Iceland #19 - Day 7: Rainy Drive to Stafafell

Day six was a complete write-off. I slept in late, woke up feeling quite rough - a little bit of a raised temperature, slightly groggy and headachey and tired. I had the usual coronavirus vs Garun hangover question, but think it was the beer - that stuff just doesn't agree with me any more. I didn't get the DSLR out once, or leave the cabin except to drive around the headland to go into Vík to try the burger at the Smiðjan Brugghús (which was delicious, as were the chips!). I looked out of the window often during the day, and could basically see nothing but rain and the wind blowing the grasses nearby. The cabin can be pretty noisy with wind bashing it, but it's nice and cosy, so a good place to hunker down and wait out the storm. Cars came and went, and I could see people battling the wind as they headed down to the beach. The benefit of having been to this spot on numerous occasions is that I didn't feel compelled to go and see it or take any photos, which would've been pointless and miserable.

So yes, my first ever day in Iceland where I didn't take a single photo (except for one on the iPhone of the burger!). It was so frustrating, as this was supposed to be my day to explore and hike up at Þakgil, a short drive away. Oh well, that is life.

Day seven was better, although it was still windy and rainy when I woke up (so no sunrise trip down to the beach either). I felt much better - no more headache, temperature normal, so didn't feel as if I had the 'rona! It was pretty foggy as I left, stopping for a quick chat with Raggi before heading off. In the day and a half that I'd been there the covid-19 situation had worsened, and they were about to bring in a new regulation whereby tourists visiting from most countries would be required to have a second test, 5 days after their first. It didn't apply to those - like me - who were already there, which was handy, as I didn't want to have to drive out of my way for a second test.

I set off in the drizzle, barely able to see the hillsides of Reynisfjall. When you know how stunning a landscape is it can be infuriating to see it covered up. As I turned right onto the pass around towards Vík there was a slight rise in the clouds. I noticed a motorcyclist that had come off the road, but wasn't hurt - not great driving conditions. I stopped a little further around the big bend to take a couple of shots of the mysterious looking landscape. It was miserable and wet, but atmospheric.

My plan for the day was to drive to Stafafell, stopping for some more food in Höfn, with stops at Lómagnúpur and Jökulsárlón along the way. I drove straight through Vík which seems to have more and more new buildings up on every visit (and no doubt some of the owners will sadly now be bankrupt...). I passed the turn-off up to Þakgil, the road heading off into the fog and murk. I passed the turn-off down to Hjörleifshöfði - could barely see the inselberg in the distance. I drove on and didn't stop again until I reached Foss á Siðu, where I usually stop for a quick snap.

It wasn't too windy, so the waterfall wasn't blowing sideways or upwards, as I've seen it before, but it was still pretty unpleasant with constant drizzle. I next stopped at a little parking area not far from the Fosshotel Núpar, thankful that there was a portaloo there (I suffer so much with a weak bladder, and much of my trips are spent trying to find somewhere to pee!!). The landscape there was pretty too.

I stopped again a little further down the road, as I noticed a couple of upward waterfalls above the turf-roofed houses as Núpsstaður.

Next stop was a brief one at Lómagnúpur, where the cloud had lifted a tiny bit for me, and I was almost able to make out the top. Almost.

To the east I noticed that there was a little break in the cloud cover, and I could just make out a tiny patch of sunshine on a distant glacier - it gave me a little hope for some better weather in my future!

As I got back into the car I noticed that I still had the key to the cottage at Reynisfjara - not the first time I've forgotten to give a door key back, and won't be the last. I was far too far away from there now to turn back, so I sent Raggi an email apologising and promising to pop it back on my return journey the following week. I hoped that he had a spare (he must do!).

I drove on, and stopped at one of the car-parks along the side of the road on the approach to Skaftafell, as there's wonderful views of various glaciers and mountains. I could see both Svínafellsjökull and Skaftafellsjökull; both looking wonderful. With the long lens I was even able to capture some of the detail of the craggy hillsides and glacial ice from there.

I continued on, glad to have some long-distance visibility and views of peaks, and took the left turn towards Svínafellsjökull, which I only visit every few years. I hadn't been since my birthday in Feb 2018, when it had been extremely glassy and slippery. I had thought of hiking around the moraine to the south side, but I could hear some noisy people along there and that put me off. Instead I just walked through the gate and hiked along the path overlooking the edge of the glacier. I was horrified to notice how much it had receded since my first visits. I remembered seeing a couple of guys hiking on the ice in the distance and then below me - now there was no way that you could hike to this side, as the ice no longer reached the side beneath me. I took a few shots of the dirty ice in the distance with the long lens, with no way to understand the size or scale, and then headed back to the car, feeling a little sad.

As I reached the car there were some wonderful undulating clouds overhead to the south-east; I love how quickly the sky changes in Iceland!

I stopped at the petrol station nearby, not having the usual burger on this occasion, since I'd had one the previous night, and I still had enough bread and cheese for my packed lunch instead. I tried to fill the car up, but for some reason it wouldn't allow me to put in enough to fill it up. I stupidly put my credit card back in my trouser pocket on my leg, instead of in the phone wallet (where it usually lived), being rather flustered by the whole not filling up experience, and off I went, next stop Jökulsárlón (yay!!).

