Day 71. 8th September. Kerlingarfjöll, Highlands, Iceland.

.

This was beside the road.  Looking closer at the image it appears to be a couple of wooden rooms tacked on to the front of an older turf house.  I’ve no idea what the structure in front is and whether it related to the house or even the right way up.

.

The road from Geysir to Kerlingarfjöll is an “F-road”, a four wheel drive road.  This is part of the Kjölur road, or the ancient Kjalvegur route between north and south Iceland, frequently used as a route to and from the Alþingi (Althing).  Rental companies prohibit you taking two-wheel drive vehicles on such roads.  It wasn’t as rough as I had heard but that may depend partly on how used you are to driving on rough dirt roads.

.

Another turf house or storeroom.  Note the more modern farm buildings in the distance.

.

And this is just the foundations of another.  These first three images are all at the same place.

.

A rainbow tries to peep over the ridge in a barren Icelandic landscape.

.

A landing field in the middle of nowhere, windswept and austere.  This is beside the F347, the side road to Kerlingarfjöll.

.

A little further on the side road into Kerlingarfjöll, this is Gýgjarfoss, the Waterfall of the Ogress, with a storm building up.

The ogress in question may have been Hallgerδur who used to cast a spell over the region so that travellers used to lose their minds or lose their way.  This stopped when a man called Ólafur shouted out her name.  He then disappeared into the underworld to marry her and she turned out to be a lovely elvin woman.

(Click the image to see it larger).

.

Looking to the north-west and a broad barren plain with the river Joekulkvisi, coming from right to left.

.

Minimalist landscapes.

.

.

.

This is probably close to the lodge beside which I stopped for the night.  The river feeds through the gap at the right distance, which you can see more clearly in the next image.

.

.

.

And lastly, a few views up the valley towards Snaekollur (1477 metres) as the weather contemplates closing in and the clouds come in and out.  Heavy rain was on the way.

.

If you click on this last image, it opens up to a larger size than usual, 1900px wide rather than 1024.  Even so, it is very small compared to the full size of the panorama.
.