I woke up to more rain - it was becoming a bit depressing now. I wanted to see the mountains and fjords with some sunshine (and possibly massive storm clouds), but not just endless rainclouds. That clearly wasn't going to happen today (or over the next two either, according to the forecast, which always deteriorates as time goes on, never improving...). The breakfast at the guesthouse was very disappointing, but I ate some bread to fill me up before packing up to go. First stop was the Arctic Fox Center. You can't visit Suðavík and not have a quick look at this place. Housed in a pretty, typically-Icelandic wood-clad building it included some videos, pictures, taxidermied foxes, and lots of information on every aspect of the creatures, their history, and how they feature in Icelandic culture. I had a good look round, learning about their distribution and genetic colour combinations, among other things. I'd only seen one on my trips to Iceland - on my previous one near Stokksnes. The last stop in the museum was outside, where there were two young rescued foxes living in a pen. One was curled up in a little ball on the grass and the other slept under a little hutch. I couldn't believe how tiny they were! The foxball one eyed me but didn't engage, and the other one got up and tiptoed around a bit. They were very cute.
I took a couple of pictures of an imposing red house and the pretty church before setting off.
The next stop was a brief one, owing to the rain, at the bottom of the Álftafjörður - a valley that was supposed to be rather beautiful, Seljalandsdalur. It was a two kilometre hike to a little area called Valagil, a canyon, but I didn't have the energy to go and explore. Instead I took a few shots of the rain falling in the fjord, a random waterfall in the distance falling down the side of the valley.
I stopped a little further on to capture another farm hut (I do like my farm huts!) - it wasn't nearly as cool as the orange-roofed one, but it would have made an awesome barn conversion (and it gets a little more light in the winter than the other one).
At the end of the next headland I stopped to look back across at a misty Suðavík. It was partially destroyed by an avalance in January 1995, killing 14 people, but was rebuilt a little further away from the dangerous zone. There was an impressive pointy mountain towering above, but it was difficult to capture. To the north I could just make out the Drangajökull icefield on the other side of the fjord - a tiny sheet of the ice visible under thick cloud.
There was a small pass over a hill before coming down into yet another long fjord - Hestfjörður. This one was pretty narrow and seemed to go on forever, the sides dotted with waterfalls trickling down every slight indent in the hillsides. I passed a car full of women tourists who'd just stopped at the side of the road with their hazard lights on, not making any attempt to even pull off to the side at all. If I get irritated by that I can only imagine what the locals must think (I always try to stop where there is a gravel side-road so I can pull off the main road itself). Soon after I reached the end of the fjord and it turned another very steep bend. Lots of cars were parked at the side of the road, and I realised that there were some seals out on the seaweed. You couldn't get very close, but it's always nice to get a little glimpse.
Nearby was an old delapidated farm hut with a strange sign next to it - I've seen it a few times now and have no idea what it means.
The seals marked the beginning of Skötufjörður, the fourth fjord I'd driven alongside in just over an hour. Again the steep hillsides were striped with delicate waterfalls. I'm sure they were all photogenic in their own rights, but the light wasn't great and I wanted to get a move on, so I didn't bother photographing any of them. When I reached the far side of the fjord I noticed some interesting rock formations along the shore - which reminded me a bit of pancake rocks I'd seen in New Zealand many years earlier. A fortuitous parking area came up, so I parked up and took my camera gear along the beach to where I could see the cool rocks. Then a miraculous thing happened - the sun came out!!
It was only for a few minutes, but it cheered me up a little. The beach was littered with red seaweed, which would have been good to capture with the hired Zeiss macro lens, which I'd barely used yet, but I decided I'd do that on my way back to the car. The weird stacked rocks had caught my eyes instead. The sun was already disappearing, disappointingly. One of the rocks looked a bit like a crocodile - I really do see faces or animals in things all the time!
The wind got up a little and the sun completely disappeared behind thickening, dull white cloud, so I wandered back to the car. I took a little detour to capture some fantastically eroded rocks at the edge of the beach, which reminded me a bit of some of the formations at Hjlóðaklettar up in the north-east. Some bits looked like screaming, pained and tortured faces (I had a severe attack of pareidolia). Perhaps they were the skulls of trolls... (sorry for all the photos - but I just love these things!!)
