Ulfjotsvatn, Iceland

July 2022

First thoughts

I feel like there’s no better place to begin this travel blog than the first foreign trip I’d made in over three years. At that time, I’d had given up even planning my travel trips, and despite my mum regularly asking me ‘where are you going next?’, even I began to feel like I was letting my travel bug slip away.

Then an opportunity to go to Iceland with National SSAGO (Student Scouts and Guides Organisation) and SAGGA (Scouts and Guides Graduate Association) came up, and I leapt at the opportunity, even though I had no idea what to expect; whether it’d be a student drinking trip, an expedition, a glamping trip, a gigantic scout camp, or a traditional adventure experience holiday. The answer was none. It was different to anything I’d done before.

I booked my place and rewatched one of my favourite films, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, to get myself in the mood. I’d spent a day in Iceland with my grandmother back when I was much younger, and I was very excited to see what a return trip would offer.

Day one

Following an overnight stay in a Scout Hall in Luton, we set off with an early morning flight from London Luton Airport (one of the many airports with ‘London’ in the name that isn’t in London). I remember being excited to board a flight for the first time since 2018, and despite about 2 hours of sleep, my excitement was visible. The flight was fast and straightforward, landing in Keflavik, Iceland’s only international airport. My first impression of Iceland was its atmosphere – it felt like driving into a painting where the only colours the painter had was green and grey.

One thing I never fully understood looking at Iceland on a map was the size of the country – it’s significantly larger than Ireland and nearly as large as Cuba. Our campsite in the village of Ulfjotsvatn was a couple of hours from the airport, which is surprisingly close on a map of Iceland to Iceland's capital, Reykjavik. The other thing that struck me about the geography of Iceland was how difficult it can be to get from place to place. For example, to get to Ulfjotsvatn from Reykjavik without a car, you would have to take a bus to Selfoss, the largest nearby town, and either take a taxi or walk the remaining 23 miles. Say what you will about UK public transport, it does allow you to get from one place to any other place…eventually.

We arrived at Ulfjotsvatn Scout and Adventure Centre, our home for the next week. Ulfjotsvatn is the National HQ for Scouting within Iceland and hosted an event called a 'World Scout Moot' back in 2017. We were the first British Scouts of any kind to visit the centre since the COVID-19 pandemic, which meant we were temporarily of importance and were required to travel in uniform and not consume alcohol during the trip. After a quick tour of the campsite and its activity areas, we pitched our tents right on the shores of Ulfjotsvatn Lake. Curious to work out how well I would sleep in the tent, I asked one of the instructors from the centre what time it gets dark around this time of year in Iceland. He responded with “it doesn’t”. It was then that I understood why an eye mask was a compulsory item on the kit list.

Images
- Top Left: In full uniform in London Luton Airport.
- Top Right: In flight from Luton to Keflavik

- Bottom Left: The entrance arch to Ulfjotsvatn Scout and Adventure Centre

- Bottom Right: Our camping set up on the shores of Ulfjotsvatn Lake

Day two

The week was made up of a range of activities, which made up a full ‘programme’, a mix of activities put on by the centre staff, on-centre, external activities organised by our contingent leader, and free time. This began with a full group hike up and out of the centre, up a local hill called Ulfjotsvatnfell. This was my first real encounter with the Icelandic flies. Before I flew to Iceland, one of my colleagues had asked “Are you prepared for the flies? I’ve heard there are really bad flies in Iceland”.

It’s safe to say that I had no idea what she was on about, at least at the time. I certainly did once we set off up Ulfjotsvatnfell as it turns out Icelandic summer brings out flies that would put Scottish midgies to shame. At the top of the hill, we got a fantastic view of Ulfjotsvatn Lake, and stopped for a few photos, before heading down back into the centre for lunch. The hill also featured a surprise that wouldn’t be found on many British peaks; a paved road for cars to run up and along the top of it, connecting up to the main road that we had walked along at the start of the morning.

In the afternoon, we had free time, so a few others and I walked the width of the lake eastward, to Ljosafosss Hydroelectric Plant. The Hydroelectric Plant was very scenic, and there was a small, but very interesting exhibition called Powering the Future, attached to the plant. In this museum, I learnt some very interesting things, including that Iceland generate all their power from renewable energy sources – only Hydroelectric power, wind power and Geothermal power. I was impressed; while it might be challenging for a country with a larger and denser population and a larger energy usage amount, Iceland proves that transitioning entirely to renewable energy sources isn’t impossible.

