Iceland Day 12 – Kerid, Seljalandsfoss, Skogafoss, Dyrholaey Lighthouse, Vik

April 6.

After a good night in the van, I left the Fludir campground in the morning going South towards the ring road. But one more stop was planned before – the Kerid crater respectively crater lake.

Even from a distance, you could see lots of people walking along the crest of the crater. Yes, I am still in the golden triangle. This was the first attraction that actually asked for an entrance fee. I did the walk around as well as walking town to the frozen crater lake. It was one of the places where you really see how Iceland is struggling with mass tourism. Even though there were marked trails and lots of fenced off areas with the respective signs, the whole area was disturbed, the grass destroyed.

I am a tourist too, contributing to this situation. But I wished more people would stick to the paths to keep the impact to Iceland’s beautiful nature as small as possible.

Continued towards the ring road. Arriving at ring road, taking the road South East towards Vik. Next stop was the beautiful waterfall Seljalandsfoss – the one where you can walk behind the waterfall itself, so you get a 360 degree perspective on the water falling.

Quite special – and quite wet. 🙂 I loved the water spray in my face. Standing there in my rain gear in the wet wind, this took me right back to the last weeks hiking the Pacific Crest trail in Washington. Oh PCT – I miss you so.

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But I only brought two weeks for Iceland, not like the 5 months for the Pacific Crest Trail. So I kept driving on, further on to the Skogafoss waterfall. In search of Wifi, I took a coffee break in the restaurant there. No Wifi… :-p but a salad. Around 5pm, I walked up to Skogafoss, stair cases leading up offering a nice view from the platform above.

I passed the famous airplance wreck/respectively the parking for it at the ring road. My plan was to visit the wreck at sunrise next day – with maybe less other tourists around. So I drove on Dyrholaey lighthouse. At 630pm in really strong winds, it seemd like I would not be lucky to see birds. The winds were so strong that I could barely open my car door.

I didn’t give up on internet yet, so I drove into the town Vik in search of Wifi. It turned out the biggest store of the town (Icewear) had a connected coffee shop with decent internet. I stayed there backing up photos and blogging until being kicked out at the shop’s closure at 9pm.

As planned, I returned to the airplane wreck parking for the night. No other cars, looking good. Plan to get up 4.40am next day to make the one hour walk to the wreck before dawn.

Iceland Day 11 – Golden Triangle with Pingvellir, Oxararfoss, Geysir and Gulfoss

April 5.

This would be the day of the golden triangle – the major attractions Pingvellir, Geysir and Gulfoss that are located close enough to Reykjavik for a day trip. With that, I was also anticipating more crowds of tourists than in the relatively quiet North.

Heading towards Pingvellir, I was planning to take road 435. I had read some nice reviews about Pingvellir where approaching was recommended via this scenic route. As it turned out, that advice was only good for summer time:

img_20190405_104936 — Road 435 closed due to snow

When I later came to the Pingvellir area, I avoided the main parking spot but took an earlier turn South along the lake.

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Took a lunch break on a small dirt road in this beautiful area.

Continuing on towards Geysir, my next stop was at the Oxararfoss waterfall and a connected small canyon. The access into the canyon was a bit steep. With so many people crawling down, it was actually funny to watch how many were scared of slipping or falling and decided to glide down instead sitting on their pants.

Following the tourist crowds, next stop was the Geysir area.

After this geothermal area, I was heading on towards Gulfoss, again with a full parking lot. I really wonder if this is low season, how is this area looking like in peak season?

And it was time for another hotpot for the night. Checking the useful hotpoticeland.com website, I drove a bit South towards Fludir. The camping ground there was closed, but would make a good parking for the night anyway. Drove on some dirt roads towards the close hotpot in Hruni called Hrunalaug. Due to the proximity to the golden triangle, this hotpot was packed full with visitors. Some people from Iceland, but also from China and the US. It got a bit tight in there, but I still stayed for an hour or so. Surely not the same and these lone hotpots in the North I had enjoyed so much – but a hotpot after all.

At 9.30pm at the closed campground where I stayed for the night.

Iceland Day 10 – From Reykjavik to Gardur

April 4.

Got up early for a video interview that unfortunately got postponed. So I enjoyed the hotel breakfast extensively and hung out until lunch time using their Wifi for photo backups and blogging.

Around lunch, I was heading out South towards Gardur with two lighthouses. Herbert had mentioned this spot for camping. And indeed – a beautiful area to walk around and also stay for the night.

Slowly walking along the coast, I truly enjoyed the ocean. The smell, the wind… with my eyes scanning the waves, I first could not believe what I saw… But first a dorsal fin, a tail fin, then water spray from the blowhole… there were whales passing by so close to the coast! Felt so happy in this moment – an unexpected sighting, feeling the nature so close.

img-20190406-wa0063 — Yes, looks small: the black spot in the back is a whale

Stayed here right at the coast overnight. Dreaming of Northern lights since with this overcast, there would be none.

Iceland Day 9 – From Snorrastadir into Reykjavik

April 3.

After a late breakfast, I continued South towards Reykjavik. Stopped at a Bonus supermarket to get food for the next days. Food is not that expensive in Iceland if you buy at Bonus. It is still higher priced than in Germany, but Germany has quite low prices. Many of the products I bought like fruits and vegetables from Spain or Italy have just the same packaging like in the German supermarkets.

I checked into the Grimur hotel, a nice yet affordable hotel with self checkin. Drove into downtown, visited a nearby barbershop for a quick trim. Rakarastofa Ragnars & Hardar – Highly recommendable. Then I walked downtown to see some sightseeing spots like the famous church Hallgrimskirkja and the Harpa concert hall where a StarWars piece was playing.

Had my best (and first) fish and chips in Iceland at the Reykjavik Fish restaurant. Before heading back, I stopped at Perlan, an exhibition center/water tower at a top of a hill with a good view on Reykjavik. They had an exhibition on Iceland’s flora and fauna and its vulcanos – quite interesting and well done.

Iceland Day 8 – From Westfjords into Snaefellsnes

April 2.

Got up around 9am after that really long night last night. But the photos of the Northern lights still look nice in the morning. So loosing some sleep for these moments was very worth it.

To get out quickly from the Westfjords towards the Snaefellsnes region, I decided to take a ferry that will connect from Brjanslaekur in the Westfjords to Stykkisholmur in Snaefellsnes. It should save me several hours driving. Booking it online just 2 hours before departure was easy enough. I was waiting alone at the very small harbor first, then one truck and another car showed up.

The ferry left around 12pm. The ferry ride was great – beautiful weather, a short stop at a tiny island on the way.

Just as the life in the Westfjords, also the ferry connection seems to be as flexible and multipurpose as possible. Besides trucks, cars and passengers, the ferry carried some lumber on deck that was quickly unloaded during the short stop on the way. Also a small container was exchanged, probably with mail/packages. Water was refilled while the ferry was stopping for these procedures. A trailer was lifted up with the crane to the spot where the lumber had been transported before. Once again I was impressed on how a country and society so small in population still can work.

With all this efficiencies, I made sure to be at the steering wheel when the ship was about to arrive. You notice the big truck behind my van in the rather empty ferry.

I spent the day driving through the really beautiful landscape of the Snaefellsnes peninsula.

For the evening, I planned two locations with hotpots nearby. One turned out to be closed, the other one I was not able to find on the first try. Checking on campgrounds opened in the winter season, I decided to stay in the Snorrastadir farm which also offers a basic campground with facilities. It was great to reconnect with Luise. The hottub was closed unfortunately, but they offerend a big kitchen space well heated for dinner. Had lots of beer for a good night sleep.