Thorsmork: The valley of thunder by Superjeep

On my recent visit to Iceland, I joined a group on a day trip from Reykjavik to the country’s southern coast. When we arrived at beautiful Seljalandsfoss waterfall and pulled up alongside the vehicle that we were about to board for our excursion, the group was shocked at how huge it was. The tyres were nearly as big as me, and as the day went on I think everyone in the group had at least one picture taken next to them!

As we all climbed up to take our seats, our driver – who had built this vehicle along with his father – told us a bit about himself and the jeep. The engine started up and we headed across the extremely rough terrain of Thorsmork valley, which the vehicle handled with ease. It seemed that no obstacle would be too great for this machine!

The scenery was breathtaking, and we were all glued to the windows so as not to miss anything. The river that runs through the valley is called Krossa and the valley itself lies between three glaciers; Eyjafjallajokull, Tindjfallajokull and Myrdalsjokull. Huge boulders looked as though they could fall at any time, and indeed a recent eruption had changed the landscape, creating rivers and crevasses – truly a wonder of nature.

As we drove along, we rarely passed any other vehicles and I really had the feeling that I was in the middle of nowhere, surrounded only by vast glaciers. Thorsmork itself is named after the Viking God of Thunder, and it certainly feels like a place where the elements have clashed to dramatic effect.

After driving for about an hour and taking lots of pictures through the windows, we reached a spot where we got out of the 8WD to cross a shallow river and make a short climb down to a magnificent ice cave. The electric blue colour of the ice was something I have never seen before, and it was particularly spectacular in the sunlight. We even saw a rainbow, which looked like a halo over the mountains. Incredible.

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In total, the excursion lasted about three exhilarating hours. In the summer months, Thorsmork is also very popular for hiking and walking, as well as horse riding tours. For details of our Superjeep tour which runs from May to October, please click here. Further information about the many attractions of Iceland’s South West region can be found here.