Reykjahlíð, Iceland
Another smooth crossing, thank goodness, although they
really need to rethink the pillow arrangement as the current ones sink to
nothing.
We were off the ferry at 9am in thick fog, so our first
journey 26km to the nearest town to stock up, was not very pleasant. Stocking
up done and a visit to the tourist information and we’re off on our first
adventure, 94km each way on gravel roads to see puffins. It was so totally
worth the horrific drive, there were 000s of them and loads close up, they are
so cute (that’s Mark saying that!!) After our detour it’s then 166km to our
campsite and that turned out to be quite slow going due to the mountainous
roads, fog and rain, we’ve certainly seen all seasons today and I don’t think
I’ve mentioned it’s flipping freezing!!
This afternoon we had the excitement of a planned excursion
whale watching, yippee said both Mark and Penny, our favourite pastime more
water.
On the way to Husavik to catch the boat, we stopped off at
Grenjaoarstaour to look round an old turf farmhouse that has been kept in
period.
It was just 6km off our route and we had to cross a rickety bridge with
water flowing visciously beneath us. We did stop on the bridge for photos but
we were really really quick.
The turf house was definitely worth a look. There were lots
of trinkets, furniture and tools on show (all hand made out of anything they
could find) but for us the highlight was how the house was built and how they
lived in it. There were lots of people in this Vicarage and when the postmen
came the house acted as a postal exchange and the postmen even stayed
overnight. The house was built of stone with sods inbetween. The roof was made
from struts and infilled with twigs which were all visitble from the inside and
then the house was covered with turf. The floor itself was turf and was really
springy.
Thank goodness the weather cheered up and it even stopped
raining for our boat trip. We saw puffins from afar on Puffin Island and then
we saw two type of whale from afar and close up. The journey was quite smooth
except when the sails were up and all was well until we had our rum hot
chocolate and cinnamon bun just before the end, which was a bit of a mistake.
We had to watch the coastline carefully then, but fortunately there was only 15
min to go so we made it without embarrassing ourselves.
We stayed in Husavik for dinner at Slavak just up from the
harbour. The meals were quite expensive (probably not for Iceland prices, but
this was our first experience) but the quality was brilliant really putting
British restaurants to shame.
We got back to camp at 8.30pm so were out on the
road exploring for 11 hours today and we were both rather pleasantly tired!!
Gosh what a change in the weather, beautiful sunshine. We
forgive the wind for howling all night now it has brought us sun. We had lots
on the agenda for today so we were up and off early again.
First stop was Grotagja which used to be a bathing area, but
when Krafla erupted once it spewed lava creating a cover, large fissures and
water way too hot to bathe in anymore. Strangely over the years the water has
cooled and at some points now the temperature is okay to bathe, 40-46 degrees
depending on time of year.
Next stop was Hverir the stinking geysirs, which we passed
on our way to camp on the first day but were too tired to investigate. Did I
mention it stunk round there?? Infact the water is heated from the steam from
these geysirs so the warm water at camp smells of sulphur, so you feel really
clean after a shower!!!
Krafla crater was the next stop after a quick coffee break.
Wow both Viti crater (created by a Krafla eruption in 1724)
and Leirhnjukur lava fields (last alight in 1984 and still steaming) were
stunning pieces of natural landscape with lovely walks around them.
Having finished those by 2.30pm and the day still looking
reasonably good we decided to go to the Dettifoss and Selfoss Waterfalls today
too. Again they were both absolutely stunning scenery and walks.
We felt pretty good but tired after all our rough walking
and climbing today so we decided to indulge after dinner and went to the
outside thermal spa for the evening.
Thank goodness we pushed ourselves yesterday as we woke up
to pouring rain this morning. Today we spent around the lake starting in the
opposite direction to where we thought we wanted to get out and investigate in
the hope that by the time we got round the damned rain would have stopped. For
a change the plan worked out great.
Our first stop for coffee break was beside the lake at Hofdi
overlooking some lovely stone structures in the lake. When we parked, in our
prime spot, there was nobody else in the car park, but 2 mins later there were
about 30 cars, buses and motorhomes!!
Next stop, for our first walk, was the Dimmuborgir area to
look at the lava towers including the one called the Church. Final stop of the
day and the hardest walk was Hverfjall where we walked up the side of the
volcano and around the rim.
Back to camp early today as we were going out for a group
dinner, which was very nice indeed although £20 per pint was definitely the
most expensive beer we’ve ever bought!!
2025-05-22