Welcome to a new series for 2019, The A-Z of Iceland. These will be out every two weeks and will cover subjects from the truth of the Icelandic banana to abolished letters to sagas. We’re going to start with A for Álftavatn.
Álftavatn is the second campsite on the Laugavegur Trail if you do the traditional four day hike. You can skip Hrafntinnusker and come straight here or if the weather’s really bad you might go on to the smaller more sheltered site 2.3km further on at Hvanngil.
It’s my favourite of all the campsites. It sits at the bottom of a long descent, outside the Torfajökull caldera, although it’s still surrounded by a ring of mountains. I like it because it’s big and open and there’s a lake. The mountains were green and black when I was there, patched with snow. It just felt peaceful there.
In terms of what other people enjoyed about Álftavatn, it has a bar and restaurant. I didn’t go myself but I think it’s a pretty rustic bar and I know it’s ridiculously expensive – but then, alcohol always is expensive in Iceland and Álftavatn is very remote. It’s not like it has regular lorries delivering the booze. But the thing people really appreciated the night I was there was the TV, although I believe it was actually a laptop hung precariously on the wall. It was the World Cup and it was the day Iceland played Croatia. Beer and football is always going to make you fond of a campsite.
For me, another positive was the showers. There had been no showers at Hrafntinnusker the night before and owing to a problem with the water supply, there were to be no showers the next night at Emstrur. This was technically the only shower along the trail. I was there, in the backup car, by early afternoon. I shouldn’t have left the shower until late evening because by then everyone had arrived, pitched camp, eaten, settled in and was ready for a hot shower. I waited on the decking with a dozen people for nearly an hour before my turn came. My shower had boiling hot but kind of weedy water. Apparently the shower in the other side could barely manage lukewarm. But it was a shower and it was good to have right before climbing into my tent.
It was probably the coldest of the campsites. It was our first night under canvas. Half the group had no idea how to put up a tent and everyone else, arriving several hours after me on foot accidentally set up camp on absolutely the other side of the field. But I liked Álftavatn and if it wasn’t for the first day’s hike I would want to go back again.
Next time: B for bananas
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