Þjóðvegur 1. Hitchhiking Around Iceland – Part V

My journey on the Icelandic road no. 1 - Þjóðvegur 1 - took place in May. A lot of time has passed and it's high time to finish the series! During this summer I visited quite a lot of places in Iceland, which are also waiting to be described. So let's go back to "the one"!

Last post ended in Akureyri, the "capital of the north", which I just left along with Chris - an American, who took me with him a few days earlier in the south of Iceland and with whom I actually, as it turned out, visited the major attractions of the island. At the exit from the city there was a girl with her thumb up. Chris asks me:

– Should I stop?
– Sure thing!

Turned out it was a russian girl. It's quite exciting to be on the "other side" of hitchhiking, where you decide whether or not to stop, you have no idea who that person will be, what stories she brings with, where she comes from, what is important to her, etc. Technically I was a hitchhiker myself at that moment, but at this stage of travelling with Chris I no longer really felt that way. As I know the basics of Russian, I served as an interpreter, as our companion spoke little English - it was a lot of fun and a source of satisfaction for my. It was also a real gymnastics for my brain, which had to move between the three languages (after all Polish also crept into the thinking process here and there).

The northern part of Þjóðvegur 1 does not offer many places with infrastructure for stopping and sightseeing, but the views while driving are equally, if not more captivating than in the east and south. The spaces are even larger, and the landscape continues to surprise and change every tens of kilometers. Driving through the fabulous expanse of the ocean of landscape we come across a huge field with dozens, if not hundreds of Icelandic horses!

We took a detour to the Vatnsnes peninsula not long before the place where the road begins to turn south, entering the western part of Iceland.

Driving at a turtle pace along the gravel road we stopped at Borgarvirki. These are the ruins of a basalt fortress built here more or less during the christianization of Poland (966 A.D.). Nobody knows why and who built this citadel here. The ruins themselves do not make a great impression, although knowing that there are thousands of years old changes the perspective a little bit (although they were partially renovated in the 20th century). However, their location is great as it was built on a hill. After climbing the walls there you can see a huge panorama. Apart from the mountains and the sea, one can also see a enormous lake from the top.

Following the gravel road you will reach the correct reason for our detour from the main road, which is Hvítserkur. It is a 15-metre-high lonely rock that grows out of a black beach typical for Iceland. Legends say that it was a troll who did not like the ringing bells of the Christian church resounding on the island and who was caught by the sunlight, which turned him into a stone!

Contemplation of the stone troll's shapes was actually the last thing we did before returning to the capital. Chris had to hurry to get to the plane, and on the way to the south there were not that many things to watch. At least not without detouring on the Snafellsnes peninsula or West Fjords, about which you will have a chance to read quite soon ;)

The last few hours have passed on a rather quiet, contemplative ride, which in my case sometimes turned into naps. The closer to Reykjavík, the more bad the weather was getting. The rainy noon, to which I got used living in Reykjavík, reminded about itself pretty quickly. I fell asleep surrounded by beautiful, sunny and clear views of the north to wake up in the dark, gloomy part of Iceland.

Chris drove our Russian friend to the bus station and me to my house. The next day we met just before his departure for the airport and visited the city flea market - finding a sweater made of Icelandic sheep's wool at a reasonable price would have been nice! No chance! I thanked Chris for those few days spent together. Going on a lone trip to Iceland he probably did not plan to spend his holidays with.... another guy :D We got along so well that we still have some contact to this day, sharing comments from the world of politics or some news about the upcoming Tool album... It was really fruitful journey! I finally felt that I grasped and understood a little bit more of this beautiful land of Iceland.