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 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.