moving piem

Leaving Reykjavik

Eshamy, a 15 meters ketch, will try to sail both North West and North East Passages this year, and was looking for a crew in Reykjavik. So I thought I would join them for a bit. Jeffrey, the captain, is from Yorkshire and in his seventies. Kathrine is from Australia and Alex is also from Yorkshire. Both of them are in their twenties.

We left Reykjavik to sail to Nuuk on Thursday. We had a beautiful sun on the first day, could spot a couple of whale fins, and even a few dolphins. The wind and the sea were pretty nice all the way to the Cape Farewell, from which we kept South to prevent any icy encounters. We had a lot of fog and a bit of strong wind around the Cape, then a calm sea all the way to Nuuk, which we reached after 10 days sailing. ... more

Just chilling

I thought hitch-hiking from the middle of the desert would be pretty tricky, but it ended up being even easier than on the Ring Road. The first car that I saw stopped by and its passengers, a French family of four drove me all the way to the Ring road.

I decided to go back early in Reykjavik to enjoy the city from the nice flat of Andie. Mike took me to the gym for a bouldering session, and I spent some time writing in the cosy cafés of the city.

I was getting my things ready to board for a plane to New York, contacting people there to find a crash space. But that was before I went to the harbour to check out the sailing boats...

Snow and steam

Thursday afternoon, I hitch-hiked to Skógar, about 150 km South East from Reykjavik. Five friendly Icelandic drivers took me on the way, including a grand mother, a mother of two young kids, a farmer, and two 17 years old kids. Summer holiday is starting in Iceland, and a lot of them were driving to their summer house.

The weather was pretty bad on the first day, hiking from Skògar to Þórsmörk. It was a good test for my tent, since it was the first time I used it under the rain. It kept me dry until the next morning, and I had plenty of space to cook and pack my bag under it.

The next few days I was lucky as the weather was just perfect. The massive glaciers and the colourful, snowy and steamy mountains were amazingly beautiful. I met quite a lot of people on the trail — the warden in one of the huts told me there are 150 everyday, up to 200 — but since I was going in the other direction than most of them, it wasn't really a problem.

On Sunday evening, I reached Landmannalaugar, had a bath in the hot springs, and went a little further West to camp near a little river, in a lava bed. On Monday, I walked a few kilometers more and started hitch-hiking in the afternoon, back to Reykjavik, after about 100 km hiking.

Mike leading

I spent the first few days in Iceland enjoying sunny Reykjavik and reconnecting to the net. Andie showed me her amazing work place, and I met her friend Rory.

Tonight, with Rory, Mike, and Ian, two other colleagues of Andie, we went to climb on a few rocks in Hvalfjörður, a couple of fjords North of Reykjavik. We had a beautiful sunshine over a sea of cloud and it was great to be back in the harness, belaying or climbing away.

I also bought enough food for 6 to 8 days, and my backpack is ready to go. Tomorrow I will go to Skògar to start hiking.

Entering the Inlandsis

After looking for a sailing, fishing, or cargo boat in Narsaq, Sisimiut, and Nuuk, I decided to give up on the idea of finding a boat to go further west. Maybe some sailing yachts will come up later this August from US. Some trawlers from New Foundland should also go back from Nuuk to St-John at the end of their fishing season in October. But two or three more months in Greenland felt a bit long.

So I decided to cheat a little and take a plane to Reykjavik. The flight over the ice sheet was really beautiful, and hitch-hiking from Keflavik to the capital was easy, thanks to a friendly couple of Swiss visitors. There is still no darkness at night here, but I was surprised to see so many people in the streets, so many cars — and big ones — around, and even a few trees in the street!

Thanks to my friend Andie who now leaves in Reykjavik, I am now in a wonderful wooden house in downtown Reykjavik.