<XMP><BODY></xmp>Things I learnt in Iceland


Things I learnt in Iceland.

        This was going to be along the same lines as "Things I learnt in Crete", but I'm also going to offer some more specific advice.
        First, the thank yous.
        Thank you to Matthew at the www.gundimat.co.uk website for some very useful advice.
        Thank you to the Gistihemili Snorra at 61 Snorrabraut, Reykjavik for making me so at home. Well worth a look if you want accommodation –near the centre of town and they have cooking facilities.
        Really big thank you to the hut wardens, but especially Auðura at Hrafntinnusker for getting the snow, keeping the place immaculate, and making everyone feel so welcome. Auðura likes blackcurrant juice, so if you take this trail please take her some Ribena or its equivalent.
        Big hello to everyone I shared the huts with. Keep eating the muesli bannocks.
        A big raspberry to the bald guy at the Salvation army hostel who kept me waiting so long while he gossiped before telling me there was no room.

Ideas and thoughts.
        The accessory straps on the side of my pack were too short to take my kipmat, so I sewed some lengths of cotton ribbon to the ends. I'd intended this to be just used to pull the strap through, but they held very well on the buckles themselves, and were more than adequate to hold the light weight of the foam mat.
        I was so impressed by this discovery that I fished out a length of polyester ribbon and sewed a ladderlock buckle onto the end. This I used to keep the kipmat rolled instead of the heavyweight strap I'd been using. This had the added advantage that it was low bulk so you did not notice it if you used the kipmat as a pillow. The polyester does not bind to the buckle as well as the cotton ribbon, so it may be better to use a buckle designed for ribbons rather than a spare from a rucksack like I used.

        If you are going to be using a map, carry a pencil in addition to your pen. One with a rubber on the end makes sense.

        After coming through baggage handling some of the pockets of my rucksac were partially unzipped. Nothing missing, but my penknife could have dropped out. Knot the zip pulls together or fasten them together with small padlocks.

        The Icelanders know about 4x4 trucks. While in America these often look OTT and macho, in Iceland they are infinitely practical, and it is the saloon and sports cars that look frivolous. Some Icelandic trucks use 2-3psi tire pressure on snow and an extra low "Crawler gear". Wheels are often 44" in diameter and the front axle is often replace by another rear axle. Other additions include pre-heated oil filters, bigger springs and a fissure bar mounted on the front bumper to stop it falling down crevasses.
www.arctictrucks.com


        Most modern rucksacs don't have the room to fit a tent, sleeping bag and kipmat inside and still leave much room for food and a stove, so you have to tie the stuff to the outside. A bit of experimentation and this can carry very well, but you can't put a pack so rigged through baggage handling. Bits come detached, and you probably haven't got a name tag on all of them.
        One solution is to put all the "externals" in another bag –though this greatly increases the time you spend waiting for your gear at the carousel. Some American travelers have large holdalls that can take a fully rigged rucksack, and also prevents straps getting entangled.
        It would be useful if such a bag when not needed folds up really small, or better still performs another useful function. One idea is for this to also be a rucksac cover. Americans and Brits tend to line their rucksacs with waterproof bags, while many European hikers place a large cover over the outside of the pack. This helps prevent the actual material of the rucksac becoming damp. With a simple extra piece of material the cover could also cover the pack straps to transport the pack by air. A pair of carrying handles should also be added to prevent baggage handlers grabbing more delicate parts. A rucksac cover could also benefit from some elasticated panels on the outside to hold clothing that you want readily accessible.

        Put a loop of cord on your towel big enough to pass the towel through. This lets you easily attach the towel to the outside of your pack to dry.

        Carry a roll of medium sized freezer bags. They weigh very little and will find numerous uses. The "Tuklok" brand can be closed without ziplocks or twist-ties.

        Electrician's insulating tape seems much better at padding sore spots and blisters on the feet than real plasters. It says on longer and is much more resistant to immersion.

        Putting a little Vaseline on the toes and between them also helps prevent blisters.

        Gaiters are really useful for river crossings. They give you something clean to stand on while you are putting on or removing your socks and trousers.

        The buildings of Reykjavik are brightly painted, and it is impressive what nice structures can be built from corrugated iron, but architecturally Reykjavik is rather plain. One is very much reminded of the song "Little Boxes".
        Iceland has produced some very impressive artists such as Erro, who has donated the rights of many of his works to the Icelandic people. The town council of Reykjavik could do a lot worse than reproduce some of Erro's works on the side of various buildings.

