Continuing my round trip around Iceland - today we travel from the North West (Akureyri) to the South East (Stafafell, nr Hofn). This was a really long day (approx 350 miles/563km), so I will tackle only the morning in this post.
For those wishing to catch up:
Day 1 [here](https://steemit.com/travel/@adamfryda-art/photography-12-iceland-in-february)
Day 2 [here](https://steemit.com/travel/@adamfryda-art/photography-13-storms-sunsets-and-a-whale-tail-iceland-day-2)
We left before the sun was up, knowing what a long journey we had ahead of us today - made longer by my continuous compulsion to jump out of the car and take photographs at almost every turn (damn you Iceland for being so beautiful and photogenic!). Again, we followed road 1. Our first stop was approx 30-35km outside of Akureyri. After our failed attempt to reach it yesterday, we actually made it - Godafoss!
<center>
The waterfall of the Gods</center>
The sun was just up and we were the only people there - not a common experience around Iceland's many waterfalls (normally there's a crowd!). Godafoss (literally 'waterfall of the gods' in Icelandic) is approximately 30m across and 12m high. Much was covered in a sheet of ice while we were there and great care was needed to approach it safely.
Legend tells of the lawspeaker Thorgeir, returning from the Allthing (see day 1) and throwing his norse gods into the falls. It was around the year 1000AD (this was a symbol that Christianity had now been adopted as the official religion in Iceland).
After this dramatic location, we travelled to lake Myvatn - popular with tourists with many natural volcanic features and locations to visit.
<center>A frozen lake en route</center>
<center>
Volcanic cones jutting out of Lake Myvatn</center>
Apparently the lake itself was created from a volcanic eruption some 2300 years ago. Lava, pillars and cones are common around the whole area...
<center>The 848 road along the south of the lake (Road 1 takes you around the North side)</center>
<center>Volcanic pillars, by the lake, give the whole place a prehistoric feel</center>
As you drive around the lake you notice a small volcano-shaped hill in the distance. It gets bigger as you get to the Eastern-most side of the lake and you realise just how big it is. This is Hverfjall, one of the largest volcanic craters in the world (approx. 1 km in diameter!)
<center>
Hverfjall - not today my friend...but i'll be back!</center>
There is a track that you can follow to get to the slopes. A sign by the entrance to this track reads something along the lines of: 'warning: there is no vehicle recovery beyond this point'. We choose not to risk getting stuck so far from our next cabin and after a few more photos we continue...
As we head away from the lake and towards a more hilly region, an earthy sulphurous smell becomes apparent, the colours of the soil change and, just like that, we enter another world. I posted one photo a while ago as a 'colorchallenge' entry [here](https://steemit.com/colorchallenege/@adamfryda-art/colorchallenge-6-monday-red-the-red-earth-of-jorandur)
<center>
Some hot springs come with warnings - no swimming in this
one due to superheated regions in the water!</center>
<center>We stop at the top of the hill to look back on our journey so far...</center>
<center>...and to look forward to the journey that greets us...</center>
Just on the other side of this hill we notice two things that take our breath away simultaneously. Firstly, the world beyond is flat, desolate and white, with a single road disappearing into the distance. Secondly, the hill is breathing! This is Namafjall and the earth here speaks...
<center>We were not expecting this on our journey. Our jaws dropped!</center>
<center>Bubbling mud pools and rich golden soils come and go in the mist</center>
<center>My friend Carl filming a furious [fumarole](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fumarole)</center>
<center>
We'd become so used to the colours of snow and ice that
these soils seemed unbelievably vibrant</center>
45km later, we drive alone through an endless expanse of white, not quite sure that we'd actually seen all that back there. Maybe it was some bizarre hallucination? Now, we are back to chasing waterfalls. For a long while we are not sure we are following the right path as we see no othere vehicles going in either direction. Then, as we follow a turning in the road, we find ourselves in a car park full of people!
We have come to see Dettifoss and Selfoss. These two waterfalls are fed from Iceland's largest glacier, Vatnajokull, half a country away.
<center>
Alexandra on a boulder</center>
<center>
Some of the landscapes here are truly strange but beautiful</center>
<center>Dettifoss, partially iced up</center>
Dettifoss is reputed to be the most powerful waterfall in Europe! It is about 100m wide, with a drop of 44m, and is the largest waterfall in Iceland. Further upstream lies Selfoss, a smaller fall at only 11m high. Still impressive though!
<center>
Selfoss in the distance. This is as close as we could get along
the edge. It became very icy and treacherous further up!</center>
After a short walk back to the car, in knee-deep snow at times, we settled in for a much longer journey. We were departing the flat North and heading South and East now, to the rugged and mountainous coasts...
<center>We said our goodbyes to the flat icy plains and awaited our meeting with ice giants ahead</center>
Day 3 to continue...
Adam