I Am A Polar Bear

Since I’m on the subject of pools, I’m going to carry on and introduce you to the revamped geothermal pool at Húsafell in the west of Iceland. Not that I ever went there pre-revamp so I can’t compare it to what it used to look like but it’s been on my to-do list for years and I was very happy to get the opportunity to try it out.

Húsafell is a tiny settlement up the valley three-quarters of an hour or so from Borgarnes. There’s not a lot going on there – it’s not so much a settlement as part of a country estate, a little more than just a farm but not yet a village. In the heart of Húsafell is a hotel and quite a large one considering how far it is from civilisation, a swimming pool, a lot of holiday homes, a campsite, a golf course and the meeting point for several tours, including the ones onto and into the nearly Langjökull glacier, lava caving trips to Víðgelmir (which is on the list for Thursday’s blog post) and to the new and relatively little-known Canyon Baths (on my to-do list for this summer!) and even its own airfield. I was on a day trip from Reykjavik to Víðgelmir – the only person on the bus going there, mixed in with everyone else being ferried to Húsafell for various glacier adventures. My cave trip would be much shorter than their glacier trips, which meant I’d have an hour and half to kill once I got back from it. Our driver-guide, Margaret, offered me four options: I could go for a little walk, I could go to the hotel and have a drink, I could sit in the bus with her or – the one I’d already picked – go for a swim at Lindin. Well, the tour was called Lava Cave and Geothermal Adventure, so what other option was I going to go for? It’s a little galling that there isn’t actually a geothermal adventure included in the geothermal adventure tour but I suppose if you’re not into hot pools, you might choose a stroll or a drink. On the other hand, if you’re not into hot pools, why book a geothermal adventure tour? Lindin, by the way, means “springs” or “source”. I’m astonished to have not come across the word before but most pools are “laug” and most hot springs and geysers are “hver” (Icelandic doesn’t distinguish between the ones that erupt and the ones that don’t, despite the word geyser coming from the Icelandic name “Geysir”, meaning “gusher”).

My cave driver, who’d taken me from the Húsafell car park to the cave and back, dropped me at the swimming pool rather than at the bus. It’s all of 150m between the two but it saved me having to get out my phone and try to figure out where the pool is, although I still did have to figure it out because cave guide Gareth is relatively new to the area, had clearly never actually been to the pool and wasn’t sure whether it was the thing opposite the hotel or whether it was within the hotel complex. For clarity, it’s the small building opposite. It costs 3800 ISK (£22/€26/$27) for an adult single swim so it’s really expensive for what it is but it also does multi-swim tickets which presumably work out cheaper and you get a discount if you’re staying at the hotel. Most days it’s open 3pm – 8pm, except on Saturdays when it opens at 11am, so by arriving at 3.02pm from my cave adventure, I was the first person there. Most public swimming pools are strictly phone- and camera-free but I wasn’t sure whether this counts as a public swimming pool so I asked at the desk. The boy on reception seemed utterly confused by the question but eventually said it wouldn’t bother him if I took pictures, as I was the only swimmer.

I get the distinct impression that this pool is mostly used only by guests at the hotel – there are no lockers in the changing rooms, so they’re presumably not expecting people to turn up laden down with phones, wallets and cameras. If you’re not staying at the hotel, you’re probably here for a tour and not hanging around the tiny settlement either before or after. Even though the changing room was empty, I had no idea how long that would last and so, to be sure of their safety, I put my valuables in a drybag and brought it out to the pool with me. Other than that, I don’t entirely dislike hanging my clothes on a couple of hooks instead of piling them into a locker and I always prefer to take my compulsory showers in an empty room instead of surrounded by strangers.

My one criticism, really, is that you have to run down the stairs from the changing rooms to the pools and in winter, when there’s a mix of ice and grit around, that’s quite unpleasant on bare feet. Had I known, I’d have brought my water shoes. I’d been at Hvammsvík only the day before and one thing I’d learned from my first visit is that you need shoes to run between the pools, so it’s not like I didn’t have suitable shoes with me, but they were back in my room in Reykjavik. I’m sure Lindin is just fine in the summer when there’s no ice or grit but in winter, you’ll want something on your feet.

