Direction was given by our CO that he wanted something different for Adventurous Training this year. I ended up with the task so spoke to WO2 “Shippy” Shipton, as our resident JSMEL, about interesting multi-day treks. Shippy – with a big smile on his face – suggested the Laugavegur Trail. Not wanting to show my ignorance, I asked where was this and he smiled again and said Iceland!
The trail itself is 4 days long and is an unsupported trek as there are no vehicle tracks in unless you have one of those Icelandic “super jeeps” and feel like having a go at a Top Gear special. Iceland consists of 40,000 square miles of volcanic wilderness with only 330,000 people and two thirds of them live in the capital region of Reykjavik. So a whole lot of big empty! Also Iceland is notoriously expensive.
Fast forward seven months and somehow a group of ten Reservists from 4 LANCS are at Manchester Airport waiting for a flight to Keflavik in Iceland. I am the organiser (so have the bag of tens of thousands of Icelandic Krona), Shippy is there as JSMEL and CSgt Lee McDowell as a Mountain Leader. Following the kit check the night before Lee was already considering doing the trek solo!
Having provided much needed education on trekking to a couple of people, the group was now ready for the off. After a night in a hostel in Reykjavik we shuttled the group in our trusty, battered hire Toyota Land Cruiser up to the trail start point in Landmannalaugar which is the centre of trekking in the southern Highlands of Iceland and lots of geothermal activity. The journey – much of it on gravel track and some on much worse – took three and a half hours one way so the whole group took ten hours plus to get in place. But it was definitely worth it. At Landmannalaugar we found a few cabins and many tents in the centre of volcanic, snow-capped mountains – definitely one of the most picturesque places I have ever seen. Evening meals was a chilli, tuna pasta and then stand by! We heard accents from literally all around the world as Trekkers, both solo and in groups, were present in big numbers here.
The next day the trekking started with Kgn Luke Irving already carrying a toe injury from a hot spring related accident. Following a quick medical review by our medic, Pte Tanya Stafford-Jones, he was good to go. As she is a vet in civvy street, he was perhaps scared she would put him down! The first day was through some solidified lava fields. This is a very unusual kind of terrain and many thought they could have been on the moon. However, the fact it was permanent daylight in Iceland meant many were having trouble sleeping so we could have been hallucinating.
The next few days saw the group moving through distinctly different terrain. Each day was a striking contrast to the one before. The second day saw the trail go across the mountain tops and through snow fields littered with crevasses before making camp on the shores of Lake Álftavatn. The weather had been kind and the sun was shining on the lake as the group planned to do some local hikes in the evening. In an effort to increase the already high morale I decided to bring in fresh supplies and made a delivery of bread, hot dogs, choccy bars and a can of beer each. The route in was somewhat ‘emotional’ and (just in case the hire car company are reading) I was much obliged that we had a Land Cruiser that worked under water!
Day 3 saw the group moving though a high altitude, black sand desert. The terrain seemed never ending with a number of river crossings. These rivers were glacial - so freezing cold and moving extremely fast. Indeed there were fatalities each year from people trying to cross them unprepared so we had rehearsed river crossing drills repeatedly – which turned out to be a good plan for the final day. On that day the trail led down into lower hills which were full of steep ravines and canyons. The last hill was the toughest of them all with a brutally steep gradient. From the summit our hire 4x4 could be seen marking the end of the trail. Unfortunately between the two was the River Krossa, the most dangerous of the whole trail. This river was a challenge to even the Icelandic super jeeps and had warnings everywhere not to cross on foot unless fully prepared and even then only in a few safe(r) places. The river was fast, deep and cold but both four man teams used the correct drill and made it across. Kgn Andy Lock and Alastair Bowes both said the river crossing was the highlight of the trip and a fitting final challenge!
From there the 4x4 dished out supplies of pop, dough nuts and sandwiches before the hour long shuttle trip to the village of Hella. Here our aptly named overnight accommodation, the Hostel Hella, reminded Shippy of the Bates Motel from Psycho. However, it was clean with ample hot water and morale improved further when I drove everyone to the nearby pizza shop for a well-deserved meal.
The next day saw a drive back to Reykjavik. Cpl “Tommo” Thomson had recovered from a sense of humour failure after losing his flip flops in the river and was back to enjoying driving our trusty Land Cruiser although he was still very jealous of the super jeeps dwarfing us in size! An afternoon in the group thermal pool of the Blue Lagoon followed and the evening ended with tapas of traditional Icelandic dishes for most of the group. Fus Carl Herbert preferred to sample the local beverages and was the lucky winner of several free drinks in a pub on the way home. We think he must have managed to talk to more strangers than everyone else combined during the trip!
The next day was an incredibly early transfer back to the airport. The trip had been fantastic and the terrain very different to that which most of the group had ever seen before. The trail was so remote it highlighted the need to be well prepared and self-reliant and everyone was justifiably proud that they had completed what they had set out to do.
Nick Kennon, Maj, Bn 2ic, 4 LANCS
