Kerlingarfjöll | Murray Foote

Day 73. 11th September. Kerlingarfjöll to Landmannalaugar, Highlands, Iceland.

Driving along a very damp cold backcountry road, I came across a group of people and horses beside the road and stopped to see what was going on. It was autumn, winter was approaching and they had found a very late season lamb that would not survive left to its own devices.

I was driving from Kerlingarfjöll south-west along the F35 or Kjölur route and we are near the Hvítá Bridge. Later I would take a sharp left turn along the 32, F26 and F208 for my nighttime destination of Landmannalaugar. The green area around Landmannalaugar is the Fjallabak Nature Reserve.

Holding on to the lamb was one thing; they also needed to hang on to the ewe so it did not run off and leave the lamb separated from its mother.

So the horses waited patiently while this was happening.

One of the people asked me if I could transport the ewe and lamb in the back of my vehicle to a nearby barn and I was happy to agree. In any case, the lower interior was aluminium and easy to clean.

So here, the ewe and lamb are unloaded from the camper while a sheepdog carefully watches on to ensure that nothing is amiss.

Heading into the barn.

… where there were a number of very charming Icelandic horses.

A little later, I watched the sheep being mustered to more suitable pastures, perhaps their winter pastures. This is the bridge over the glacial river Hvítá. Not far away on the left is Hvítárvatn (or White Lake), a lake fed by the glaciers Suðurjökull and Norðurjökull (So, I presume, North and South Glaciers) of the icecap Langjökull.

I continued on my way. The rain grew heavier so I did not stop to take many photographs. This image and the next one are views of the Hvíta River to the south and west of the road, taken twenty and thirty minutes respectively further along the F35.