Iceland Day 13 – Plane Wreck, Seljavallalaug and on to Skaftafell

April 7.

Woke up with the alarm at 4.40am, before sunrise that would be at 6.15am. One good hour planned to walk to the plane wreck. But… the storm was still on. It had been shaking the car all night and was continuing to do so in the morning. So my determination to make it to the plane before dawn was not strong enough to walk through that storm in darkness and the additional cold from that. Turned around, snuggled in and took another nap. 🙂

So I left at 9.30am for the one hour walk to the plane wreck. :-p The shuttle bus, only allowed means of transport, just overtook me shortly before arriving there.

Good thing: there were still only a handful of people around the wreck. Bad thing: There was a wedding couple posing all around the wreck for photos with the respective 3 person photo crew. That made exploring the wreck and taking photos rather difficult.

Finding perspectives that make the wreck look deserted was the challenge of the morning. And I had mixed feelings for the couple. They were really freezing in the cold strong winds there for their photos – it did not really look like they enjoyed themselves too much.

On the other hand, it was a bit annoying that they were kind of demanding the wreck as their exclusive photo spot. I was asked by the groom at a certain point to step aside so that they can take their photos. Their photo session lasted longer than I did. After about one hour, more and more people joined, including group that came on quads through the endless waste lands. With that, I had my share of overcrowded tourist spot and started my walk back to the car.

Next stop was the rather famous hotpot Seljavallalaug, about 1km walk into a beautiful canyon from a designated parking. With the number of the cars parked, I was already a bit worried.

But the pool turned out quite big and the 4-5 other people in the pool distributed well enough. It was my coolest hotpot on Iceland. With just 31 degrees according to my watch, I could not stay in there too long without cooling out.

Continued on the ring road. Really beautiful landscape passed by, had to stop again and again for photos.

Another glacier to the left. Perfect spot for some van selfies…

Planning to do some hiking the next day, I stopped at the Skaftafell national park / campground for the night.

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 5 – Grettislaug, a hotpot day

March 30.

Got up around 7am, breakfast in the car. After the snow storm last night the skies looked promising – it might become a beautiful sunny day again. I checked out the facilities of the campground again. While the cafe is closed and the place completely deserted, the facilities like a kitchen house as well as the toilets were open and in kind of working condition. Good – I might actually hang out here the whole day.

At about 8am, I walked over to the two hotpots. They are beautifully located close to the sea, still protected with a stone wall from the direct winds.

Spent there 2 hours, just soaking in the water. Sitting absolutely quiet, you could hear the waves hitting the shores from two directions. Some seagulls crying. Felt like a good idea to stay. Felt like arriving in how I expected Iceland to be.

“A human’s choice is either to see new things, mountains, waterfalls, deadly storms and seas and volcanoes, or to see the same man-made things endlessly reconfigured.”
― Dave Eggers, Heroes of the Frontier

The hotpots had 38.5 respectively 40 degrees – a good temperature to spend a long time in there.

Around 10am, two other tourists showed and I took a walk around the area.

The two girls turned out to be German as well (yes we love to travel….), one of them working in Iceland since a couple of years. We chatted for a while and I got some hints for spots to visit during the next days.

During the day, a couple of cars showed up, some stayed for a dip in the hotpots. In the later evening, luckily everyone left except Herbert, his wife and Gerald, another German solo traveler with VW van.

The wind died down – a chance for another drone flight. I was a bit more careful than last time. First a quick look around in all directions – after that I got a bit more brave.

Herbert had not only brought beer but a complete bbq equipment, meat, potatoes… so after a last hotpot session around 7pm, we started bbqing as it got darker and colder.

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A relaxing day with nice company and chats came to an end around 11pm.

Iceland Day 2 – Bakkafjoerdur, Porshoefn, Asbyrgi, Husavik, Myvatn and my first hot hotpot experience

March 27.

Woke up with the sun coming over the horizon – had a good and quiet sleep despite the wind. I enjoyed a slow breakfast with muesli and Skyr – and some big black coffee. I continued driving North, mostly following the coastline. The weather was nice most of the time with sunshine and blue skies.

Passing Bakkafjoerdur, the road was unpaved for a while. There were some beautiful spots to stay for the night but I was planning for Myvatn tonight, so I moved on.

The coast with ice on the shore had its own beauty.

Coming closer to Asbyrgi, the landscape changed to very flat lands. I drove into the park, walked around a bit – the famous canyon, shaped like a hoof.

Passed by Husavik, famous for whale watching. Noted the time, maybe tomorrow. But that will depend on the weather.

Met up with Herbert and his wife and Luise again at the campground in Vogar near the Myvatn lake. They invited me for coffee and cake in their camping trailer – what a nice treat. Afterwards we drove together to the famous Grjotagja cave nearby with a hotpot underground. Getting in there not too easy, climbing into the cave. Next challenge was getting undressed on a small spot… then the water is really hot. 45 degrees hot.

Some more tourist show up, look, take photos… After two sessions, we leave.

Dinner at the campgrounds pizza place with internet. The campground was very basic – just a parking lot with electricity outlets and a building with facilities. I am surely looking forward to some wild camping during the next days.

Luise had her van parked closeby in the same campground and was working to get her heating running. I provided electricity for the hairblower when she tried to unfreeze the Diesel line – but no luck. James has no heating, so nothing can break in his Landrover. Herbert has his electric heating in the trailer for the night.