Decisions Decisions Decisions.
Its all about decisions. For example, what to eat for breakfast. These are easy decisions. Fairly quick.
And then there are the complex ones. Like where to go?
Its a pretty complex decision. I mean, the choices are few. North, South, East and West. However, South is the great big ocean with the great big waves. That leaves just three choices.
And guess what, the rain makes it easy. Its raining. Yes. Pouring actually, though the winds are a tame 15m/s today. The forecast is rain almost throughout the day, unless we head a large distance east or west.
To the east lies Jokusarlon. A few days from now, when we head North, we will pass it anyways. But we don't know whether it will be day or night, clear or cloudy. Today, its supposed to be clear in the evening over there.
So its done. We will drive, 200kms, to East. Two hundred. One way. But then, that's where the sun is shining, and we will chase the Sun.
Over here, well the clouds extend all the way to the horizon, and its pouring as we pass Vik just shy of 10am
Its a lovely town. Famous for the black beach and the cliffs in the sea. The church you see in the pic is the "Assembly point".
If the Sirens howl, every resident is supposed to run to the Church. No, its not to pray for some divine intervention. Its to get to higher ground. IF the Volcano North of Vik under Myrdal glacier erupts, it will melt the massive ice cap, causing a "Jokulhaulp", which means.. Glacier Run.
Icelanders are no strangers to this, and entire villages are swallowed in seconds. So every town, in the shadow of a glacier, has a protocol, with a designated safe place. Drills are frequently held, to ensure everybody is safe within the prescribed time.
However, for now, the volcano sleeps. Its the much bigger Bardarbunga which growls a hundred kms away, but that story is for another day.
Today, we just head on, admiring the fire shaped landscape
The rain lets up a bit, and we take a short pit stop
Black sand extends till the eyes can see, and the highway 1 runs through, arrow straight over a newish bridge. We are in the wastelands of Katla. Every few decades, Katla erupts. Considering, there is about 700m thick ice sheet sitting here, it means a massive Jokulhlaup.
In 1755, the discharge from the melt was about 300,000 cubic meters/second.
How much is that? Well its the combined discharge of Amazon, Mississippi, Nile, and Yangtze.
The Fury just flattens everything in its path leaving behind a flat floodplain
In 1918, Katla spewed fire for 24 days, and the southern coast of iceland was extended by five kms. This land is truly born of fire, and ice.
Far north, the glaciers sit, and when the earth breaths fire again, it this entire floodplain will flow with water and sediment.
This soil is quite fertile though. And grass grows everywhere
The primary "crop" of iceland is grass, for the sheep mainly, which outnumber humans 4 to 1.
WE proceed forward, for the road is long, and our next stop is quite interesting. Its quite amazing, how in different parts of the world same customs arise. In Ladakh, Buddhists pile on stones, to be conduits for the spirits. Here, there is Laufskalavarda, where countless stone cairns stand.
It all started in late 9th century, when an eruption swallowed the farm Laufskalvar, and all that remained was a mount(cairn). Since then travelers have been making small stone cairns. Over centuries most stones have been depleted, so the road authority moved a large supply to this place so that the tradition could be continued.
We cannot stop here for long though, its raining still
As we move on in Katla's shadow, lava fields come into view. These black rocks have been swallowed by moss, and the entire landscape looks like the alien world of Half life
And in this ancient field stands a weather station. Countless stations like these give accurate wind readings and ensure a very accurate weather forecast, atleast for the next half day.
WE have come seventy kms now, and taken 90 minutes to do so. Even though the road is fast, and traffic almost nill, frequent stops mean you can't just hurry Iceland. But if we want to reach before nightfall, we must make haste!