Iceland #17 - Day 5: Exploring near Vigur and Horse-riding in Heydalur

The weather forecast was poor, and I hadn't opted for the breakfast, so I treated myself for a lie-in on day five of my Westfjords trip. The only definitive thing I had planned for the day was horse-riding at 4pm - after my experience the previous year I had to go again as it's just so wonderful. I headed out at about 10.30am, driving north and around the top of Mjóifjörður to an area called Ögur, opposite the long, thin island of Vigur. I'd stopped at the beach there two years earlier and loved the geology - some small stacked pancake rocks, and some weirdly eroded rocks with eerie troll faces in them. The views weren't bad either.

I stopped along the way to photograph some of the wonderful red foliage. As I'd driven down on the opposite side of the fjord the previous afternoon it was nice to see the other side, although it was very similar, with some amazingly colourful autumnal trees dotted on the otherwise-dull hillsides.

I soon came to a pretty waterfall, to the left of a narrow bridge. I parked a little further on and walked back to it and set up the camera for the usual long-exposure shots. The waterfall was called Gliúfurá, and was surrounded by the shrubs with tiny red leaves, which I'd noticed before seeing the gentle falls.

Water droplets clung to the red leaves, but fortunately the rain had pretty-much stopped.

I noticed a no shooting sign, a few of which I'd seen - the picture made me laugh.

I continued on until I reached the beach opposite Vigur, passing some more of the holy, eroded rocky formations. I had to drive along the same route the following day (and later to get back to the farm) so knew that I had another opportunity to stop there. It's always difficult to stop at the side of the road anyway, unless you know where you can pull over. Driving normally, it's pretty dangerous to suddenly slam on the brakes and pull over when you see something good, so I try to avoid doing that! Many other visitors unfortunately don't...

There's an area to park near the beach at Ögur, so it's an easy place to stop - there was a camper van when I arrived, but they moved on while I was on the beach. I parked up and headed down towards the rock where I'd seen the troll faces before. I just love these formations!

I walked along the path a little and set up the tripod to take a couple of silly self-portraits - some evidence that I was actually there...

The sun came in and out as I wandered around, enjoying the views around me.

There were lots of berries along the path, and they looked safe enough (like tiny blueberries) so I tucked in. They were actually crowberries, not blueberries, and not particularly amazing, but somewhat addictive. I am my father's daughter - he always stops to pick berries on hikes!

I noticed a large spider scuttling across a rock - a rather unusual sight in Iceland, and one my friends had never seen before - I only managed to take a (rubbish) iPhone photo of it, protectively hunched, before it disappeared. It was about an inch long, with a massive body and thick black legs. I believe it's a rock weaver (thanks to Jorgen Lissner for this resource!) but since the photo quality is so poor I can't be sure.

I put some filters on and took some long exposures of the views, as the clouds were moving quickly across the sky. Patches of sunlight would come and go in the distance.

My horse-riding was booked for 4pm so I headed back to the farm to have time to get myself ready for it. I wasn't going to take the big camera this time; it had been a mistake on my last trip, not enjoyable galloping with a large camera bag bashing against my back, even with the waist-strap on. The light turned beautiful as I got back to the farm - lovely and golden hour-ish! I met my guide, a sweet girl from Czech republic who was working the season there with her husband, a kayaking guide. My horse was gentle, but quite happy to go quickly, and as we set off up along the river valley he was keen to be ahead. The large retriever accompanied us. The scenery was quite lovely - with the golden hour light on the autumnal leaves, and some lenticular clouds coming and going above. We walked up the valley for a while, before turning back, crossing the river, and eventually walking around the edge of the bottom of the fjord as the light began to disappear. From time to time we galloped - it was absolutely superb! All of the photos below were taken on the iPhone, so the quality is sadly poor (whatever Apple says about the quality of its cameras, I'm sorry, it is just ridiculously bad!). Had I not been out riding I would have got some nice shots with the decent camera. Hey ho, that's how it goes - and I'm glad I got a wonderful two hour ride in under beautiful skies, though, so worth it. And I was also so pleased that I'd opted to spend a little more money to go on my own, rather than in a slow group.

