Hverir, Krafla and surrounds

While we were in Myvatn we heard that the Bardarbunga volcano was threatening to go off. This meant that the ring road was in danger of being closed completely. So, we speeded up our plans slightly, but still had most of a day to explore the weird world around Hverir and Krafla.

Basically there’s a big magma chamber under this area, and it gives rise to lots of activity.

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The pool above (hot) is no longer allowed to be used for bathing.. unfortunately, though I believe it was used in the Game of Thrones TV series for where Jon Snow and Ygritte had a nice eve together.

Anyway, lots of boiling mud and sulphurous pools. Very end-of-the worldish. Not unlike Wai-o-Tapu outside of Rotorua (well worth visiting if you’re in NZ)

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There’s a power station at Krafla now. Well, a second one.. the first melted when the fissure erupted again ;)

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We did do a quick walk around Lierhnjukur, which is a crater and still very steaming area. Pretty much everywhere you go the ground is hot and steaming. Not a good place to build say, a summer getaway house… but an interesting place to visit!

Finally it was time to high tail it out of the area before Bardarbunga went off (it did go off… pictures here (well worth a click) : http://mashable.com/2014/09/11/iceland-bardabunga-volcano-eruption-photos/. The threat was that the volcano would flood a huge area, and the particular place (Dettifoss) that we had planned on visiting and hiking in the area.

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So off we drove towards the East. Staying in Seydisfjordur for the night.

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