More amazing sights to see today as we visited the geothermal area around Myvatn. This above is a relatively new crater lake called Viti (hell) which was formed in 1724... We walked around the rim.. See the tiny people on the right hand side....there were no barriers!
Then , close by there is Leirhnjukur, a black compelling lava field which was the result of the eruption of Krafta in the 1700s and then again in the 9 years between 1975 and 1984. Pete and I found this area really interesting, the fact that it happened so recently. The above photo shows how the lava just flowed like water and the higher areas of ground were not affected, the contrast in colour was astonishing.
Pete took this photo of me in the most recent lava field, it covers 35 sq kilometres ...there was a lot of steam escaping and the ground was often warm to touch. The lava itself is a very porous rock that doesn't weigh much....really incredible experience.
Our next stop was Hverir, a large field of solfataras, evil smelling mud pools. These were pretty interesting but one of the books we had said to climb the adjacent hill, Namafjall, for splendid views over the area. Well, this was not an easy climb, in fact , probably the scariest I have ever tried....it was so steep and the ground so slippery, I ended up almost crawling up as my boots couldn't seem to grip the surface. We made it thought and the views were stunning. We can see why they brought astronauts to this area to prepare them for lunar landings...the whole area is so desolate.
We went right to the top.
We spent a more leisurely afternoon at the Myvatn Naturebath...beautiful pools of geothermal water...all very natural, there are rocks and stones under foot and views out to Lake Myvatn.
Before dinner we went for a stroll over to the church and church yard just next door to our hotel. You can't see the new church in the photo but behind Pete are the remains of the old church and over the lovely old wall that is in front of Pete you can see the lava that came right up to the church's door in the 1720s and then stopped!