The Landmanalaugar-Pórsmörk Trail.
        This is describes as likely to become one of the world's classic walks, and I'll not disagree. Usually the bus to Landmanalaugar does not start until July 1st because the roads are blocked. I got lucky since the bus service had restarted the day I asked, June 14th, so it pays to make enquiries.
        An advantage in going from Landmanalaugar and moving south rather than coming up from Pórsmörk or Skogar is that most of the route is downhill, and the prevailing wind while I was there was mainly from the north, so at my back (more on wind in a moment). You also have the option of stopping at Pórsmörk rather than Skogar if you are running out of time due to rest days or bad weather.

        The Landmanalaugar-Pórsmörk trail is a great walk, and I had a great time on it –but I will caution anyone considering it not to underestimate it.

        My guide book gave the impression that this was a nice summer hike through the mountains. You could take it as slow as you wanted and camp nearly anywhere. Because of this I brought my tent along and food to last me more than a week.
        Problem is, this is not a trail through the mountains –it is over the mountains. I had to carry a heavy pack up some steep slopes, often snow covered. Many of the downward slopes have very crumbly soil or loose stones. Most of the first leg of the trip (to Hrafntinnuskar) and about half of the second (to Álftavah) is snow covered, with the occasional patch of loose deep snow that can give you a nasty fall. The loose earth approaching Hrafntinnuskar hut also dropped me several times.
        Add to this that on the Landmanalaugar to Hrafntinnuskar leg (17th June 2002) a gale force wind of at least 60mph blew up for more than four hours. Since the air temperature was about 1°C this meant a wind-chill factor of at least –20°C. Luckily this was at my back most of the time, but even then this was sufficient to push me and my 50lb rucksac five paces to the right as I tried to step one pace forwards. If it had not been for my walking-pole I would have been blown from my feet several times. What would have happened if I'd had to walk into the wind I don't like to think. This was a wind that actually blew stones off the ground to sting my legs. One warder told me that he had not seen such wind in the five years he had been up there and that it had shook his hut.
        This particular stretch of the route is mainly along ridge tops and plains and have virtually no shelter. Not that many rocks you can sit on to rest either. Visibility was so low that there was no way I could take bearings off landmarks, and in many places the guide poles were down or not visible. Sometimes a cairn of stones is used instead of a post, but I hadn't realized that. Only by following the tracks of previous hikers did I keep on the right route. Probably by the next day these would have been obliterated.
        The weather was not always this bad, of course. The second day was nearly as bad, so I stayed in the hut. The remaining days were rather nice, but this does illustrate just how bad things can get even in June. Reading entries from the same time in previous years indicated that my introduction to the trail was by no means exceptional.
        The ground around Hrafntinnuskar (the first hut) is either snow or very crumbly earth that you could not pitch a tent on without special anchors. Someone had tried the day before I arrived and their flysheet had blown away. If I'd known that I'd have to use the mountain huts I wouldn't have bothered taking the tent with me.
        It is also a fallacy that you can camp anywhere. Much of the route is national park and camping is not allowed, and in many places not possible. Some of the huts do have good camping sites by them, but to reach these you have to do the trip as four legs.

Landmanalaugar-Hrafntinnuskar.
Hrafntinnnuskar – Álftavah
Álftavah-Emstrur/Botnar
Emstrur/Botnar –Pórsmörk

        There are in fact two huts at Pórsmörk. Languar and Húsadalur. The bus back to Reykjavik leaves Languar at 2.00pm and Húsadalur at 3.30pm (and they sell waffles at Húsadalur).
        Some of these legs are quite long –15 to 20km on the flat, which is much greater when you figure in the changes in elevation and the various hills and canyons. River crossing also adds to travel time. The good news is that the latitude means that during the summer months there is no darkness. I actually forded the final stream at 11.30 at night. Because I'd had trouble sleeping the day before I'd had a lay in and not set out from Botnar until lunchtime. You don't exactly walk fast carrying 50lb over hills.

