Andy paddling a Pyranha Mountain Bat on the Jökulsá í Fljótsdal, Iceland

First of the Great Northern Rivers

We head over to the Jokulsa i Fljotsdal, one of the huge rivers that flow northwards from the Vatnajokull. The weather is flat calm, and the scenery is like a picture postcard, snow covered mountains, green forest and all relected in mirror calm bright blue lakes. Unfortunately we fail to photograph any of this.

We take a quick look at a river in a canyon near the junction of Route 1 and Route 931. We took a look at this river in 1989 when it was in monster flood, but today it is calm and blue. We give it a miss though, as it looks like a tame grade II run.

Rob paddling a Pyranha Master on the Jökulsá í Fljótsdal, Iceland

The road to the Jokulsa i Fljotsdal is almost as good as a tarmaced road in the UK, although it does only have a gravel surface. We set up and have an even larger lunch than usual and Tom runs the shuttle. There are no worries here as we have run the river before in 1989 at a similar water level.

The rapids here are as good as I remember and we all get down without out a problem. The hardest section is probably just touching on a grade V, and there are some long sections of rapids. We carry on further than we paddled in 1989 and get out just where there is a play wave and a suitable spot for camping.

Tom and I manage a bit of bouldering before tea, and at 10pm we notice that the river level has gone up quite a bit since we got off the river at 5pm. We all get into our kayaking kit again and spend an hour playing on the wave. It is a wide simple wave to sit on, and all three of us get on it at once.

Rob and Tom night time surfing on the Jökulsá í Fljótsdal, Iceland

Get to bed at midnight, and I am forced out of bed 20 minutes later by a shoal of horses that flock around the tent. Stark naked, I shoo them away, much to the amusement of Tom and Andy who spectate from inside the comfort of the tent.