Day 43: Glaciers, Icebergs and F Roads

We had a nice lie in this morning and didn’t get up til 8am. A quick breakfast at camp and then we walked straight to a glacier.

We didn’t get to touch it or go on it because it is sadly melting. The water that melts from the glacier runs underneath the glacier and veins out into a web of rivers, much like the effusive volcanos. Therefore, there were many small and large rivers of freezing water that prevented us from getting to the glacier itself. Furthermore, those little rivers or lakes (if the water aggregates on flat land with no outlet) have icebergs!

Mark was so kind and took off his shoe (modern day Cinderella) and stepped in the cold water and grabbed an iceberg for me so today I held my very first iceberg!

Yes, the icebergs are fun to watch and they’re beautiful. They glisten in the light and are even more fun to discern shapes of than clouds! But, it is sad. The existence of icebergs are the breaking off of part of the glacier. Some icebergs warm so much from the sun that they break off even more from each other and float down the river and eventually end up in the ocean. Each glacier here has receded exponentially since 1890. I hope the next generation will get to see these glaciers, even just one. Their ephemerality make them even more of a beauty. If you haven’t seen one, do yourself a favor.

We completed our 7hrs of driving today on an F road. F roads in Iceland are gravel roads. They can be treacherous off-roading and some car rentals ban a short list of F roads. We were on one today & it was a blast. We crossed a series of rivers, one of which Mark held his breath while driving over. The land is largely flat on either side with large glaciers or volcanos jutting up from every horizon. Think Jurassic Park. Iceland is the size of what US state? Answer at the bottom. What’s Iceland’s population? Answer at the bottom. Sheep, cows and horses adorned the edges of the road again today. They amble along without looking up at us.

Camp is lovely. We had a beautiful little hike to a waterfall.

It’s 10pm and bright as day out. 5am wake up with an 11hr drive ahead of us. Last full day in Europe!

Seep well, wherever you are!

M+D

Kentucky. Did you guess that small?

375,318. Tiny, right? So as you can imagine we’re not seeing many people (besides tourists) or homes for that matter. 1.7 million tourists last year!