To Jökulsárlón and back pt5, THE FINAL PART I SWEAR

Ok, we'll finish this trip now! :D 

When travelling east on the ring road, there are two stretches of nothing nothingness. The first one begins after Vík, the second desert will begin right after a small town called Kirkjubæjarklaustur. You should make that one your pit stop as well because after that it'll take a while before you'll see another toilet.

Lómagnúpur, if I'm not badly mistaken. Admire that zoom in the left photo! The blueness of the mountain means that I took the photo roughly at the same spot as the first one of this entry, only zooming as close as I could get.

Here's that beauty again. Reaching it means you have now reached the Vatnajökull glacier.

Fiiinally!

Looking to the side, this part of the glacier's called Skeiðarárjökull and it's famous for having very destructive jökullhlaups, or glacier floods. Looking at that shimmering stretch of ice worked in funny ways in my brain and I kept thinking I was seeing a huge wave of water headed towards the road, a feeling that was only made worse by the optical illusion of crashing waves that the bright sunlight worked on it. To make matters worse the road curves softly towards the glacier, making it look like it's drawing nearer...

Near Skaftafell there's a reminder of just how strong the glacier floods are and how fragile the road that's the lifeline of Iceland.

This used to hold up a bridge but then it took a glacier flood to the knee. Now it's left there as a memorial.

Photos can be clicked larger for a better idea of what happened here not so long ago.

O hi there, highest peak of Iceland! If you're good at hiking/mountain climbing you can try reaching this one. I know at least of one office that arranges day trips there. However, when they say you better be experienced and fit they're not joking.

AND THEN SUDDENLY

Jökulsárlón!

This is where meltwater from the glacier runs to sea.

In the summer the place looks even more magnificent with the water being more open and less cluttered with floats of ice.

All those shades of blue!

We found a little ice bird. :3

There are two sides to Jökulsárlón. The actual bay and then this, the sea side.

The size of those waves!

I think the tide was coming in.

After this we drove home to Rvík, all five hours that it takes. On the way we passed a trollish snowstorm at about Vík that had probably just laid there in wait ever since we escaped it on our way to the other direction.

All in all, I'd say Jökulsárlón is well worth the visit - but it would be better to take two days and not just one, just so that there would be enough time to see everything there is by the side of the road on the way there.

Here's that highest peak of Iceland again.

And another one of Jökulsárlón.