Travel report Summer Trophy 2009

The Swiss couple Ursula Junker and Jürg Walker were succesful participants on both tours of the Iceland Trophy we have run 2009 - the winter and the summer version. The impressions of the summer adventure were written down by Ursula and framed with the photos of Jürg. For all fans of the Iceland Trophy - this is a must-read!

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Excerpt of the text:

Sunday, 16. August: Reykjavík - Kerlingarfjöll

We all meet at the Ísafold headquarters in Garðabær: Margit and Uli from Germany, Alessandra and Manuel from Italy and ourselves from Switzerland. Our guide is Jón Baldur, who we know already from the Winter Trophy, and therefore we are already certain that also this trip will be a delight. Our vehicles are ISAK 1 to 3, Land Rover Defenders with the same equipment as in winter (38" tyres and snorkels, which we will particularly need this time). Soon we are off. Jón leads us out of the city through the area of Elliðavatn and then onto the road along the hot water pipeline to Nesjavellir. The area is full of boreholes and pipes and everywhere steam rises to the sky.

We get the first encounter with a group of Italians traveling with less impressive Land Rovers than ours. They will cross our way several times in the future. We drive on to Þingvellir, where we get our first lesson in geology and history from Jón. We ask him about Hótel Valhöll that burned down recently. They have already turfed over the area where it once stood. After our first alfresco lunch amongst trees in the National Park our adventure starts in earnest. After a short drive on road 52 we take a track towards the interior. We reduce the tyre pressure to make the ride over the bumpy track more comfortable. The weather is nice, sunshine mixed with clouds and the occasional short shower, which makes the landscape quite dramatic.

To the north we are greeted by Langjökull, which we crossed in winter in ISAKs; somehow hard to imagine now. We drive south of Skjaldbreiður, a perfect shield volcano, towards Hlöðufell. Jón continues with his geology lesson and explains why it is obvious that this mountain was born under the ice during the ice age. The area is littered with stones. Our ISAKs have a high ground clearance, but Manuel does his best to find a big one to touch with the differential. West of Hlöðufell we get a glimpse of Hagavatn at the foot of Langjökull.