For the whole of the ride, the dog came along with us - playing around in the river and fjord, probably covering at least 50% more ground that us on horseback! When we got back to the stable he lay down, looking completely exhausted, unsurprisingly. The sheepdog did a little photobomb as I tried to capture the tired retriever! Sadly no waffles following this ride (unlike my one at the Geyser Hestar farm a year earlier).

As sunset was imminent, as soon as I got off the horse I picked up my camera gear and drove down to the edge of the fjord, where I'd just ridden. I found a nice little spot where the last of the light illuminated the rocks in front of me. The clouds were still moving fast, so I did a few long-exposure shots too.

I ate another delicious meal in the restaurant - lamb with pecans and salad - climbing over the exhausted dog who lay in the doorway all evening!

I hadn't taken as many photos during the day, so not as much to review before bed. I had a long drive the following day, with grey skies forecast, so didn't plan on leaving too early or getting up for a non-existent sunrise.

Please click here for the blog from Day 4: Driving to Heydalur
Please click here for the blog from Day 6: The Long Drive from Heydalur to Laugaból

East, North & North-East Iceland - Day 2: Waterfalls Galore in Mjóifjörður in the Fog & Drizzle

The clouds had truly settled in overnight and the forecast of drizzle and low cloud was not wrong. I was glad I'd visited Hengifoss and Litlanesfoss the previous day, as it involved a couple of hours of hiking, so today I could spend most of the day in the car, spotting waterfalls in Mjóifjorður from the comfort of my dry vehicle.

Obviously that didn't happen, and I donned my waterproof gear and stood around for ages in the drizzle taking photos.

Breakfast at the Birta guesthouse was provided on trays in the fridge, and they'd left me enough for my two days there (or so I thought) - a pot of Skyr (yum!), an apple, and some bread, cheese, butter and jam. Enough to set me up for a day's excursion in the murky east fjords.

The drive out of Egilsstaðir was beautiful, in spite of the weather. I remembered driving uphill out of the town in the snow on a strange almost-sunny day two and half years earlier, the roads covered in snow, a halo around the sun. I'd pulled over to take some photos and the road off to Mjóifjorður was closed. The reasons became clear to me today, as I drove uphill towards the cloud.

The further up towards the pass I drove, the lower visibility became, and as I reached what could have been the top of the mountain pass the visibility was very poor - only really being able to see the next yellow post (no photos, for obvious reasons, not even a cheeky one on the iPhone as I was driving). The road is fantastic, with endless hairpin bends, but I took it extremely slowly. When I can see I may put my foot down a bit, but this definitely required some care. The roads were, not surprisingly, completely empty, although I had passed one car pulled over at the beginning of the road.

Eventually I wove down towards the fjord and caught sight of the layers of the Klifbrekkufossar falls, just visible through the mist, visibility slightly improving as I descended. I pulled over and parked the car in a pull-out area and wandered down the wet path towards the falls to take a few shots. My shoes were soaked immediately, the hole in the top allowing the water-droplets from the shrubs straight in.

I looked around and water poured down every hillside around me too; I was surrounded by falls.

I decided that the drizzle wasn't too bad, so came back to the car and geared up (waterproof over-trousers and jacket, wellies, baseball cap and hat (good combination for keeping the rain off my face and my head warm, even if I look ridiculous), gloves, and rain-cover for the camera), carrying the heavy tripod with me. As I was about to set off, the car I'd passed earlier parked up and a middle-aged Indian couple got out, the man also laden with camera gear. He asked if I minded if he joined me at my chosen spot - of course not, I told him (if it had been a tour group I might have been less accommodating). I wandered down the wet path and set about capturing the beautiful falls, the top layers barely visible in the gloom. The man came too, with his wife standing around looking bored. This is why my husband stays at home, I told her, and she gave me a knowing look.

After a while I crossed a small river and continued up towards the base of the falls, the man following me (the wife went back to the car). The hills near the falls were covered in autumnal shrubs - every leaf covered in water droplets, and the hillsides flowing with tiny, unnamed, temporary falls. It was quite lovely, and the drizzle even let up from time to time (it's quite an effort to compose a shot with the raincover on, so the respite was welcome, albeit brief).

Along the bank beneath the lowest fall were rocky moss-covered cliffs. I played around with ND filters to change the exposure time and look of the water flowing, as well as the polarising filter to adjust the reflection in the water and on the rocks and vegetation.

