Iceland #13 - Day 7: Hiking to Glymur

One of the wonderful things about returning to a country over and over is discovering new things each time, as well as re-visiting a few known gems. In the winter the options are limited, as roads are closed due to snow, but in late summer/early autumn most of the roads are still passable and therefore new destinations await!

My friend Mandy arrived the day before another friend, Mav, so we had the day to ourselves to explore. I googled "day-trips from Reykjavík" and found the usual golden circle destinations, but then found a couple of waterfalls that I'd heard of but didn't know much about, as they're out-of-bounds during the winter. The first was Háifoss, right up at the far side of the golden circle (which we were visiting the following days anyway) and the other that got my interest was Glymur, previously Iceland's tallest waterfall (until it was discovered that another had a slightly longer drop). It's pretty easy to get to, sitting up a valley at the end of Hvalfjörður. I must have driven past the turn-off on my first solo Icelandic trip, as I'd driven around the fjord, but the road up to the waterfall would have been closed anyway. The trip involves quite a steep climb up the side of a canyon, but I decided it would make the perfect day-trip for us (unless it was pissing with rain, which it wasn't).

We woke up at around 8.30am and had a good breakfast downstairs, before heading off towards the waterfall. I managed to take a wrong turn to get on to the Route 1, but it didn't matter too much and soon we were back on the road heading north, passing those endless Mosfellsbær roundabouts again. We stopped at the café at the trailhead to Eskja to use the loo. It was for customers only so we got a muffin to take on our hike and Mandy had a horribly-disappointing cup of expensive coffee out of a machine (not a proper coffee-maker!). We took the turn-off to take the road around the south side of the fjord. It's a lovely drive, past farmland and small waterfalls. We stopped at some shallow falls, Laxa i Kjos, and took a couple of photos each, the sun coming out briefly for us (I didn't bother with the tripod, but it would be a nice spot for some smooth water longer exposure shots).

We drove on, passing the small waterfall that I'd stopped at on my first solo trip - Fossárrétt. It was interesting that although it's not a particularly spectacular waterfall, since my previous visit in 2012 a car-park had been built just near-by - obviously the local tourist board thought it worth people stopping at. I'd been practising my first long-exposure shots with waterfalls on that trip!

We soon reached the turn-off to Glymur, and finished the last few miles of the drive. The car-park was packed, so we knew we wouldn't be alone on the hike. We got ourselves ready and set off, with the sun coming and going behind big clouds. At least it wasn't raining (we might not have done it had it been). The path meandered around, climbing a little. I saw the odd remaining lupin - it must look so glorious when they're all out. We didn't stop until we reached the caves that you have to climb through to continue (sounds worse than it is - anyone could hike this bit easily). I finally got my camera out and took a couple of shots of Mandy at the entrance to the cave. Always a good challenge to take photos in caves - super-bright outside and super-dark inside...

The next stop after the cave was the first river crossing (there's actually only this one if you go up and back on this route, but another, bigger one if you decided to come down on the other side). People were stopped at the edge of the river taking off shoes and socks. The crossing consisted of hopping over a couple of rocks which had water flowing over them (but not deep), followed by a section along a slightly wet log over a deeper bit; the whole way across was a metal rope to hold onto.

We sat down and took off our shoes and socks, tied the shoes around the backpack straps, tucked the socks securely into the shoes, rolled up our trousers, and I put the camera away in a plastic bag inside my backpack, in case of disaster. There was actually a bit of a queue, so we waited while a few people went ahead - it was definitely a on-at-a-time crossing. Mandy went first and I took a few iPhone pictures - I had to get some record!

It was my turn next and the first part was easy, although the water was jolly cold. I got onto the first section of the log and it was extremely slippery and I slipped a little - thank god for the wire! The dry bit was fine, but I did feel a little relieved to reach the other side. We dried our feet with our socks and then put them and the shoes back on again and continued up into the canyon. The trail became steeper, and from time-to-time there were sections with wire ropes to help you. Eventually we came to the first of the viewpoints of the magnificent waterfall. The canyon was lush and green and the waterfall was just visible in the distance. I set the tripod up and took a few shots. It was a long way down!

We carried on - still having a long way up to go. We could see the tiny silhouettes of people at the top of the falls. The view back down to the valley behind us was also lovely.

The viewing areas were welcome stopping places, as the climb was relentless.

