The AARoads Blog

some photos from Germany and Poland, from November of last year.

the road between Cottbus, Germany, and Legnica, Poland, numbered A15 in Germany and 18 in Poland, has some segments which have not been touched since the original construction in 1938!

the German road. this was expanded to two carriageways in the 1990s, and at the same time received a lot of modernization. It can be driven at typical Autobahn speeds.

And the Polish road. Original 1938 concrete! The speed limit is 50 km/h, and you will be hard-pressed to drive that fast, with some concrete blocks being as much as 2-3 centimeters higher than their neighbor.

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The R9 ring road in Charleroi, Belgium runs pretty close to the city center. What makes it unique is that the entire freeway is one-way, an idea which may work well in other places.

Photo by Chris Stegehuis, used with permission.

Let us look at some Iceland photos from the fourth day, and even the unofficial fifth, as that was basically one morning of photos, and the rest of the time spent blazing our way back to the airport.

A reflecting lake on a foggy morning.

Blue skies, white clouds.

High clouds with the fisheye lens.

Sunset. The majestic body of water in the foreground is nothing but a small stream whose primary purpose is to provide sheep with water. As I took the sunset photos, there were sheep bleating about sixty feet away!

A waterfall, from the morning of the last day of our trip.

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more photos from Iceland – here is the third day, including the legendary Puffin Road!

Eighteen percent? That’s nothing – try 43% later in the day!

Infinite regression of sheep.

Strange tower at sunset.

Behold the northern lights. From on top of a mountain pass, with a terrifying opaque fog creeping up behind us – we outraced it, and we got this perfect view!

Green rainbow.

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The second day of Iceland photos, from September of 2008.

This is why they call it Iceland. Jökulsárlón – a glacial lake, with bits of glacier always breaking off and floating into the sea. This is the first thing in the morning.

Clouds above Jökulsárlón, in the first rays of dawn.

Dettifoss – the biggest waterfall in Europe!

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now for some actual Iceland, after Daniel Brim and I landed… here’s Iceland day 1.

this turns out to be the least exciting day, as far as pictures go, but hey you get to hear about how we got the door nearly blown off the rental car.

Wait, you did what!!??

Yeap, the wind in the Iceland, it’s something to behold. Must have been a constant 100 mph… I needed to do the biological function that should not be done into the wind so I opened the car door, and wham!, it gets ripped out of my hand and blown completely backwards against the fender… there is entertainment value to be found in driving another three thousand kilometers on a door that didn’t close all the way!

Less containing of entertainment value is how much the dang rental ended up costing us. Let’s not think about that. Let’s just look at some pictures.

Hooray for geothermal activity. Iceland is basically a giant pile of volcanoes.

The waterfall Gullfoss. In infrared – for both the strange colors, and more importantly the long-exposure waves.

An ancient farmhouse. I do mean ancient – it may very well date back to the 17th century. Note the ominous, fog-shrouded, sharp cliffs.

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having finished Norway, here are photos from Iceland – all as I prepare for my trip to Yukon and Alaska. Do we detect a theme here? Arctic Circle or bust!

Iceland will be done in about seven batches, just like Norway – even though I spent only four days in Iceland. And of those four days, here are … none of them.

This set of photos is just the flight between Minneapolis and Keflavík – nothing here from the ground quite yet, but here’s some clouds and some northern lights too!

Clouds at sunset. Not long after having taken off from Minneapolis, so I am figuring somewhere over Ontario.

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Let us behold day 6.

We head out to the outer islands of Langøya and Andøya, and then head back to the airport with remarkably little time to spare.

The shortest place name on Earth. Å. This is why I wasn’t too worried when I didn’t get a photo of the sign for Å i Lofoten – because here is Å i Andøya.

And here is the å for which the town is named. “å” is Norwegian for “small stream”.

A halo, somewhere over the island of Langøya.

The road to Hovden, just around sunset.

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Starting from Alta. Highway E-6 for a while, then an excursion to Straumnes, where there is much snow to be found. Then onwards to the inevitable Tjeldsund bridge.

A fishing boat, under completely overcast skies. The buoy is red, and everything else really is that gray.

A frozen waterfall at Kafjorden.

A boat in Finnsnes Harbor.

And, just to prevent the stressful effects of suspense, here’s a photo of the Tjeldsund bridge.

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day four of the week-long excursion into northern Norway.

Day four features a trip to Kirkenes, the easternmost town in Norway. Further east than Istanbul, even! A bit of beholding of our dear Russian neighbors, and then, heading back west, getting caught in whiteout conditions over the Eaštoroaivi mountain pass, then attempting to make a run on Nordkapp – the northernmost point in continental Europe – and getting stuck in a tunnel instead. Refusing to die, we instead go to Hammerfest.

On the left side of the image: Soviet Russia. Doesn’t look very exciting, does it? Or very different from the Norwegian side, for that matter.

Life well north of the Arctic Circle. One village, two village, red village, blue village. Total population: 2. When the news is slow and the fish aren’t biting, they occupy their time by throwing paper airplanes at each other across the fjord.

This place is not listed on the very detailed map of Norway I had with me. The closest I can pinpoint it to is to note that each house is on the shore of the Vestertana (“west Tana”) Fjord.

Sunset, near Lakselv. Excellent light, never mind the absence of direct rays!

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