I decided not to bother with any macro shots, but took a couple of quick shots of the seaweed.
I drove on and didn't stop again until I reached the N1 petrol station near the Hotel Reykjanes, also deciding against the detour to the hot pool in the Heydalur area as there were more near where I was headed. I put some petrol in the car (not filling up as they kept charging my account with a full ISK 25,000 if I pressed fylla) and then an American woman pulled up and asked if I knew where a place called Saltverk was. I hadn't heard of it, but pointed her in the direction of the hotel - I'm sure they would have known - there certainly wasn't much else in the vicinity (they made local artisanal salt). She was the only other woman I met who was travelling alone - we're a rare breed!I carried on, finally leaving the fjords. It had been like tracing fingers on a hand - there were so many and they were so narrow! It was actually a relief to head uphill again onto another heath. Pleasant as the drive had been it hadn't been very spectacular like the south-western part of the Westfjords. I knew I would pass a few waterfalls, and had planned to stop, but when I reached the one impressive one there was no obvious stopping place and I decided to just continue on. I was hungry, and decided to carry on to Hólmavík to see if I could get something there. By the time I reached the junction which marked the road off to Djúpavík, though, I decided just to continue on up there - no point making a 20km detour to get a crappy burger! The road became a bit more interesting and I looked out for a left-hand-turn that would take me north. I didn't see such a turn and eventually found myself in Drangsnes, which was past where I thought I would turn. It didn't matter, as there's a set of three hot pools along the side of the road, so as I was there I decided to take a dip. It's a rather strange experience to change into your bikini and then walk across the road in the middle of a little town, barefoot, to leave your stuff in the car, and then hobble along the uneven road to the pools, all in the rain. A couple of French women had arrived just before me, so it was nice to have some company to chat to (travelling alone does get a bit lonely, so I talk a lot when I see people!). One of the women was working in Iceland as a tour guide, but was on a week's break with her friend.
The pools were lovely - set on the edge of the Steingrimsfjörður. It was raining gently, which didn't matter given that I was in lovely hot water. I got out at one stage to take a picture of the girls and was suddenly horrified to see that my lovely new silver Orr ring had turned completely gold!! I'd read that one should take off silver jewellery, but hadn't bothered at the last pools (which were untreated) and so forgot here. I wouldn't be making that mistake again. My necklace was also discoloured, but my earrings had been above water level and made it out unscathed.
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| *iPhoneSE shot of my feet |
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| *iPhoneSE shot looking strangely orange! |
By the time I left Drangsnes it was just before 4pm and still raining. I didn't have a great distance to go, but I'd read that the road was a slow one. Before I left I stopped at a little shop to pick up some Skyr for my breakfast for the next two days (didn't fancy spending €17 in the hotel). I also had one to eat there and then as I'd missed lunch and was now very hungry (I tried a caramel one - yum!). It took me just over an hour and a half to finally reach Djúpavík, after a few stops to capture the stunning roads along the way (including the last high pass with views down to the Veiðileysa fjord).
On arrival it was bucketing down, but I had a warm greeting from the hotel staff and one of the two resident dogs (Freya, the sheepdog). The room was simple but nicely decorated, and the view was delightful - over the fjord (another Reykjarfjörður!), with a derelict peer covered in seabirds. Fog clung to the mountains opposite - it was very atmospheric. I went out to take a few shots once the rain dissipated - it was most serene.
I had dinner as soon as the restaurant opened (7pm) as I was starving, having missed lunch again. I had cod, served with rice and salad, and a delicious spicy sauce, washed down with a beer I hadn't tried before - the Einstök Wee Heavy (I hadn't brought my Swiss Army Knife with me - by accident - so no way to easily open my own beers in my room!).
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| *iPhoneSE shot |
I went out again after dinner in the gloaming, and met the other dog - Soley the English Bulldog. Soley and Freya were playing around and Soley then climbed on the rocks along the shore - she was remarkably agile given her frame!
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| *iPhoneSE shot |
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| *iPhoneSE shot |
I took a few hand-held shots with a bit of intentional movement, trying to capture the mysterious atmosphere, and then took a few more from my bedroom, the lights turned off to avoid reflections. I quite liked a couple!
Click here for blog from Day 3 - Dynjandi (plus more!)
Click here for blog from Day 5 - Exploring Árneshreppur
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