Supertramp 2014

My body sweaty and stiff as I stumble out of a cramped minibus taxi smelling of alcohol, vomit and 3 drunk Vikings –one the driver-! My backpack got heaved out of the door behind me by two pumped up locals! I closed my eyes for the dust to settle while the taxi made its escape over the lush green landscape. And then silence… It felt unreal, months of training and a bit of planning got me here; northern Iceland! I was not nervous or anxious but ready and willing to start! I noticed a sheep glaring at me with its “know it all” eyes looking rather disapproving.

The previous four days I spend jumping from expensive bus to expensive bus crawling slowly over the landscape. Heaving my full backpack, duffel bag, and wagon along as I go..

My gear consisted of food, 4L of benzene and a backpack with all my essentials from my tooth brush to 5 pairs of socks! And then I also had a good amount of non-essentials from an emergency bag to ropes for river crossings. My food consisted of; 8 cookies, 2 breakfast bars, 3 50g bars of chocolates for lunch, a slice of bread and a mix of pasta and coes coes for my lovely dinner! All this was about 48kg! So it goes without saying that maybe that sheep did know more than me when I was swaying in the endless wind.

Day 1, the start.

A foot at a time I started to walk to my real starting point Hraunhafnartangi, it was not far. It felt almost unreal standing there looking over the endless dark blue oceans north of me and knowing the next time I see an oceans I would have succeeded… It was still rather early in a country where the sun doesn’t set so I headed on, spending the first night at the true northern point of Iceland I was followed and har

assed by Artic terns for the next 3 days constantly and as it stopped the steady south eastern wind and a light drizzle made its appearance. It was rather surprising to discover my new rain jacket did not repel any water and in a few minute I was wet and freezing. It became apparent that rain and sleep will become a real obstacle in the welfare of my health.

I crossed Asbergi and entered my first nature reserve called Jökulsa Nationalpark. I headed up the river passing Dittifoss -the biggest waterfall in Europe- and Hljodarklettar with its stunning tube rock art formations! These were extremely wet days and ice cold nights. I was aware a bad storm that was heading my way. In the other hand I was quite looking forward to the storm and was not hindered by the local’s advice to wait it out. As I saw it Europeans and Vikings are highly scared of anything and everything, but I was from Africa and I needed to make a point of the roughness of the African people! But mostly I did not have the resources to wait it out...

It was in drenching rain, strong head winds and hunger that I made it to Reykjahlid. (Reykjahlid is a small lake town where my stashed food was hidden.) I had to stay there a days for numerous reasons, mostly it was because the storm that gave me grandma fingers had devastating effects on my route. With high snowfall, mudslides and the most dangerously high water levels, I had to rethink my route.

The next day I headed off in beautiful post rain weather with the real part of the trek lying in front of me. I had my wagon, my 24 days’ worth of food and a brand new route! The local guides and wardens wasn’t impressed with my new route but I figured they did not like the idea of the hike altogether. While I was walking out of the town a bus full of Italian tourist got a hold of me and a long photo-shoot ensued! My moral was high and I was excited to be alone walking again, driven hard every day, with lonesome days sneaking up on me.

I was now in the unknown... The terrain turned into a green carpet as I followed a river called Skjalfandafljot. My plan was to sleep at a hut called Storatunga the 9th night. But the plan was foaled by a small local family living there! They were shocked to see me as were I, funnily enough nobody knew how to handle the situation. It felt like a wild western scene with the mom calling back her curious children and the dad came out to greet the stranger. This I felt extremely unwanted so I made my apologies to family and went on my way...

I started to cross ice cold river after ice cold river as I headed into the highlands. A long and intimidating place; hill after hill of desolate and dead desert, broken up by old lava, snow and mud fields! The days and nights did not exist and all I did was sleep, eat, and walk with no real changing of time. It was an easy and minimalistic life with nothing to do than the necessary! The days went on, leaving the greenery far behind me with only rocks that lay in front.

Halfway problems: The wa

gon gave its last helpful breath as I heard the cracking sound of breaking metal! Bummer! It took me a long morning of packing everything into my bag but I got everything in and on. Now I was suffering! And it never got better… But I did love the freedom of movement the wagon less walking gave me! Around this time I also got a present from Thor himself! Endless rain! This rain will continue for the next 11 days! It kept my head down, cold and truly soggy! I entered Tungnafellsjӧkull mountain range and left a day later via my first real hut -Nÿidalur. By now I lost a good amount of weight and every day is harder than the previous and its getting really tough to keep doing my 22km a day.

I was still missioning though the brain dead and unchanged highlands, so my eyes are only fixed on my feet day in day out! The rain was constant and evident in my health. I started to get sick on rotten food and freezing nights. My energy was revitalized every odd hour with a chocolate bar which gave me power for approximately 30 minutes!

I started the Lugavegar trail on day 18. Heading into my second set of mountains, getting lost in thick mist was a common occurrence! My hardest days where in these mountains where it’s brutally cold with its wiping gale force winds! I was miserable! Cold, HUNGRY, sick, sore and painfully alone were the name of the game up there! Sadistically enough I really enjoyed these portions of my trip!

The rain was starting to slowly subside when I entered Thorsmork valley. I was finally out of the highlands, and back in a strip of deep green forests! I took my first day off drying out my gear for the first time in days. It was a beautiful day with the two volcanos called Asja and Eyjafjallajӧkull towering over me. I had 2 days left of walking and I was keen to get it over with!

Between me and the sea was one last mountain ridge to get over. After the sunny day my moral was high but when on my 2nd last day the rain started again… Again I was wet cold and lost high up in the mountains. My tent broke the same day but I got ignorant thus I started the day without fixing it. This concluded me getting lost for 3 hours in a whiteout very late the afternoon with the only real solution will be to get down. I luckily got half way down the mountain before I set up a damp camp.

Day 27, the last push! I woke in a normal misty morning in Southern Iceland. I slowly descended through icy mist, contemplating how it will feel to have ended. I took a break in though just as the mist suddenly opened up like a flash of lightning! I could see the ending of an idea, a dream, an adventure, but mostly an end to a personal obsession! I could see the deep blue ocean stretching before me like a carpet of living ripples… I succeeded!

My sincere thanks to the generous donor of The Supertramp Award who made this adventure possible!

http://cen.mcsa.org.za/home/supertramp