14 October 2012
More autumn, more caving. This day was actually particularly good weather, and we probably should have replanned something above ground, but we decided to stick with the plans we had.
Destination, Flóki in Tvíbollahraun. Basically next door to Leiðarendi, where we were last week, but actually a different lava field. This was a very fun cave, with some very interesting lava flows, but it was not a beginner cave. Far too much crawling! I didn't have knee pads, and a large part of this cave was crawling or very bent over, and carrying a tripod and a camera bag didn't make it any easier.
It's also a much more complicated cave than most lava tubes in Iceland, which is where it's name comes from. It has multiple openings, and passages in different directions and different heights crossing back into each other. On the bright side, you're never particularly far away from yet another opening!
We didn't actually see all of this cave. Bjöggi pushed on into one opening and came around to meet us later, but he had been belly crawling for quite a lot of it. There were a few other sections that we knew went on, but we simply weren't keen on the crawling required. Not today at least!
Still, a very nice cave. The red cream flows were really pretty, and there was some lovely channel work on multiple layers.
By the time we were done, we were all quite wet, as this was the first dry day in a week, and the cave was very wet. I had sore knees, and some cuts on my fingers, and was just looking forward to getting inside and warm and dry. But as I pulled up at home, there was some stunning aurora getting started. I grabbed a quick pic, but had to get inside first. I forced myself to get dressed and go out, but by then it had basically stopped.
So, I was walking home again when it started up again! I didn't bother trying to struggle with the camera, as it was clearly being fickle, and just enjoyed some of the best aurora I've seen here in Iceland. And this was just standing downtown, with all the lights of the city! A lovely finish to a lovely day!
