August 7, 2000
Like The Moon
It was more than a chilly start to the day what with my boots wet from walking through the river yesterday evening and it would be cold under sunless and overcast skies to well after midday. The scenery was unbelievable. At midday I am right in front of Mount Heidubreid, shortly before crossing the large Kreppa glacier river. Just as well there is a bridge. The surroundings became more unusual and it became hard to ride at times due to loose drifting sand over what was once a river of flowing lava. All around were large lava rock outcrops of weird shapes. And onward was a sandy plain increasingly blanketed with yellow pumice, small light porous stones which had fallen and settled on the setting lava; like burnt coals having been thrown out of the mouth of the volcano. Centuries of wind blown sand had formed dunes, shaping the landscape. If all the sand and pumice were cleared to the side, underneath there would be a solidified black river of lava with large waves the rock outcrops: the only part to emerge above the sand and pumice.
With the sandy nature of the track, riding the bike was extremely difficult. By 6 PM I reach a tee with the F88 track and go left with 13 km remaining which took almost 3 hours. The mountain massif at Askja had been a distant blue ridge at midday was now just ahead black and light brown. I arrived shortly before 9 at the mountain huts at Askja feeling really tired, but saw a landscape that looks like the moon.
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