hljóðaklettar or 'Echo Rocks'. Kristberg strides off ahead of the group, assuring us that it will be an easy walk. We follow the gravel path and soon find ourselves climbing up precarious rocky paths but it is well worth the effort. The Hljóðaklettar rocks are a wild array of basaltic columns, twisted and angled in every conceivable direction. It is like looking at an abstract work of art. The bizarre bending of the rocks results in caves, towers and other unclassifiable geometrical shapes. It’s like being on another world, and the area has an alien and almost menacing sort of beauty. Formed when the powerful Jökulsá River washed away chunks of volcanic craters, the rocks at Hljóðaklettar have strange acoustical properties which reflect, enhance or mute the river’s roar, depending on where you’re standing. Hence the name “Echo Rocks”. Fortunately, the route back to the bus is slightly easier.
We then follow the river Jökulsá á Fjöllum, the second longest river in Iceland, to Dettifoss and walk to Europe’s most powerful waterfall, which roars into the depths of a 15km long canyon. It really is an awesome sight. I'm sure by now, that you have come to realise that 'foss' is the Icelandic word for waterfall.
The weather has been slowly but surely worsening as the day has progressed. By the time we leave the waterfall, it is decidedly cooler and windier and before too long, the rain starts coming down, rather spoiling the scenic route to Egilsstadir and the Hotel Eyvindara. Tonight is the first time we have been serenaded before our evening meal!
Legends say Ásbyrgi is the capital of the hidden people or Huldufólk, Iceland´s answer to elves. Psychics claim to be able to see their cities and they are said to inhabit the cracks here.
Kris and Siggi take us to walk one of the trails along the valley floor to a beautiful lake where we watch the ducks and gaze up in awe at the wall towering above us which seems to lean forwards at a precarious angle.
Siggi has persuaded Kristberg to allow us to go 'off Piste' so to speak, with an unscheduled visit. Kris only agrees if we are all sworn to secrecy so this must go no further! So, we're once again on a rough gravel road heading for Hljóðaklettar or 'Echo Rocks'. Kristberg strides off ahead of the group, assuring us that it will be an easy walk. We follow the gravel path and soon find ourselves climbing up precarious rocky paths but it is well worth the effort. The Hljóðaklettar rocks are a wild array of basaltic columns, twisted and angled in every conceivable direction. It is like looking at an abstract work of art. The bizarre bending of the rocks results in caves, towers and other unclassifiable geometrical shapes. It’s like being on another world, and the area has an alien and almost menacing sort of beauty. Formed when the powerful Jökulsá River washed away chunks of volcanic craters, the rocks at Hljóðaklettar have strange acoustical properties which reflect, enhance or mute the river’s roar, depending on where you’re standing. Hence the name “Echo Rocks”. Fortunately, the route back to the bus is slightly easier.
We then follow the river Jökulsá á Fjöllum, the second longest river in Iceland, to Dettifoss and walk to Europe’s most powerful waterfall, which roars into the depths of a 15km long canyon. It really is an awesome sight. I'm sure by now, that you have come to realise that 'foss' is the Icelandic word for waterfall.
The weather has been slowly but surely worsening as the day has progressed. By the time we leave the waterfall, it is decidedly cooler and windier and before too long, the rain starts coming down, rather spoiling the scenic route to Egilsstadir and the Hotel Eyvindara. Tonight is the first time we have been serenaded before our evening meal!
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Chris The winter has lasted so long and been so cold this year that very few ducklings have survived.