Iceland #13 - Day 1: Finally Visiting the Westfjords!

Iceland greeted me with a vague green bow across the sky that I could just see if I pressed my face against the plane window and blocked out the reflecting light with my black top. Soon we dipped into the low cloud and the sight was gone and I landed at an ever-increasingly busy Keflavík. I went through the normal routine of picking up some Borg beer (the Garún) and waiting at the belt for my luggage for 10 minutes before remembering that backpacks are now delivered at a separate area. I headed out and looked for the car rental guy - finally seeing him and following him out into the parking area (where the cool silver statue with the men looking up has been reinstated), only to find that his minibus was full and I'd have to wait for him to come back. I wandered back inside to pick up some milk for Sigrún and then waited outside for ages. Eventually after about 20 minutes a different guy returned and I felt a bit pissed off that my bag went in to the back first, thinking that I'd get it out last and be at the back of the queue at the car rental desk. As it was, when we got there I rushed out, some others were getting their bags out so I was able to grab mine and get to the front of the queue. I did the paperwork and gave the guy a tip on a fish and chip restaurant in London as he was planning to visit next Feb. I got an Opel Mokka - a small 4WD that I hadn't come across before - and it was a lovely car to drive. It was automatic, which meant a bit less fun to drive, but a lot easier. And most importantly, the stereo worked properly with my little old nano.

The drive to Álftanes was horrible. By the time I left the Pro-Car place it was just before 1am (2am UK time) and I was totally exhausted; driving in the dark along a dreary road in the drizzle was unpleasant. I was struggling to keep myself awake, counting down the kilometres until I'd be safe. Finally I arrived, without having fallen asleep at the wheel, was greeted by the adorable Jökull and went straight to bed. In the morning after hellos with Sigrún and Johannes they pointed out that all my car windows were open. It was very strange - I'd remembered hearing a whirring sound when I'd locked the car after unloading the night before, but assumed it was just the mirrors moving inwards. But no, it had obviously been the windows all winding down. Fortunately the drizzle had stopped so the car wasn't even damp. And even more fortunately no-one had reached in to remove the Garun! It was very odd, and I was certainly very careful that it didn't happen again on the rest of the trip, given that I kept a few valuables in the car.

I had breakfast with the family and had a quick catch-up before Johannes took the kids off to school and Sigrún went off to work. And then I set off. My day's agenda was to drive up to Stykkishólmur from where I was taking the ferry across Breiðafjörður to Brjanslækur, before driving the last 55km to Patreksfjörður to sleep for the next couple of nights. First stop was a trip to the Hagkaup supermarket to stock up on a few essentials for the week - the usual packed lunch stuff, a bit of fruit and juice, and some chocolate licorice to nibble on in the car.

My trips to Iceland now have to involve a trip to my favourite jewellers, Orr, in downtown Reykjavík, and I'd worked out that I just had time if I got there when it opened at 10am and left by 10.45am. I managed to navigate my way into town (with free roaming now, I had access to data on my iPhone which was helpful for navigating) and parked around the corner from the shop. I arrived at 10am on the dot and it wasn't yet open, but it gave me a chance to have a good look at all the rings in the window. Eventually the lovely Heiða arrived and I began my search for my new little treat (a recent tax rebate helped). I'd had my mind on some earrings that I'd seen before, and ended up with those, a matching neckless and a little silver ring. I cannot help myself there!

A little poorer but happy to have some gorgeous new silver bits I headed back to the car and off towards the Route 1 (having got totally lost again in the one-way system trying to get back on the main road out) and soon I was going round the endless roundabouts near Mosfellsbær before taking the rather scary tunnel under Hvalfjörður - 6km is a long time in a tunnel, but it certainly saves a lot of time. The weather had been clear enough in Rekyjavík but as I drove north I could see some cloud ahead of me. At Borganes I stopped at the Vinbuðin and picked up a couple of singleton beers, and then turned off to cross the eastern side of the Snæfellsness Peninsula to reach Stykkishólmur. The drive wasn't very spectacular until I started climbing across the heath. Unfortunately at that point I hit low cloud and drizzle which became driving rain as I got higher. I'd driven on that road 5 years earlier when it had been under snow - it looked a lot different now, passing little lakes, but I'm sure it would be spectacular with better visibility. It was a relief to start descending and finally come out from under the clouds on the other side, and then I was greeted with a beautiful view north down to the fjord ahead, with a rainbow ahead of me. I parked up at a viewpoint to take my first photos of the trip. I was a little surprised as I got out of the car by the wind - it was ferocious (and typically Icelandic!). I wandered down the hill a little and took a few shots of the rainbow, which intensified as I was there. A nice little display for me. Who doesn't love a good rainbow? I went back to the car to put on the wide-angle lens to capture the whole thing, and also put on my rain jacket - the wind was obscene and cold!

