East, North & North-East Iceland - Day 7: A Rainy Drive and Missed Mountain Pass

Some days on my trips to Iceland are disappointing. This is usually weather-related, and usually involve low cloud and lots of rain. Day 7 of my trip was one such day. I didn't have particularly far to go, from Hvammsgerði, just outside Vopnafjörður, to Borgarförður-Eystri, some 145km away. My plan was to drive to Bustarfell to see the turf-roofed houses, then head out towards the beach at Skjólfjörur, spend some time there (having looked up the route down to the beach again), before driving over the wonderful-looking Hellisheiði mountain pass on the route 917, before crossing the wide river plain across towards Borgarfjörður-Eystri. Sadly this was not to be. The cloud was very low and from small breaks in it I could make out snow on the higher ground. I set off, looking ahead of me to the pass shrouded in cloud, thinking that I might still give it a go (I can drive in low visibility), but as I approached the turn-off to Bustarfell I passed an orange sign with the road number and name of the pass and assumed that this meant that the road was closed. I didn't want to risk it, and realised that it might be covered in snow. I turned off towards Bustarfell and decided that I wouldn't bother trying the pass. I also then decided not to bother going back on myself to see Skjólfjörur - plenty more stacks in the sea elsewhere, after all. My change in route meant quite a long detour back to the main ring-road, which was annoying, but it just seemed the sensible option.

So, first stop was Bustarfell, in the rain. There was at least some cool moody clouds in the sky, so the drive was still enjoyable, despite my scuppered plans and invisible hilltops.

Bustarfell is a cute little old farm with a collection of small houses, the tops covered in turf. When I arrived I noticed a load of bits and pieces at the front, and a man soon appeared telling me I was an hour too early, as he was clearing all the stuff away. I didn't want to hang around an hour to get a better shot, so just took a few photos before heading on. One of the houses was open as a museum during the peak season, but obviously it was closed now it was "winter" here. Another had no turf, which rather spoiled the effect!

I drove on, stopping at the side of the road as I noticed a gyrfalcon with a small rodent near the roadside. It flew away from me as soon as I stopped, but it was still thrilling to see it.

I was able to take the route 920 back down to the 85, so as not to have to backtrack to Vopnafjörður. I rejoined the main road and headed back towards the ring-road for my rather annoying diversion. Before I reached the ring-road I saw my first (and only) reindeers - a herd grazing down in a river valley. I guess they hang out in the hills during the summer and autumn and only head down in winter. I've seen plenty in the south-east on my winter journeys.


I joined the ring-road, driving a little of it that I'd missed on my way north, as I'd taken the side road to Moðrudalur. One point was a little nerve-racking, with a large drop on the far side of the road over a canyon. It was quite spectacular, in spite of the greyness. I eventually passed the waterfall (Ysti-Rjúkandi) that I'd stopped at on the way - the car-park was packed. My next stop was after the bridge across the river, before I needed to turn east towards the coast again. There was a striking bridge above a beautiful canyon, with strange clouds above to the east (and even a patch of blue sky!).

After the bridge I took a left hand turn onto route 925. I could have carried on back into Egilsstaðir, but decided that I'd try another stretch of road, since I'd need to take that road on my way back from Borgarfjordur-Eystri anyway a couple of days later. This meant that at least I'd take part of the route I'd planned originally. I drove along the river for a while, through farmland. I stopped when I saw a cute pile of brown cows all snuggled up together. Nearby others tucked into a hay bale. A sheep stood blowing in the wind on the opposite side of the road. In the distance I could see the fresh snow on the hilltops that were now visible - I'm sure the 917 would have been too snowy.

I drove a little further and stopped to photograph a few horses, pretty much the first I'd photographed all trip. They are much friendlier in the winter, when they almost always approach for a stroke (probably wanting food). I was rather transfixed by the way two of them lay on the ground, with their legs all tucked in, similar to the way my cocker spaniel often sleeps. Others just stood there, looking as if they were just contemplating the view.

I took a right turn to continue on the 925, which crossed more farmland and a few hamlets.

I turned onto the route 944 and soon came to a weir and stopped to take a photo, the rain and wind unfortunately having made an appearance briefly. There is a large power plant nearby, creating hydro-electric power. A large sign showed me the beautiful view of the mountains in the distance that were hidden by the clouds today.

The road continued on the other side of the river before reaching the route 94 - the main (and mainly paved) road that runs between Egilsstaðir and Borgarförður-Eystri. It soon turned a bend and then continued straight, heading towards the mountains that I couldn't see. It was a fantastic stretch of road, all the same. I do love winding roads, but sometimes there's nothing quite like zooming along a straight stretch. The road started to climb and wind around the hillsides, past some cool cliffs. It was another fantastic stretch of road, climbing steeply on long switchbacks. If only there was a view!! I soon reached the signpost for the trailhead to Stórurð, where I hoped to hike to the following day, weather-permitting. It certainly didn't look very inviting today. The hillsides nearby were red and beautiful, in spite of the greyness and rain. The road continued winding uphill into the fog.

I reached the top of the pass, after passing a small lake, and soon came out from beneath the low cloud to get a view down to the Njarðvík and the fjord below, the road snaking downhill towards it. I kept stopping to take photos as the road was just so cool!

I made it to the bottom of the bends and enjoyed the last little straight bit passing the hamlet of Njarðvík. The next stretch was an interesting one that I'd seen some photos of and was a little apprehensive about. The road winds in a series of endless twists along a scree slope and it looked a bit like the scary road east of Hvalnes. It turned out not to be scary at all, since it wasn't very high above the sea, the road was wide and there hadn't been a recent avalanche to worry me. It was a particularly ugly stretch.

The winding bit soon ended and the road turned towards the town of Borgarförður-Eystri, my destination for the night and the following day. I drove past the guesthouse and continued on around the bay to explore a little before the light disappeared. It was raining hard and was really quite miserable. I drove past a small waterfall that fell on to the beach, just before a little harbour area, which apparently has great birdlife in summer (including puffins, although they were long gone). I parked at the harbour and took a few shots, the rain pelting at me.

The weather was so ghastly that I could only stay out a few minutes. I was desperate for the loo - as usual - so headed home. I stopped very briefly to take a couple of shots of the cute waterfall (I'd be back) and the pretty grey church back in the village.

I checked in to the Blabjörg guesthouse, where I had a lovely room overlooking the shore, with the waves crashing over some rocks. Later on I headed out to eat at the Álfacafé, having a couple of bowls of tasty fish soup. I didn't stay around but went back to my room for the usual beer + Skype + reviewing of photos. The northern lights forecast was still crazy, but there was not a single break in the cloud tonight, so no point worrying myself about it. I had an early night, hoping the cloud might lift in the morning so I'd be able to do the Stórurð hike, listening to the waves outside as I nodded off. The forecast wasn't promising, but you never know with Icelandic weather...

Click here for my Day 6 blog: a fantastic drive around the north-east Iceland coast
Click here for my Day 8 blog: Hengifoss again

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!