It isn't the easiest set of waterfalls to capture, but I still loved it, and wished it was a lovely sunny day with the spray backlit by the sun and the mountains above visible (next time!). Could have done with the Indian guy wearing trousers without a luminous green stripe down them too. He was shooting with a wide angle lens with a pointless hood and had to wipe the lens after each shot; I was glad for the extra rain protection that the hood on my 24-70mm lens provided me. I still checked it for errant rain or waterfall-drops regularly.

Eventually I headed back to the car, stopping again to capture the beautiful autumnal hillsides around me.

I continued down towards the fjord, the sides of which I could barely see still - low mist clinging to every hillside. I soon reached the shipwreck but decided to stop on the way back, driving along the north side of the fjord first. The road was gravel and very poor in places, with bumps and muddy-water-filled potholes everywhere. My little car seemed to be doing okay, but I was nervous about running it aground! I drove along the fjord, without any real goal in mind, just exploring. The road wound around the edge of the fjord, where pretty ducks and geese bobbed around. About a third of a way along the road I passed the one small settlement, with a cute church sitting beneath fog-covered jagged peaks.

Shortly afterwards I drove past a little harbour, where it looked as if some fisherman were working (it turns out that there are some holiday cottages to rent there - might have to check them out next time!). I carried on down the side of the fjord for a while longer, thinking I'd just drive a little bit further, past that next blindhæd, round that next corner... but I just kept on going. I finally stopped at a pretty waterfall that flowed down into the fjord and took a few photos.

Although I wanted to go further, I got a bit nervous about the quality of the road at that point, so I turned round and headed west again.


I continued on, stopping again at a massive waterfall running under the road bridge. The fall is in the Hofsárgljúfur canyon. At the edge of the fjord grasses were covered in more water-droplets than I'd ever seen before. The fog was beginning to lift a little, revealing peaks towering above me. Another smaller waterfall trickled down the slopes nearby.

Eventually I carried on back past the settlements towards the shipwreck, the mist swirling around the hills on the opposite bank.

The shipwreck was quite stark, perched on the side of the fjord, the red paint still visible, camouflaging some of the rust. A couple of cars passed by, but I'd seen almost no-one all day.

The drive took me back past Klifbrekkufossar and as I approached the clouds lifted to reveal a very pointed mountain above to the south-west. I could only imagine how spectacular the peaks were without cloud, but they still looked pretty stunning with only a tiny amount visible!

After taking a few more shots near the falls I drove back up the winding road, now able to see a bit more of where I was going. Visibility was still limited but near the top of the pass there was a gap in the clouds and a great view back down to the fjord above the winding road with some inverted cloud hanging beneath me.

 As I reached the very top of the pass the fog was low to the road again, and I was soon back to driving slowly from one yellow post to the next.

The road back down the other side seemed to go on forever, especially since I could see very little. At one point I cleaned the windows and bizarrely came out of the low cloud at the very same moment that the wipers cleared the windscreen - suddenly everything was clear again!

I drove down on into Egilsstaðir and back to the guesthouse to chill out for a while. Again there was no chance of northern lights (or clear skies) that night, so at least I didn't have to spend the evening manically checking the forecasts and worrying about where to go. I wanted to eat at a restaurant near my guesthouse (Café Nielsen) but it was closed for refurbishment, so I drove the short distance back to Salt. I tried a tandoori lamb burger which was basically chunks of delicious marinated lamb - definitely a better choice than the previous night's prawn healthy pizza. As I ate a woman arrived on her own and sat next to me. Sandya was from San Francisco and also travelling alone and we spent the next couple of hours sharing stories of our trips and our lives. She'd managed to destroy the underside of her car by driving on a bumpy road and had had to abandon the car and be rescued. She'd been charged €5,000 for the damage, which she was hoping to claim back on insurance, but there had apparently been a sign saying "impassable" so she was probably liable. Ouch. That reminded me of how careful I needed to be with my little car. It was unusual to meet another sole traveller - I'm always amazed how few there are in Iceland. We had a great chat before tiredness took over and I headed home to my bed. In spite of the weather, another wonderful day on my beloved island.

Check out my first day blog here!
Check out my Day 3 blog here!