As we got closer to the top the falls came more into view, and we could see how there were two separate sections - a gently fall over sleek rocks, and a section that fell directly into the abyss below. We also noticed a couple of sheep snuggled together on one of the steep grassy slopes at the foot of a cliff - god knows how they got there! Some of the cliffs had intensely orange rocks, which contrasted against the deep greens of the canyon sides.

Finally we reached the top, which felt like quite an achievement, given how steep it was. We then had to decide whether to try to cross the river a bit upstream of the falls or return the same way. We decided to try the other side - for something different - and so continued on the path until we saw some people on the far bank putting their shoes back on. That must be a place to cross, we thought. We got ourselves ready again - camera away, shoes tied around backpack straps, and watched a couple of other women attempt to cross. The river is very wide above the falls, but although it looked quite shallow, crossing was more challenging than first appeared. The women went out for a good ten metres before finding a too-deep bit and turned back. A few other pairs and groups arrived and we all kind of surveyed the river, unsure what to do. Eventually the same women tried a bit further up the river, along the top of a faster-flowing bit, and they managed to find a reasonable path across. The sun even came out as we crossed, which made the cold a little less unbearable briefly.

It was quite exhilarating, trying hard not to fall, arms flailing to keep one's balance. A whole group of us followed the woman's path. The rocks were either smooth but covered in slippery weeds, or sharp and pointy, so the whole thing was quite a challenge. We were very pleased and relieved to get to the other side, but it was very good fun. Again we dried our frozen feet with socks and dressed again and continued on. The view above the fall gave nothing away about the drop beyond the edge. The sun disappeared and dark clouds grew on the horizon; some rain was also visible in the distance.

We carried on down, choosing the shorter but steeper path that hugs the side of the canyon (a less steep path takes you down, away from the canyon). The rain in the distance became more prominent.

There were more viewpoints, with the falls more visible, so we stopped for a few photos, including a couple of obligatory selfies.

*iPhoneSE shot

*iPhoneSE shot

The path down wasn't as quick or easy as we'd hoped, and we ended up in trails going through birch trees. I certainly didn't want to get stuck in a bloody birch forest again, after the previous day's escapade! Eventually we left the trees and rejoined the path we'd started on before entering the cave. It started to rain slightly so the waterproof jackets came out briefly.

Soon we were down and back at the car, and I realised that I no longer had my lovely sunglasses with me - I remembered putting them on the ground at some point and obviously had failed to pick them up again. Very annoying, but if that was the worst disaster of the holiday it wasn't too bad. We drove back towards the road along the fjord, running a bit later than we'd hoped. We still had to drive back, shower and change, before then meeting up with some friends of Mandy's in a bar near where we were staying in downtown Reykjavík at 7pm. We had just over an hour's drive ahead, but obviously had to pull over when we saw the most intense rainbow across the fjord. It was only a small amount but very bright, with impressive clouds above.

The journey back into Reykjavík was an easy one, and Mandy helped me navigate, so we were able to arrive at the apartment without a hitch. We were staying just down from the Hallgrimskirkja, and managed to find a parking spot right outside. We had been booked into a different apartment, but Booking.com had cancelled it the previous week and suggested this one - Mengi. It was a lovely little place, and brilliantly located.

We went out and met up with Mandy's friends - Ed and Paul - in Kaffibarinn - a coffee shop that turned into a bar at night. We had a couple of drinks there before heading down to the Kex Hostel along the waterfront for some more drinks, some delicious fish, and meeting some of Ed and Paul's friends. There are certainly lots of expats living in the city, but since everyone speaks English they hung out with locals too, not just other expats. Last stop was a couple of drinks at the wonderful Mikkeller Bar that I'd visited the previous year with the boys.

Mav, meanwhile, had landed, and was getting the bus into the city, with a minibus to bring her to the apartment (or nearby). It seemed to be taking forever, and she didn't arrive until 1.30am. Mandy and I sat across from the church with a couple of glasses of vodka that we'd brought out from the apartment. I noticed a bus arriving on the far side of the church and headed over. Mav was thankfully on that one, and we walked back to the apartment, had a quick drink before bed, before turning in for the night at 2.30am - another rather late one, especially considering how much I had planned for the following day!

Click here for my blog from Day 6 - Driving back to Kéflavíjk
Click here for my blog from Day 8 - A Little Bit of Golden Circle, South Coast, Sunset & Northern Lights