There are five pools and a sauna. The biggest pool is a relatively short shallow swimming pool, the second biggest is about half the length, a little warmer and meant for bobbing around in, there’s a raised hot tub set into the side of that pool and my favourite is a dish-shaped pool overlooking the lot. The fifth pool is a cold plunge next to the sauna. In older pre-renovation photos, these pools are a normal bright blue but these days, they’re almost more of a mint-green, which gives it more of a spa-like vibe than a municipal pool vibe. Of course, getting it to yourself on a winter day, with a backdrop of snowy mountains and a sunset gradually turning the sky pinky-peach will never not add to the beauty of an outdoor pool.

I sampled each of them in turn. The dish one is closest to the changing rooms, halfway down a little flight of concrete steps, so it’s always going to be the one you scurry to when you’re cold. The two other warm pools are at the bottom of these steps and then it’s more steps down to the swimming pool. I only had an hour – or so I thought at the time!! – otherwise I’d have done some actual swimming. But when you’ve only got an hour and four pools to try out (because I’m not a cold water girl, especially in December), you don’t have the luxury of swimming lengths. The dish is the shallowest and has a random short pillar in the middle. Normally this would be a fountain of some kind but as far as I could see, it was literally just a pillar. It’s very useful for popping a camera on top of for selfies!

My trip to the hot tub, the little raised rectangular one, was short. It’s just a hot pool with benches down the sides for sitting in. I’m definitely more inclined to bob around, so I went quite quickly into the big lounging pool below. This one is fun because it starts quite shallow at the steps but imperceptibly becomes deeper until about shoulder-depth. I quite like to stand in hot water, leaning on the side and looking out at a view like that. Langjökull is less than eleven miles away to the left and there’s a mountain ridge right in front. Iceland’s not really as mountainous as you might think – all its mountains are actually volcanoes and the highest is only 2,110m high. It’s lumpy rather than properly mountainous and although there’s nothing particularly big in the vicinity of Húsafell, it’s quite picturesque, especially in winter. If you’re going to enjoy the scenery, this is where you want to enjoy it from, even if it’s more comfortable to lounge in the dish.

And then, yes, I tried out the swimming pool. It’s quite shallow, it’s not quite as warm as the other pools, because it’s meant for exercise, or play, or being reasonably active – more active than you’re meant to be in the other pools, anyway. It’s shallow enough to stand up the entire length of it and at the far end is a little hut that I assume contains the pool plant. It’s not the prettiest thing. Because you’re lower down here, you don’t get quite the same spectacular views as in the higher pools. No matter if you’re swimming but I was here for lounging and for enjoying the views that I hadn’t realised I was going to get.

At four o’clock, I had to get out. I was due back at the bus in time for the rest to return at 4.30 and I overestimated how long it would take to get dried and dressed and in particular how long it would take to walk back to the bus. I measured it on Strava. It took two minutes and fifteen seconds to cover 160m and that probably included pausing to put my coat and gloves on along the way. It also took less than ten minutes from climbing out of my dish of warm water to leaving the pool complex, so I was back at the bus in plenty of time – and then they were very much later than intended and stopped for comfort breaks and snacks before they returned to the bus. I watched the clock the entire time, mentally calculating about every ten minutes how much longer I could have had in the pool – at least another hour, probably more.

I don’t have any particular plans for my camping trip to Iceland in the summer but I think I’d like to stay a day or two at Húsafell, go to this nice pool again and take a trip out to the Canyon Baths. I suspect Húsafell is a very interesting place to stay, providing you do a little research before you get there. I have been before, either in the summer of 2014 or the autumn of 2017 – I have photos of nearby Hraunfossar and Barnafoss from both trips but no evidence of stopping at Húsafell. Admittedly, without any plans there or having done any research, all I did was prowl the car park for a few minutes, discover a cafe and depart again but I’m slightly surprised I didn’t take a single photo there, if for other reason than to remind myself that I’d been there. So I’ll be going back and seeing what else the area has to offer, and on Thursday I’ll tell you all about the nearby cave.