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 HeydalurPlease click here for the blog from
Day 6: The Long Drive from Heydalur to Laugaból
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