The tour I signed up was expensive. It was to be a drive in a 4x4 vehicle into
the mountains of Iceland near the small village of Djupivogur, Iceland. The
excursion lasted about four hours. The
monster trucks were ready, and the convoy head onto the main highway of
Iceland. The Ring Road, Þjóðvegur 1 or Route
1, travels around the exterior of settled Iceland. It is a nice road, but the bridges are meant
for only one car at a time. So, you
better be well versed in the etiquette of driving on such a road. The group saw waterfalls, beaches, and areas
created by volcanoes. It was interesting
navigating the narrow and rocky roads.
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| It was a sunny morning when the ship entered the harbor of Djupivogur, Iceland. |
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| One of the lighthouses of Iceland. |
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| These mountains were the result of volcanic activity (now dormant) and glaciers. That's part of the convoy for agroup ahead on the Ring Road. |
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| Our first stop was a toilet provided by a local farmer (an enterprising individual). |
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| This is a river bed leading to the ocean. It fills when the snow melts or when there is a heavy rain. |
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I was riding shotgun in this truck. It required a step ladder to get into it.
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| The convoy of trucks moves from the "ring" highway to the crushed rock to go into the mountains. |
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| The caravan stopped first to see a local waterfall. It was hard walking on the stone pebbles. |
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| The driver encouraged us to drink the water from the melting glacier. It was crystal clear. |
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| We continue up the mountain. I was able to shoot this of the vehicle in front of us. |
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| It was a little scary going up the mountain, but coming down was even worse. |
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| We made the walk to see this waterfall. |
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| Again, I had trouble navigating the stones to reach the waterfall. |
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| The ring road circles the nation of Iceland. The bridges are one-way. Drivers must yield to oncoming traffic on the bridge. |
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| One of the last stops was another waterfall. These sheep were grazing in the mountains. |
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| The final waterfall of the day. Again, the stone was hard for me to navigate. |
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| The farmer who owned this land was using the stream to generate electricity. |
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The volcanoes in this part of Iceland are dormant.
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| We made a short stop to admire the local beaches. |
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| It was a sunny and surprising warm day. Many folks were enjoying a walk on the beach. |
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| The caravan returned us in time to board the tender before the ship set sail for Reykavik. |
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| We went over many bridges. Here's how the bridge is labeled that is coming up. By User: (WT-shared) Grunkhead at wts wikivoyage - Own work, CC BY-SA 1.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23297235. |
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| Here's Highway 1 that surrounds the country of Iceland. It is 821 miles in length. |
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| The Vatnajokull Glacier is the glacier producing the water from the streams we visited today. This glacier is the most voluminous ice cap in Iceland, I've seen both the "fire and ice" for which Iceland is famous. |
