ICELAND 2016 † HORNSTRANDIR 1
"Phantasmagorical Hornstrandir"
Part 1/5
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It was after a short night (2 hours) that I left to the north. Thousands of thoughts cross my mind during the 7 hours of travel. It is 3:40 pm when I drive along the immense fjords of the route 61 between Holmavik and Isafjordur . I touch the goal.
I arrive at 16:00 at Edda Hotel , I am in a state of fatigue rarely lived. However, I will have trouble sleeping, still driven by the adrenaline of the previous night and the stress of leaving all contact with the world in a few hours. Have not I forgotten anything? I have the impression of being on the eve of a departure on the moon and I struggle to find sleep. I only sleep 4 hours.
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Wake up at 6:00 am, check one last time my stuff before joining the port of Isafjordur . I park with caution because my car will stay alone for several days. I join some passengers who are already there, bag screwed on the back. Soon a great fellow of West Tours , bandana on the pirate-like head, invites us to embark on edge of BLIKI 2609
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The small boat is covered by a roof but there are some places outside on the back deck and I sit on the bench, too happy to breathe clean air and capture images during the crossing. We can see from here Le Boréal , one of the luxurious liner of the PONANT cruises specialized in polar expeditions.
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There are twenty seats inside the boat. Our friend from West Tours explains the trip and offers anti-mal-de-mer sweets ( a placebo I’m afraid). I will quickly understand why…
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The first minutes are pure happiness. The weather is cloudy but it does not rain. I sit, a box around my neck the other on my lap. The 70-200 allows me to capture details, the 17-40 the extent of the landscape that is offered to my eyes.
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A pyramid mountain as there are so many in Iceland or Faroe Islands . We cross some quiet birds, the sea is oil.
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Barely gone the reliefs are already impressive. That’s also what I’m looking for in Hornstrandir : mountains and cliffs.
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I capture this image of a zebra sky at wide angle but I gradually lose my means. The hollows are formed, the hull of the boat hits the wall of the waves more and more strongly. The coffee with the milk that I drank 3 hours ago makes me a thousand reproaches.
I am paralyzed on my seat, unable to say a word, I concentrate with all my strength not to let go of my devices but the boat moves in all directions, packs of sea pass over the roof and come to flood us. But what idea did I have to settle behind!
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Fortunately, after 2:10 of calvary (long!), The engine of the boat slowed its regime, we pass close to this rocky column.
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We finally enter the fjord I was hoping for: Hornvik . The landscape is unreal, very wild.
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Rock walls with strange shapes, fine waterfalls …
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… cliffs and cries of birds welcome us.
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A puffin flies over the bay. They are rather rare here, we must take advantage.
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That’s it, the captain stops our boat in the middle of the fjord. At the back we put the small zodiac in the water, it goes back and forth to drop the passengers on the ground.
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11.48. I’m the last one to land. You see my big duffle bag The North Face 130 liters. I also have my camera bag, about 30 kilos to wear in all.
INSTALLATION PART 1
It’s noon. The fatigue that has accompanied me for 48 hours now amplified by these 3 hours of driving on a rough sea leaves me dazed on the pebbles. I find myself alone in the middle of nowhere. There are these two houses laid there and that’s it. All other passengers vanished.
I know a campsite is about a kilometer away along the coastal path. But I can not carry all my equipment. So I take my Duffle bag on my back, leave my camera bag alone against the cabin, and go looking for this area.
The path is muddy, waterlogged, practicable limit, and as I am very loaded I sink down half ankle and miss falling several times. After 20 minutes of calvary I see some tents and finally say to me, I will be able to rest.
I leave 20 minutes in the other direction to get my camera bag and come back. I throw my last strength into setting up my tent. I empty my bag, install all my things to be quiet these next 5 days.
The installation takes me 3 hours. It is already 15h. Even if the weather is miserable and we do not see it at 20 meters, even if my legs are barely carrying me I decide to go up the mountain in search of Lake Superior, Miðdalsvatn , I have been waiting to see for months. After all I’m here for 5 days, tomorrow more than 4, we must not lose a drop.
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It climbs harshly and I quickly reach a beautiful point of view. The fog invades the fjord but I have a pretty precise vision of its shape and my new universe. Downstairs I see the two houses and more to the left (we do not see it on the photo) my tent.
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All my senses are awake, and despite fatigue my heart is filled with emotion to discover this new world.
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Three-quarters of an hour later I reach the lake. Mirage of a world which has just been born and of which man has never come to dispel tranquility.
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I spend a long time without moving to watch the show. Sometimes the birds fly to go around the lake and then come back to pose as a pointillist cloud. The mist removes any limit to the universe around me. I feel like I’m in a dream.
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I go along the lake and its meanders, marveling.
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It’s 5pm when I decide to go down because the sky is darkening. Every step of my way is a pain when suddenly … I come face to face with this family of arctic foxes. It seems to me that it’s a fox mother with her little ones. This is the first time I see it and I am speechless.
They stop and watch me for a few moments. By chance I have my 100-400 around the neck, barely time to trigger a little shaking, 3, 4 photos and they are already left.
My tiredness gave way to a broad interior smile. This vision warmed my heart.
INSTALLATION PART 2
I join my tent, exhausted, remove my shoes and my pants with difficulty.
I ache everywhere, I’m hungry, drenched, cold.
It is barely 18h but I slip into my sleeping bag with the desire to sleep for 20 hours. There, once installed, while I’m just starting to warm up, I hear some steps approaching my tent:
“You can not stay here, it’s private land, you do not have the right to stay here.”
I’m stunned, I open the zip with difficulty and a woman tells me that I must leave immediately.
The reason ? I settled on the camp area of Arctic Fox Center which welcomes some volunteers in summer. But this area is strictly reserved for them.
I try to negotiate, explains him I am very tired but she does not want to hear anything: I have to leave without waiting.
Imagine repackaging all my belongings, folding my tent and going back to the unknown. I still do not know, even today, where I found this strength.
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500 meters further I finally see the area. I find two tents near a stream. I decided to settle behind this embankment, in the front line but sheltered from the wind.
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It’s gone again for my installation. I have the impression that this day lasts a year. I finish around 18:30. While I am heating water for a soup I recognize two young men who were on the boat. They wave to me and invite me to join them in their little tent.
They are Israeli. We share their Bolognese pasta (half reversed on one of their downs!) By exchanging on the reasons that have led us here, a very warm moment that makes me very much good.
I join my tent at 9pm and collapse sleep.
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