I was glad for the respite when I got back in the car and continued down the road towards the port. I was okay for time, so didn't have to rush, but I did want to visit a little restaurant I'd been to in the winter trip in 2012 that I'd remembered being lovely. I got to the main road heading east-west along the northern coast of the peninsula and took the right turn. As I drove along the road I looked back south over the storm that I passed through - the clouds were just spectacular, so I pulled over again at a turn-out to take a few more shots. Fortunately the wind down here was pretty gentle. I hadn't had a chance to clean my sensor yet, so I knew that any photographs today would require a lot of post-processing to remove the stubborn dust spots, but I still took loads anyway! It was quite magnificent. Had I not had a ferry to catch I probably would've taken more shots, going for a little hike with the tripod. I definitely spotted at least one troll in the hillside beyond...

I tore myself away and took the turn-off up to Stykkishólmur, the weird church visible me in the distance, stopping one more time to photograph the clouds over the hills behind me.

I filled the car up as I arrived in town - not risking having petrol shortages after an incident a few trips ago, and afterwards I soon found the little café in town - Narfeyrarstofa, parked outside, and headed in for a bowl of delicious fish soup. It was beautifully presented, with tasty bread on the side and a dish with different salts (seems to be a thing in Iceland these days).

* iPhoneSE shot

After a quick chat with the lovely friendly owner, telling her that I'd remembered it from my last visit, I drove down to the port and parked the Mokka at the end of the queue for the ferry. I got out and climbed onto the wall to get a few shots of the wonderful, colourful basalt columns that surround the port.

Cars started revving their engines and soon I was back in the car driving onto the Baldur ferry. As we departed I put on the hired Zeiss 100mm lens to give it a test run - quite challenging using a manual-focus prime lens. On the hill above the basalt column cliff a few people were having a little hike. The town looked pretty, with the backdrop of mountains and the amazing clouds still hanging low over the hilltops.

I soon changed lenses to the telephoto zoom as I couldn't capture much from the ferry at 100mm. It was a lovely calm day - thankfully, given how prone I am to seasickness. I spent most of the journey on the deck, enjoying the sunshine (left the sunglasses in the car, so spent most of the journey squinting). The mountains looked lovely backlit by the afternoon sun. There was a pointed mountain to the west that I thought might be the much-photographed Kirkjufell, but looking on a map now I think it was Lambahnúkur.

As we sailed along I played around with long exposures, trying to get some slowed down wave action; the light wasn't great, and I didn't have a tripod or filters, so it was a question of putting the ISO to its lowest (50) and the aperture to its highest (32 on my telephoto lens). When I processed the images I realised that I had at least 50 dust spots on the sensor (the clean was long overdue), which obviously showed up more using the high apertures.

After about an hour and a half (at 4.30pm) we arrived at Flatey. During the summer it's possible to disembark, have a look around the little flat island, and then catch a later ferry to continue your journey. From the beginning of September it is the shoulder season so the ferries go down to once a day, and the Flatey stop is just for some deliveries to be offloaded. It took about an hour, with a few bits and pieces (including wooden house frames) being winched onto the dock. An enthusiastic dog paced around, as if trying to help with the operation.

We set off again and it became a bit cooler as the sun began disappearing behind hazy clouds. I still spent most of my time on the deck, but occasionally needed to retreat to the warm cabin.

It wasn't long until the first flat-topped mountains on the southern side of the Westfjords came into view. I was very excited. This was my 13th trip to Iceland, but my first to this region, having always put it off as I visited at the wrong time of year. It's still accessible in September, although the first snows can come at any time during the month on the high passes, limiting access. I took my first shot of the area with cloud-topped mountaintops, the first of many similar shots over the following few days.

