Fjallavatn hike

I haven‘t seen half of the famous landmarks of Vágar anyway. There is also another big lake, Fjallavatn. Differs from yesterday‘s lake for it‘s smaller size and not being so often visited.

A narrow road from Vatnsoyrar leads to the beginning of the trail. When the paved part ends there is a parking spot on the right side and there starts a mud trail. Today it‘s ice-trail. I have a problem with staying on my feet the moment I step out of the car so I put crampons in my bag just in case. Someone has recently walked on the trail and cycled a bit earlier. Slow going on the icy trail but easier next to it on turf.

The lake comes into view in a wide valley, on the mountain sides are a few summer houses. The goal is to go to the other end of the lake and look down into the sea. A couple of times I have to wade through rivers. The rubber boots are fine with that and trousers turn out to be so water resistant that they don‘t even look wet. The shore is flat and rocky. It snows a bit but the cloud disappears as fast as it came. Sun is warm, no wind. I have two shadows on the turf, one from the sun and the other from the reflecting light on the water.

On the other end of the lake is some wet ground and some small ponds and streams. The ocean is far below. Left and right opens a view on peaks like horns. The river that accompanied me spreads itself on the boulders and jumps then down into a canyon so deep that I cannot see the bottom of it.

It would be possible to walk back along the other shore but there is shadow. So I use the same way and sit on a rock in the sun to eat peanuts and raisins. A new cloudful of snow arrives. The path over pasture is now a real ice rink and I put on crampons. Crunching happily the last stretch goes fast.

There is still enough light to have a look at the funny-shaped Tindhólmur that does not count as an island, at Stóri and Litli Drangur and the waterfall Múlafossur in Gásadalur. Gásadalur was connected with a road only in 2004. Until then it was possible to access the village either on foot, by boat or with helicopter. The postman walked twice a week over the mountain and I initially planned to use the same route. Now I visited the lake instead. No idea which trail was nicer but it definitely was cool by the lake in the snowy sunshine.