Superjeep Self-Drive tour through the Highlands
The farther I felt my way through the river, the higher the water rose around us, till it almost reached the windows. "Please, don’t let it touch the engine, please don’t…" My heart skipped a beat. Carefully I pushed the gas pedal a bit stronger. Nothing happened. A bit more… and I felt the wheels spinning. But the car didn’t move. We were stuck…
The Icelandic Highlands… Last week we had crossed them by foot, for this weekend we had borrowed a superjeep to go through this experience by car, too. Of course not exactly the same path we had hiked… But every now and then we reached a spot that seemed familiar - And we remembered how glad we would have been last week to have a car to cross the rivers. There was something that the owner had reminded us of several times to be careful about: All possible eventualities were covered by the different insurances, but for any damage caused by river crossing we would have to come up ourselves.
That beeing said, we would eventually be fine, we were told, if we just drove slowly and carefully enough into the river to not cause a wave that could potentially reach the engine bay. And he tought us, counterintutively, to watch out for the spot where the water is the wildest, because there it also is the shallowest. And finally to drive through the river in an angle with, not against the current…
Although we could feel our heartbeat driving crazy every time, it was incredibly fun to cross the first rivers! This adrenaline rush when the car’s nose lowered and broke through the water… Nils insisted to be the first to drive and he did a great job. Good enough for Jan to be able to navigate the drone above our heads from the backseat of the car.
And every time when either the drone or the car went too fast for the other we had to stop, change the camera setting and then roll on. Really, we weren’t that fast - But therefore we made some extraordinary shots of our superjeep on the highland roads. And a carporn.
For all those that are as interested in cars as I am and therefore not familiar with the term “carporn” (as I wasn’t...): It really is just what the name indicates. Like a porn movie for those who love cars. A video that shows the superjeep from every possible perspective (which one captures best by running towards the car and then back again as fast as possible as I have learned by watching :D ) - And in the end you put some lascivious porn-music to the footage.
When we checked our position on the map in the late afternoon and saw that we hadn’t even worked our way through a third of the way yet we still all thought it to be funny. Yes, we had been warned that the rivers would grow on water and current over the day due to the molten glacier water… But up to this point the rivers hadn’t been more than tiny streams... So we didn’t worry too much about it.
Finally, finally, finally it was my turn to drive! The sun was close to touch the horizon, so we decided to film our next river crossing - last oppurtunity!
The river seemed to carry more water than the ones before… Jan exited and arranged his camera equipment. The time had come.
Take a deep breath, I reminded myself, and very careful now. The superjeep rolled down the small bank as slow as a dead snail - but still the water swashed more than intended. I swallowed. This one was deeper than expected. The farther I felt my way through the river, the higher the water rose around us, till it almost reached the windows. Just to underline the relation: The car was the biggest jeep that Nissan runs, was lifted 10 inches and had 35 inch wheels on it that were as tall as my bellybutton - a full grown monster truck.
Please, don’t let it touch the engine, please don’t… My heart skipped a beat. Carefully I pushed the gas pedal a bit stronger. Nothing happened. A bit more… and I felt the wheels spinning. But the car didn’t move. We were stuck…
My fingertips started to shake but I forced myself to take another deep breath. “Back a bit”, Nils conducted. The water swashed against the doors. “Now a bit to the right…” I disengaged the clutch and locked the differential. Then I engaged the first gear and slowly, really slowly… The engine reved like a hurt wolf and we could feel how the car fought and fought… There was a sudden jolt and I could drive on. We made it to the shore!
And then the glance back at Jan standing on the other side of the river, the shock had gripped him to the marrow as much as us. Nevertheless we had no other choice but to drive back, pick him up and then cross the river a third time. We really chose the right spot for filming…!
When we reached the Thorsmörk valley we had already left the worst part behind. (We managed to get grandiosely lost anyway…). Here, the guys decided to camp for the next few hours to wait for a hopefully clear sky and, if the gods were good, even Northern Lights.
I will just skip the next 7 hours, as you can read all about this amazingly breath-taking evening in another post: On the Hunt for Northern Lights. (Or you can just watch the video about it: Northern Lights - Video)
It was already quarter to three in the morning when we finally returned to Reykjavik, dropped of Jan... To then search for a gas station where we could wash the car. We had promised to bring back the car the same night. Which meant it should be at the office BEFORE it opened again at 8 o’clock the next morning.
So we each grabbed one of the brooms that had a water hose built-in and scrubbed the superjeep. In the middle of the night, completely tired out and chilled through… When we dropped the car at the office and called a taxi back home, it was already five o’clock. And we discovered that we hadn’t finished our homework yet that we were going to present the next morning at 10… :D
Your own Superjeep experience in the Highlands:
6 Days Camping Self Drive Tour
Or just do it on your own! (But please, check all the safety instructions first:p) Rent a Car!
其他有意思的博客
冰岛最浪漫的角落
对于很多人,遥远的冰岛有着世界尽头的神秘,有着区别于巴黎、马尔代夫、自成一体的浪漫。没有埃菲尔铁塔和蒂凡尼,没有热带沙滩,而是在冰川、火山、苔藓地的背景下蜜月旅拍、婚拍,甚至举办一场冰岛婚礼。来冰岛旅行,多是要跨千山万水、飞跃大洋大陆,很有一点“万水千山陪你走过”的史诗感。难怪很多人说,光是冰岛二字,就足够浪漫了。 冰岛虽然不大,但是地貌极其丰富,不同的自然景观自然有不同的气质。这一篇,就挑阅读更多从极光观测到摄影-到底该不该来冰岛看极光
很多朋友都想来冰岛看极光,但是冰岛到底适不适合看极光呢?几月、什么季节能看到极光?是不是一定要参加北极光旅行团?如何能拍摄出美丽的极光照片呢?在冰岛住了好几年了,从刚开始逢极光必出门,到如今家里阳台就能看极光,我对在冰岛看极光的了解和经验,也算得上大半个专家了,且听我娓娓道来吧。 到底该不该来冰岛看极光呢?最坦诚的答案是,不要只为了看极光而看极光。 极光原理 太阳活动→太阅读更多迷失冰岛的米湖游览推荐|不只有温泉的地热宝藏区
我在冬夏秋均到访过米湖,看过米湖的不同面。一直以来,米湖到底值不值得去是很多游客争论的问题。有些人觉得这里是来冰岛旅行的必去目的地,有些人则说米湖“太丑了”,连照片都不想多拍几张。那米湖到底值不值得来呢?到底怎么玩呢? 米湖的风景 北部的米湖,因地理位置相距首都雷克雅未克略远,很多来冰岛的短途游客选择放弃,其实米湖应该是和黄金圈、南岸沿线至冰湖齐名的冰岛景色,这里冷热相融,可谓最冰岛,尤其阅读更多
将冰岛最大的旅行平台下载到您的手机中,一站式管理您的整个行程
使用手机摄像头扫描此二维码,然后点击显示的链接,将冰岛最大的旅行平台添加到您的手机中。输入您的电话号码或电子邮件地址,以接收包含下载链接的短信或电子邮件。