Tom surfing on a wave on the Jökulsá í Fljótsdal with a saucepan and Bean Feast
Tom surfing on a wave on the Jökulsá í Fljótsdal with a saucepan and Bean Feast
A short paddle on Lagarfljót
Another slow start, this is becoming a bit of a habit. We pack up the tent after several days by the side of the Jökulsá í Fljótsdal and cannot resit one more go on the excellent surfing wave.
Tom goes to town, and gets on the wave, in his Pyranha Mountain Bat, equipped with a saucepan and a BeanFeast for a photo shoot. BeanFeast have given us a case of BeanFeasts for our trip, so we hope to be able to send them the slide of Tom surfing with some kitchen utensils and a BeanFeast.
Rob, in a Pyranha Master, trying to surf on a wave below a radial sluice on the Lagarfljót
We eventually get off, and head down to Lagarfossvirkjun. We have heard there may well be a good play spot here from some Icelandic paddlers we have met. Lagarfoss is a massive slide that could be paddled (perhaps) but at the end there is a nasty vertical drop and stopper, so we give it a miss. It looks even worse than the slope on the upper Skaftá we saw last week.
Way above the drop, there is a roadway across the Lagarfljót and under the road is a set of huge radial sluice gates. There is one open, and it looks like there could be a good chance to surf the wave. After a lot of debate, I get on alone, and shoot under the radial sluice. I have several goes at getting on the wave, but it is far too shallow and fast so it turns out to be a bit of a disappointment. We do get some spectators though, and have quite a chat to some passers by.
As we leave, a routine Landrover underside inspection finds that the overdrive gear box is hanging on by a thread. Out comes the toolkit, and we tighten up the bolts. Also fiddle with the steering gear, as the steering appears to still be very loose. The overdrive gets relabelled as the Hyperdrive.
Rob, in a Pyranha Master, below a radial sluice on the Lagarfljót
Now camped on the hill between Egilsstaðir and Seyðisfjörður. Since we arrived in Iceland in June, the road between Egilsstaðir and Seyðisfjörður has gone from being a bumpy gravel track to a tarmaced surface. It might be all exciting a macho to drive about in a 20 year old Series II Landrover on bumpy gravel tracks, but it is certainly much more comfortable to drive on smooth tarmaced roads.