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| Thórsmörk has some spectacular scenery and this small valley leads up towards the glaciers which flow downhill from one of the ice-caps.. |
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| This is the valley glacier of Gígjökull and its glacial lake Jökullón. |
Úlfar
sat me down by his side. He had been one of the first people to drive
a vehicle through the Icelandic Highlands, crossing glacial rivers, deserts,
quicksands, lavafields, snowfields and everything else that Nature had
flung into the Icelanders` backyard. His years of exploration had paid
off and he now made a good living by taking foreign visitors around the
country in his Iceland Safari bus tours. Although few of his guests met
him, Úlfar Jacobsen`s name was known to many as one of the country`s
most distinguished modern explorers.
My planned
journey around the country was to take me into the highlands, through
the deserts and across well over a hundred unbridged rivers. Úlfar
seemed confident that my Land Rover and I would make the journey safely
but he was very insistent on one point - I should have a guide to take
me to Thórsmörk as I needed to ford the Krossá. I had
been warned about this river by other Icelandic friends. It was a killer.
One recent visitor had got his Range Rover stuck right in the middle of
the river and as the cold and fast-running glacial meltwater scooped away
the gravel from beneath the tyres, the vehicle sank deeper and deeper
into the water. In forty minutes it had vanished.
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