        I was served most foully by my travel guide. Comparing notes with other travelers their guides seemed to be just as misleading. One warden was of the opinion that 50% of what he saw in such books was wrong. This included such dangerous advice as suggesting glacial flood plains as campsites. Another traveler told me that the Skogar-Pórsmörk route was also portrayed as being an easy walk in the park, when in fact you could encounter so much mist you could not see your feet.
        The good news about that first day (other than the fact that I lived through it) was how well what I did have with me worked. I was wearing what is basically my "standard travel kit", which I've worn in places such as Israel, Hong Kong, Italy and Denmark. The only real difference was that I was wearing my leather hiking boots rather than the usual canvas summer boots, and that I don't always pack gloves.
        On that first day in the gale I was wearing a Stormlite waterproof jacket, silk shirt, fleece, BDU trousers, merkalon glove liners, nylon gaiters, hiking boots, wool socks, swimming shorts and a merkalon headover. Most of these items or their equivalent can be brought for under £30. Most of my fellow travelers that I later traveled with had brought Gore-Tex and Ski-gear, although some had not expected to need it.
        This ensemble worked because I kept moving. The heat that was lost to the wind was balanced by that I was producing by carrying the pack, and I knew better to make the mistake of wearing too much clothing and overheating. You'll also notice that with the exception of the BDUs all of these items are "warm when wet". While I wasn't in too good a mood as I battled through the gale, I can honestly say I was never cold.
         On the second and subsequent days I did wear fingerless leather gloves over the liners to cut the wind on the backs of my hands and for added protection when clambering down slopes. I also wore my rainproof overtrousers sometimes, but for the main part these rode rolled up under my packflap. My spare jumper was only used when sitting around the huts, and my thermal underwear and scarf didn't see any use.
        Two items in particular really worked well. One was my Gabel walking pole. There was no way I could have negotiated some of those slopes or rivers without this, and it stopped me getting blown over several times. Given it is so light I'm very impressed with how strong it evidently is, and how little wear it shows after scraping over miles of volcanic ash and stone. I brought this as a pair of sticks many years ago in Austria, and next time I go into the mountains I don't think it is OTT to carry both sticks.
        The other great item was my headover. I assume that this is merkalon, although the label says "microfibre polyester". This was worn as a hat, but in the gale it was worn as a balaclava and gave the perfect level of protection –warm without being clammy and not giving that confined-"detached from the world" feeling you sometimes get in a hood. It was also used as a headband/ear warmer on milder days, and when not worn was slipped over the arm that was using the walking pole. This let me carry it without cramming it into pockets already near full with scarf, gloves, sweets, chocolate and sultanas. I'm actually buying another one to carry as a spare. I've also now worked out how to wear it for more face protection. You wear it as a balaclava but by folding the bottom half of the edge inwards it produces an opening that just exposes you eyes and a little of your forehead.

Conclusions.
        I hope the above doesn't sound too negative, since I really enjoyed myself. This is a hike well worth doing, but it is a mountain hike so treat it as such.
        I may do this again, but I'll be taking a lot less food and probably won't bother to take the camping gear. If I was carrying less weight I could have traveled faster and had more time to stop along the way and enjoy myself more.
        Only take a tent if there are several of you that can share the weight, you are very fit or very used to mountain walking. You can book places in a hut in advance.
        Do take a small stove. Distances between the huts are quite long, and being able to stop along the way for soup or a brew would be useful.
        Bring a walking pole, or better still a pair.
        I'd also go later in the season to improve the chances of good weather. One got the impression that although the roads had opened the route was not quite ready. Auðura at Hrafntinnusker had only walked to the hut a couple of days before. The central heating and water supply was due to be fixed on the 20th and her only contact with the outside world was if she climbed a nearby snow covered hill which was the only place her phone would work. At Álftavah there was no warden, but also no gas for cooking.
        Don't leave the hike to the end of your trip. I spent a day in one hut due to bad weather so had to travel all the following days if I was to catch my flight. It would have been nice to have had the option of another rest day the when I did not sleep that well. Also many of the huts have some quite interesting surroundings to explore, but because of the load I carried and the time I spent travelling I didn't have the energy to see these.

        It also would have been nice to go to the Blue lagoon after the hike as well as before. BTW, the hottest part of the lagoon is on the right hand side.

FEEDBACK
My Friend Dave Barton writes:-
        I read your article about Iceland and the little problems you had, a few tips:- go to "HomeBase" or similar and buy cable ties, the are about £2.50 for about 100 and use them on your zips going thru airports etc. Two fold, secure your zip and stop the bugger coming undone. When through, to gain access cut it, take plenty as the have lots of other uses as well no weight and little space.
         Your problem with the straps and extra bits on the rucksack going thru customs etc, you mentioned a kit bag for all. a far more simple solution is a bag purpose built to go over the bag thru customs and when travelling as a extra rucksack liner between your plastic/water proof bag and clothes this will stop any accidental punctures. I have used one for years, what is it made of an I.P.K. sometimes called a kip sheet, get them from any army surplus store, its the sheet to cover slit trenches they are about £5 each and 9x7ft in size, come with a set of pegs and length of paracord. I have turned them into all sorts of things from bags to waterproof fly sheets for camping without a tent, just use your imagination. The thing is they are really strong it will take your weight and very light the ideal thing, draw cord at the top gives you an extra level of security in the sack and easy to tie off with the sack in side and topped off with a cable tie for extra security.

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