Iceland - Day 2

Rjupnavellir to Afangagil

11 miles / 400m ascent

Going to bed early was definitely a good idea, I needed the rest desperately. I set 3 alarms, but I was so nervous I woke up 3 times during the night. However, this gave me the opportunity to check out the sky at 2 am - bright and gorgeous colours - weird but absolutely stunning. Getting some breakfast before the restaurant officially opened was a lovely surprise, getting on the bus that would take me to my starting point was beyond exciting. At exactly 8.30 a.m., I officially started the Hellismannaleið trail from Rjúpnavellir.

The views of Hekla volcano and the surrounding area were superb, humbling, and intimidating. Considering it usually erupts every 10 years and now it's 2 years behind schedule is a bit scary but until I hear a big BOOM I won't worry about it.

The path was easy to follow; there were white painted markers every 50 meters, clearly showing the way. It somehow hasn't yet sunk in that I was hiking in Iceland .... FREAKING AMAZING ICELAND, but I'm sure it will soon. The local mafia, aka mutant flies, didn't give me a lot of time to stop and enjoy the views for long, but my buff doubled as a ninja face-covering, so all good. Crossing the only bridge of the day was a lovely moment. The rest were small streams that could be hopped over and one small river that had to be crossed with swimming shoes. Luckily, it was just below knee height.

The scenery on this route ranged from stunningly green to completely desert-like The ash fields were an experience, white as far as the eye could see with random rocks sprinkled all over the place. No wonder there are so many legends about trolls. You started seeing shapes of people and animals everywhere. My favourite was a sleeping cat I bet you'll agree. I think this was the moment I realised where I was and what I've decided to do feeling over the moon happy and challenged.

Getting to the waterfall exhibition, aka Fossabrekkur, gave me goosebumps, so I decided to have a lovely break there, just breathing it in. Having a small snack with this view was fantastic. Being snacked on by the local mozzies not so much. Luckily layers and a 'whatever' attitude works wonders.

This was followed by a long stretch of a dry valley where you could see jagged lava, WOW. I was entertaining myself with the most amazing game: touching the markers and making different kinds of high-pitched noises, like 'PING'; I promise you it was funny when I got to 22.

Crossing the dirt road to Landmannalaugar was uneventful, but at around 3 p.m., I could see a dust cloud approaching, which turned out to be a large group of 4x4s leaving the area. I read in my mini guidebook that I'll be crossing an 'ugly gully', it was with a big surprise to realise what that actually meant. A very steep descent on loose volcanic stone followed by an ascent on the same terrain. I wasn't taking chances, so I sat on my rear end and slid down with a giggle. Getting out involved less giggling and more grunting but all good.

Once I saw my destination, Afangagil huts, the grin almost split my dirty face in half. Finding out that I could camp here and they had SHOWERS with WARM water was almost a religious experience. To make my day extra special the lady looking after the place, Sonja, and her daughter, Bryndis, didn't just show me around they let me ride in their 4x4 (driven by a 13-year-old), let me look inside the grass-roofed huts and even invited me inside their hut for a chat, amazing cake and lots of giggles. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your kindness and most amazing Icelandic welcome TAKK. After a luxurious hot shower, I enjoyed the silence with style and a couple of billion flys. What a brilliant way to kick off this adventure. YEAY