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Published: November 22nd 2009
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10:00PM
As predicted, the ducks turned up around 9.30 looking for food, and the world appeared to be heading back to normality after the storm (talking to various people since, these storms happen a couple of times a year, though not with quite the same ferocity). Not long after the ducks had waddled back to the pond, we were on the road. The landscape had completely changed from a couple of days before, the wind and rain wiping out the snow and ice that had covered the ground for miles around, showing the miles and miles of lava fields that had been sitting beneath. The whole area had been farming land until 1783, when the nearby volcano Laki erupted in catastrophic fashion, destroying the whole area, killing up to 25% of the population and 80% of the sheep. The eruption was so huge that it created a huge mist of sulphur dioxide so thick that ships couldn’t leave ports across Iceland, Scandinavia and England. The cloud caused a summer of crazy weather, with regular hailstorms killing crops and cows across Europe. According to Wikipedia, not always the most reliable source in the world, it contributed greatly to famine and poverty
in France, a major contributor to the French Revolution. With the sun blotted out by the mist, the following winter was one of the coldest on record in Europe and North America. In short, it was a big, baddass volcano.
At around 12.00 we arrived in Vik, where we stopped for some petrol and another look around the wool shop (you know the end is approaching when you start souvenir shopping). The winds were even worse than the first time we came, although they were apparently around half the speed they were yesterday. Although out of reach of the Laki eruption, Vik is living on the edge. Not far behind it is a glacier with a volcano underneath. At some point the volcano is bound to go off, and when it does the resulting jökulhlaup will flood the whole town, leaving just the church and the hostel on the hill, according to experts. No wonder everyone wants to stay at the hostel. Once we’d had enough of trying to stand up (and barely succeeding) in the wind, we got back on the road.
Our next stop was at Skógar, where we had a look around the
Skógafoss waterfall, one of Iceland’s popular postcard pictures due to the rainbows that are constantly forming under its spray, particularly on a day like today when, although still windy, the sun was shining brightly. Once we had been soaked in spray enough, we decided to take a walk to the top of the falls, which seemed like a good idea to keep us warm and dry us off in the sun, but by the time we had made it up the steep steps, John, in particular, was regretting the climb. Just as we were leaving the falls, the three Americans from Hvoll pulled up and shouted us, so we chatted to them for a while. Funny how we keep bumping into the same people across the country, particularly along the south coast which is slightly less touristy than in and around Reykjavik. We stayed in Skógar for a while and visited the folk museum, which was interesting, but short lived, as we needed to head off for our appointment at the bottom of the nearby glacier, Sólheimajökull.
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