Kayaking Iceland. After spending nearly three weeks in Greenland (click here for Greenland Pictures) I headed back to Iceland. After a bit of rest and relaxation I flew to the North Weat of Iceland to an area know as Hornstrandir. I took the last tourist boat of the season over to Hesteryi with my  Feathercraft K1 kayak. After paddling out of Hesteryi I didn't see another person for 11 days. (for more kayaking trips click here)

icelandmap opt.JPG (255751 bytes) A map of Iceland  - click on it for an enlarged view shows the area I went kayaking
Iceland-kayak_map opt.JPG (433981 bytes) Hornstrandir map showing the kayak and walking route (big file)
camp hesteryi opt.JPG (50679 bytes) Camp at Hesteryi, a mostly abandoned village, but with a few houses used as holiday homes in summer. Time to assemble the kayak.
coping with the wind opt.JPG (98577 bytes) Coping with the wind at Camp 2 - I was there two nights waiting for the weather to improve
headland opposite opt.JPG (34296 bytes) Headland on the other side of the Fjord from Camp 2
beach-landing-opt.jpg (84930 bytes) The rocky beach at camp 2 - difficult to land and launch at low tide because of the seaweed.
uphill from camp opt.JPG (64672 bytes) Looking uphill from camp 3 - waterfall camp. I spent three nights here, it was the starting point and end point of my somewhat unsuccessful attempt to walk t the Horn
fjord from above camp opt.JPG (279460 bytes) Looking out into the fjord (at low tide) over camp 3 - because of the shallow end of the fjord I had to time my departure right (but still had to drag the kayak a fair way)
lazy way to wash clothes opt.JPG (61418 bytes) Camp 3 - the lazy way to wash clothes - just drop them into the waterfal and let a few thousand litres of water clean them!
view towards horn opt.JPG (49340 bytes) After a day and a half out of my waterfall camp - I had walked a mere 15 kilometres - it was very rough. This is the view down into Hornvik.
balanced rocks opt.JPG (40667 bytes) Some of the very new geological landscape on the way to Hornvik - which is what made it rough.
the horn opt.JPG (39742 bytes) The Horn - my goal on my walk, but it was another 6 kilometres and I was nearly out of food, and had at least a day and a half walk back to the kayak. I gave up and turned south.
ready to cross opt.JPG (82104 bytes) Getting ready to cross the river flowing out to Hornvik - the water was a balmy 3C - one of many river crossings - boots around my neck!
sheltering out of wind opt.JPG (61941 bytes) After a nice sunny day previously it good cold, and very windy. I was sheltering out of the wind. I was very tired climbing up towards a sadlle that would lead me eventually back to camp.
the saddle to cross opt.JPG (53354 bytes) The saddle I had to cross. The ice band caused me problems - I had to crawl up remains of recent landslides to get to the saddle.
the many lakes of hornvik opt.JPG (54792 bytes) Looking down and North to the many lakes of Hornvik
the-crossing-to-Isafodur-op.jpg (62376 bytes) Looking across the 15 kilometres of fjord I had to cross to get back to Isafodur - it took me three hours
   
   
Iceland  links Hornstradir