Returning to the centre for the evening, I wandered around the Ulfjotsvatn area and came across a local thing of interest – a genuine Icelandic hot spring. Walking down from Ulfjotsvatnkirkja Church, I found a small stream leading down into the Lake. After looking at it for a little longer, I suddenly noticed that there was steam coming up and out of the stream – and then I put my finger into the stream to find it was hot, but not boiling. About the same temperature as the water that you’d handwash dishwater in. The stream ran down into the Lake, where a small stone circle marked out a bath of warm water you could take if you were very desperate for a bath.

Images
- Top Left: The view of Ulfjotsvatn Lake from the summit of Ulfjotsvatnfell
- Top Right: Ljosafoss Hydroelectric Plant
- Bottom Left: Ulfjotsvatnkirkja Church

- Bottom Right: Uljotsvatnkirkja Hot Spring bath

Day three

On day three we spent the day doing onsite activities at the Centre, which were interesting enough. Split into groups, we took a kayaking trip onto Ulfjotsvatn Lake, which was an incredible experience, paddling up to the Islands within the Lake. In the afternoon, took part in a climbing session at Iceland’s tallest climbing wall. It’s a staggering ten metres tall, and possibly also Iceland's only climbing wall. Lastly, we did my favourite, archery. The activities were all facilitated and delivered by Ulfjottsvatn’s activity team, who came from all over Europe and were there as part of a season-long volunteer scheme, similar to other international Scout and Guide centres.

After these activities, we headed over to the Scout Museum, which lay just outside the main Scout Centre and ran as its own operation. The Scout Museum, or Skátasafnið Úlfljótsvatni, was operated by one man, who lives in Reykjavik and opens the museum up in the week. Inside were all manner of Icelandic scout uniforms, as well as a little history about Iceland itself. Being grown adults, we instantly leapt at the opportunity to ask him about the volcanoes of the country. He talked to us about the Eyjafjallajökull eruption that brought European air traffic to a standstill back in 2010, but he didn’t seem particularly phased by it, saying “We experience eruptions all the time”. He pointed to an area on the map not too far from Ulfjotsvatn and explained “There was an eruption here last year…not a problem in Ulfjotsvatn”.

That evening, I decided to acquire something that I’d been missing up until that point; a fly net. It might not have been my best look but it certainly helped with the general experience of walking around. A group of us then took a walk to a nearby waterfall as the sun set, one that has no real name, but I’ll call it 'Ulfjotsvatnfoss'. Given that we had our first big day out the following day, I decided the best thing to do would be to wander around the campsite with the group from the waterfall fairly aimlessly in the evening light, before looking at my watch and realising it was half past midnight.

Images
- Top Left: Uljotsvatn climbing wall, the tallest climbing wall in Iceland.
- Top Right: Uljotsvatn archery range
- Bottom Left: 'Uljotsvatnfoss'
- Bottom Right: My tent near Ulfjotsvatn Lake at 12.30 am

Day four

We had an early morning start followed by our first coach ride out to Solheimajokull Glacier to do a walk across the top of the glacier. Having a fear of heights and climbing, I was slightly anxious about this activity, even though I’d been told that it’d be fine. As we left the Ulfjotsvatn area for the first time since our arrival, I was truly struck by Iceland’s landscape; it was open, it was barren, yet somehow very warm. Then, as my height-related nervousness came to a head, we got our first sight of the Glacier. And then we pulled up. Almost immediately. With the Glacier in the distance, we walked for roughly twenty minutes, before reaching the bottom of the Glacier and putting on our helmets and crampons. Now armed with a helmet, crampons on my boots and pick-axe, I felt like action man and more ready to take on the Glacier.

Once we reached the top of our tour, I asked our guide from Icelandic Mountain Guides why the car park was so far from the Glacier. In response, she said that when they first opened the tour company in 1996, it was at the bottom of the Glacier, and the Glacier had retreated that far in that time. Hundreds of meters. Unfortunately, due to global warming, this glacier no longer advanced during the winter season as it simply didn’t get cold enough anymore, and retreated more than ever during every summer season. My joke that ‘the Glacier won’t be there forever’ when picking between the Glacier walk and the Reykjavik City Trip, didn’t seem so funny anymore. Our guide showed us a set of chains running down drilled holes in the glacier set up by the University of Iceland, which marked glacial retreat by the day.

