Day 18. On to the eternal ice

Apparently it rained all night. At least, I was awakened this morning by the familiar, lovely melody of raindrops on the tent roof. Since I had something booked for the afternoon, I turned over and went back to sleep.

It was a smart decision to schedule the trip to Skálafellsjökull in the afternoon. It rained until 10:00 am. Another advantage was that the wash house wasn't as crowded anymore. So, under the light sunshine, I drove another 82.5 kilometers to the east. I passed the location that I will visit tomorrow halfway through the journey. Here's a little preview.

First, I drove past the starting point of the glacier tour. One thing you have to free yourself from here in Iceland is that such events are already visible from a distance or are signposted in time. It looked like a farmhouse with a few barns and a semi-finished concrete building. After 85 kilometers with nothing else in sight, I turned around and drove back. By the way, turning around on unpaved shoulders or rough gravel driveways no longer makes me break out in a cold sweat.

Upon closer inspection, the semi-finished concrete building turned out to be the check-in point for various leisure activities. After making sure I was in the right place and showing my booking confirmation on my phone, I was given a coffee to pass the remaining waiting time. Half an hour later, it arrived, the monster.

A custom-made vehicle according to the owner's wishes. The front part consists of a Chevrolet truck, and the rear part consists of some big American van.

It stands on wheels in tractor tire dimensions with a ground clearance of 70 centimeters. The four wheels are powered by a V8 diesel engine with almost seven liters of displacement and a little over 300 horsepower. The air pressure in the huge tires can be changed during the drive to move forward even in deep snow. I couldn't find out anything about the transmission; the driver wasn't very talkative. My tour guide was, however. Tamara from Austria was happy to comment on the ride in German again. She told me that it had snowed on the glacier this morning but now the weather was just right. I was even luckier to be the only participant on this tour. There's always less going on in the afternoons. It's astonishing that the tour still takes place at all. The monster has certainly blown away the equivalent of 77 euros just by starting and giving it some gas a couple of times.

We started by driving a little back on the Ring Road and then onto the F985, a gravel road into the mountains. The road partly leads very steeply and has some hairpin turns to climb upwards.