Abroad · By 4×4 · August and September 2021
Iceland 2021, six weeks in a Chevrolet C30
Four years after the Jeep, the return, behind the wheel of a 1963 truck. The Faroes in our wake, then fords, Askja and Kverkfjöll, Mælifell, a week with family, a volcano waking up and two breakdowns overcome.
- Duration
- Six weeks · 14 August to 22 September 2021
- Crossing
- Denmark · Faroes · Iceland, by ferry
- Highlight
- Fagradalsfjall erupting
- Vehicle
- 1963 Chevrolet C30
14–18 August
Dunes, ferry and the Faroes
A lovely morning in the North Sea dunes, around the sand-swallowed Rubjerg Knude lighthouse, then the C30 boards the ferry at Hirtshals. And off we sail.
A stop in the Faroes: tunnels between the islands and under the mountains, sheep, a few rays of sun and some damp moments, the Gásadalur waterfall dropping into the ocean, the Drangarnir stacks. Total change of scene.
The journal1963 Chevrolet C30, the workshop journalThe garage · 1963Read the journal →
19–21 August
The East, from waterfalls to glaciers
Hello Iceland. First day from Seyðisfjörður to Laugarfell: the first waterfalls, a first hike and, to end it, a soak in the hot pot. A rainbow settles over the blue bonnet.
Then the track towards Snæfell and Eyjabakkajökull: fords, bright moss, flowers tucked into green cushions, the grey plain below the ice. In the evening, the cabin of wood and velvet closes around us.
22–24 August
Stuðlagil, Askja, Kverkfjöll
Stuðlagil, Askja, Víti, Kverkfjöll: just naming them is a journey. Each time, we choose to reach the sites on foot. The turquoise canyon between its basalt columns, the great Askja lake and the milky blue of the Víti crater, the sulphur colours of the ground.
Higher up, Kverkfjöll and its ice front mingled with ash. A friend joins us with his big black pickup: two trucks side by side in the middle of nowhere. A cairn watches over a lake, the track runs under the bonnet, and Herðubreið, the table mountain, towers over the lava.
26–29 August
The North-East, and the clutch
We follow the weather, and the weather keeps us in the far north-east, where the sun shines. Húsavík, a white church with a red roof, mirror lakes, Arctic Henge and its standing stones where the sun sets on 27 August. The C30 poses below an orange lighthouse, and in the evening, a little fondue, because why not.
Basalt arches, cliffs, Grenivík on the shore of Eyjafjörður. On 29 August, Emmanuelle takes the wheel for the first time. Six minutes and thirty-two seconds later, the clutch breaks. 'Not your fault, Emma.' Twenty-four hours stopped to weld it all back together.
1–2 September
Vestrahorn, Jökulsárlón, Skaftafell
Another sunny Icelandic day. An orange lighthouse at the end of a fjord, then Vestrahorn mirrored in the black sand of Stokksnes, sculpted into dunes by the wind.
The next day, a 'wow' day: jökulls and lagoons, the blue icebergs of Jökulsárlón, then a splendid 17 km hike at Skaftafell, finished in the dark. On the way, the little turf church at Hof.
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3–4 September
Laki and Mælifell
The sun has hidden, but luck stays with us: a waterfall behind the bonnet, the Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon, then the Laki craters lined up in an ocean of moss.
Mælifell at last, a perfect cone of green moss set on black sand. Twelve kilometres of hiking to go for a swim, despite so-so weather: pleasantly surprised. The C30 poses at its foot, with its driver.
6–11 September
A week with family
A week with family, very, very full. The Kerið crater, Strokkur erupting, Gullfoss in the spray, Hveravellir in cold rain, then Siglufjörður, where we see our very first northern lights.
More sun and more falls: Goðafoss, Dettifoss, Selfoss, a stop at the Mývatn pseudo-craters, and to end the week, Kirkjufell and its horses. Magical.
12–19 September
The volcano, the breakdown, the rainbows
On 12 September, the immense luck of an eruption nobody expected: Fagradalsfjall had been asleep for a week, and here it is spitting lava fountains again. The same day, the bad luck of a breakdown, just as unexpected. The C30 stays at the garage.
Two rather tough days, no rental car to be found, rotten weather, then the smile returns: rainbows to chase, an old boarding school turned hotel with its 25 m pool of hot spring water, humpback whales off Hólmavík. Still without the Chevy, we go back up to the volcano at night: in one week, some twenty metres of extra lava have filled the valley.
20–22 September
The blizzard, then Seyðisfjörður
On the road again. The C30 is fixed, just in time for the ferry. Iceland, land of extreme contrasts: we wake at 2 degrees, drive through a blizzard on the pass down to the fjord, and two hundred kilometres later, Seyðisfjörður welcomes us under a fine sun, at 15 degrees.
One last little hike, one last waterfall, the last blueberries. On the map, the route circles the island and dives into its highlands. Thank you, Iceland, for all your gifts.