After coming back down off Solheimajokull, we got back on the coach and stopped off at our second waterfall of the trip; Skogafoss, a huge 60-metre fall just along from the Glacier. It was an incredible waterfall, which you can walk behind – I wouldn’t walk under it though, that would be unpleasant. The closer you got to the fall, the more spray you were covered in, and I only got as close as I dared.

Images

- Top Left: Solheimajokull Glacier from the base
- Top Right: Myself on the Solheimajokoll Glacier

- Bottom Left: Skogafoss
- Bottom Right: Myself at the base of Skogafoss

Days five and six

Day five marked our last full day in Iceland, where we would embark on the Golden Circle Tour. The Golden Circle Tour is a tourist trail of notable geological features in the Southwest of the country, beginning and ending in Reykjavik. This tour started with the coach taking us up north out of Ulfjotsvatn, past Ulfjotsvatn Lake’s neighbouring lake, Thingvalliner, which is the largest in Iceland. My eyes were opened upon seeing Thingvellir, the first time in my life I’d seen a lake where you can’t see the other side, so it could be mistaken for a sea. Our first stop was Thingvellir National Park Visitor Centre, followed by a walk down towards Oxararfoss, another waterfall.

We then drove on to something quite unusual; Hrafnagja, which, to the untrained eye, looked like cliffs that met in the middle of nowhere, next to the road. Turns out they were a little more than that, a point where the North American and Eurasian Tectonic Plates meet, and it’s visible from above ground. We all decided that it was an excellent photo opportunity and moved on to one of the most famous attractions on the tour; Geysir. Geysir Geothermal area turned out to be more than one Geysir, it was several. Visiting the Geysers, and learning a little more about what they were and why they were, was very interesting. It was geared up for tourists, with each geyser roped off, well maintained and even given a little name plaque. It even had a very touristy shop, where you could even buy yourself some ‘Fresh Icelandic Mountain Air’ to take home with you.

Last but not least, we visited the culmination of Iceland’s various waterfalls, Gullfoss, the country’s largest waterfall. Gullfoss was huge. Gullfoss has two huge drops, surrounded by enormous canyon walls, it doesn’t look like the traditional image of a waterfall in the same way Skogafoss does. There were multiple viewing platforms to watch the fall from, including one that reached over above the main flow of the falls. To get a good perspective of the size of this waterfall, the people standing at this particular platform look like little dots in comparison to the fall, when taken at one of the higher platforms.

We returned to Ulfjotsvatn Scout Centre, to start to pack for our return trip, which would begin at 4 am the following morning. Packing our tents up, we had a brief sleep (probably what some people would call a nap) before taking off on a 2-hour coach ride back through Reykjavik back to Keflavik. Along the way, from the coach, I saw more geysers, far from the others we'd seen, and I began to wander just how many interesting things I'd NOT seen in my time in the country. From Keflavik, we took a plane back to London Luton, before I blasted across London back to Chingford, where I lived at the time, relieved to be back in a country where I could read the signs, but not so relieved to be experiencing the UK’s July 2022 heatwave.

Images

- Top Left: Myself at the Hrafnagja View Point
- Top Right: The main geyser, Geysir, at Geysir Hot Springs
- Bottom Left: 'Fresh Icelandic Mountain Air' at the Geysir Centre Shop
- Bottom Right: Gullfoss

Final thoughts

Iceland is a country that feels like nowhere else I’ve ever been. Other people will probably tell you that if they’ve been there too, and if you say to them you’re planning to go there. The lifestyle is simple, and the people of Iceland, at least that I spoke to, welcomed the tourism that the country generates, with visitors coming from North America and Europe, to see some of it’s amazing sites. If cities aren’t your thing, then Iceland probably has it – hikes, climbs, museums, views, waterfalls, history, geology and daylight. Lots of it.

I’d highly recommend a trip and I’m keen to go back. Just remember to pack a flynet.

Useful Links

https://ulfljotsvatn.is/en/ - Ulfjotsvatn Scout Centre's homepage
www.visiticeland.com/ - Iceland's official travel website
https://guidetoiceland.is/ - Guide to Iceland transport website
www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/iceland - Travel advice for Iceland
www.south.is/en/place/ulfljotsvatn - Visit South Iceland's guide to Ulfjotsvatn