As we neared land the cloud and wind grew, and it became far colder, the sun making only the odd brief appearance. To the east I noticed some layers of chunky lenticular clouds, but all around the clouds were increasing and menacing.

On one little trip outside to check the view I stumbled a little and banged my leg on a buckle on one of the outside storage boxes - resulting in an enormous bruise that is still visible two weeks later!

By the time we got closer to the port I had to stay inside as it was freezing. I chatted to some people from Seattle, before heading back out to take a last few shots before the ship arrived in Brjanslækur. As we docked I stayed upstairs with a few others, missing the instruction to return to the cars. Suddenly I saw cars driving off, an employee came and shouted for us to get to our cars, so I ran down to mine and squeezed into the car and drove off just as the one in front was leaving (before I got shouted at again).

And there I was - finally in the magnificent Vestfirðir! It was cloudy, drizzling slightly, cold and windy - just as I'd imagined it to be, with clouds draped over all the surrounding mountains. The ferry had spent longer at Flatey than I'd hoped and it was already 6.30pm by the time we disembarked. I had hoped to visit a hot pool just north of Flókalundur (the town a few kilometres north) but decided I didn't really have time, since I still had about an hour or so to drive to get to my base for the night, the Stekkabol guesthouse at Patreksfjörður. I was quite keen to get there in time for "sunset" and also to find something to eat before everything shut. As I learned on my trip to the north-east the previous September, once the summer is over everything closes earlier (or completely), and I was feeling very hungry.

It was a lovely drive, winding along the coast as I headed west. I pulled over at a parking area to take a couple of photos over a beautiful bay, where an American couple were parked. The man was on the phone to his car rental agency in Reykjavík trying to sort out a tyre issue. They were videographers and had a Suzuki Vitara full of gear and their tyre had got a puncture and the spare was practically bald. They were told to drive to Patreksfjörður where they could get a replacement. He was absolutely livid!

I headed onwards, up the first of many spectacular mountain passes. The road up to Kleifaheiði wasn't too memorable, but the journey down the other side was very impressive, with massive sweeping switchbacks and views down to the Patreksfjörður fjord below. At the top was a strange sculpture (Kleifabui) that's been there since 1947 - no idea what the bit sticking out of it was all about, but apparently it was built after the road was completed using leftover materials. 

At the bottom of the pass I took the road to the north-west which wound itself around the edge of the fjord, with a great view of an incredible yellowy-white sandy beach on the opposite shore. By the time I reached Patreksfjörður it was almost 7.30pm. It was strange little place, with a couple of parallel streets built up the hillside from the fjord's edge, and a small harbour at the far end of town. I drove through and found a little spot from where I took a few shots of the hills on the other side. The telephoto was struggling in the light to focus (as was I, without my reading glasses!), so I gave up pretty quickly.

I drove back through the town, not quite sure how to get up to my guesthouse, as there weren't many roads connecting the different levels. Eventually I figured it out, checked in, and wandered down the road past a pretty church to the one restaurant that was still open for the season, Stúkúhusið. I passed

the American couple, who'd got the replacement tyre (at a cost of about $200), hoping that they'd be able to recoup it from the rental company. He was still clearly very pissed off. I ate the fish of the day (divine chunks of cod with a creamy pistachio topping), managed to drink about a litre of water, and then wandered back home - it's always a bit odd eating alone.

* iPhoneSE shot

* iPhoneSE shot

The forecast for the following day - which I was planning to spend exploring the area, including the Látrabjarg cliffs and Rauðasandur beach - was for rain until at least midday, but possibly all day. I set my alarm in time to get breakfast, but planned to spend the morning cleaning the sensor and looking at the previous day's photos. I did a bit of a review in my room, drank one of my cold beers, chatted briefly to hubby on Facetime and then went to bed, feeling a little exhausted and headachey, but very glad that I'd decided to take the ferry and saved myself a few hours of driving, and also very glad to finally have made it up to the Westfjords. I was very excited to be spending the next few days exploring.

Click here for Day 2 - Exploring the Látrabjarg Peninsula