As I approached my beloved Jökulsárlón the weather had deteriorated again, and was now raining again, with low cloud obscuring any mountains - wish it wasn't quite that changeable! I crossed the suspension bridge and drove down into the east car-park, got geared up, and headed down to the beach. The rain seemed to be coming in every direction, so it wasn't possible to just take shots away from the rain, which is usually the solution to shooting in crappy weather there! There weren't a huge number of icebergs on the beach, but generally I prefer it that way, so that I can concentrate on one or a group against the black sand and white waves. I wasn't very happy with either the conditions or compositional options, so I took a handful of shots before heading up to the lagoon on foot, under the bridge (I was actually more pleased when I reviewed and processed a couple than I initially thought!).

The lagoon was also murky and the drizzle wasn't letting up. I was surprised to see that the beach along the edge of the water was no longer there - the water level was obviously about a metre higher than it is in winter (or autumn, for that matter). As a result the options were to walk along the ridges overlooking the lagoon. There was a real mish-mash of icebergs in the lagoon, and I couldn't even see the glacier in the distance as visibility was so poor. There were some blue icebergs but my favourite was one that was rather dirty and looked like a bar of Toblerone, with jagged chunks.

I wandered back to the car, stopping to take one last shot with my iPhone. 

I got back to the car, and for some reason noticed that I didn't have my credit card. I checked every pocket about 5 times, and inside the car, under all the seats, etc... I walked back up to the spot where I'd taken the iPhone shot, as that was the first time I'd taken my phone out since the petrol station, hoping that maybe it had fallen out there. No sign of it anywhere. I got back to the car, checked inside the car yet again, and then phoned the petrol station to see if anyone had handed it in: definitely no sign of it anywhere. So I sat in the car, at the edge of Jökulsárlón beach, cancelling my nice credit card with no foreign transaction fees - grrrr! At least I had a couple of other cards, so wasn't stuck (always carry more than one!!).

I drove off, unbelievably annoyed with myself for being so careless, and headed towards Höfn, passing lots of favourite places (the tree line, the wonky tree) but not stopping until I got to the supermarket in the town centre. The new rules in place didn't make a great deal of difference - just had to use hand sanitiser on arrival at the shop. I know my way around the supermarket now, and picked up some salmon fillets, fresh salad leaves, tomatoes and avocados, and then off to the dairy section for some fresh milk and Skyr for cereal. And then I was back off in the car, and on the last bit of the journey towards my yellow cottage, my home away from home. As I left Höfn I noticed an old man with a sheepdog, who was dragging the man forward excitedly. I soon realised why - there was a puddle and as soon as the dog reached it he went mad, jumping around in the water like a puppy. It was an adorable sight; I smiled as I drove past, the man smiled back. I don't think this was the first time the dog had enjoyed such a simple, fun pleasure.

I continued on, with the weather still dire, with no visibility at all - no point making a detour to Stokksnes, as I wouldn't see a thing. I hoped that maybe coming out of the tunnel I'd suddenly be greeted to clearer skies, but alas no, still rubbish! 

I arrived at Stafafell and was greeted by Sigurdur and we chatted briefly about "the situation". He hadn't bothered to open the hostel this year, but had still had plenty of business in the cottages, which I was pleased to hear. I got to the cottage and took a shot on the iPhone to show how miserable the weather was before settling in and making myself some tea.

One benefit of travelling to Iceland in the summer is that the days are long, which gives you more opportunity to for the weather to change during the day. This, at least, is the hope on days like these! Sadly on this particular day the drizzle was set in, so I just had to lump it. The other benefit is that even if the weather's rubbish, there are still more hours of daylight in the day, so at 7pm off I went to Skútafoss, a little waterfall nearby that I've visited on a few occasions. On the way there, I noticed a police car parked at the Hrafnavellir guesthouse, which was strange - I'd never seen a police car on the stretch of road east of Höfn. I got to the waterfall and hiked up there, hoping that given that there was a cave at least I'd get some shots without having rain on the lens after every shot. The water was raging - far heavier than I'd seen this waterfall before. The turquoise stream of the waterfall and the pool into which it falls was still there. Above I could see little trickles of waterfalls coming out from the foggy hills.

I had to clamber over a few rocks to get into the cave, whereas usually the water level is lower and there's no barrier. I felt nervous that the water might be rising even higher, so kept a close eye on it while I was in there. It's a tricky spot to take photographs from, and when I set my tripod up I realised that the knob that tightened the panning mechanism had fallen off. This had happened in Costa Rica too, but I'd seen it lying by the car and tragedy was narrowly avoided. Not so lucky this time - the knob was most likely long gone (and I'd already checked under the car seats for the credit card and nothing had appeared). I could still use the tripod, just had to hold it steady, which kind of defeats the purpose of a tripod! 

After awkwardly trying a few shots in the cave I then headed up onto the rocks above, where I hadn't thought to photograph before. It was great to get a different perspective, but the rain was problematic, so I didn't last long.

The rain began to get heavier, so I called it a day, walking back down to the car. On the drive home I was interested to see that the police car was now in a lay-by near the guesthouse, waiting to nab speeding drivers going past. Fortunately I was driving less than 90kmph as it was so wet and miserable, but often I do go a little over that. There were so few tourists or locals on the road it seemed a little odd for them to be doing it, but then the penalties are quite good, so maybe it's worth it for a little extra police revenue...

I got back home and diced up and fried a chunk of the salmon and served it with salad and washed it down with two divine sour beers (especially the Dr. Schepsky's Passion Fruit Sour - divine!). 

The forecast for the following day was also poor, with more rain, or at least cloud cover all day. It wasn't windy at least, but still annoying. I had a full day there, so hoped to visit Stokksnes, Hvalnes and maybe Skútafoss again if the weather improved. I was also looking forward to the lovely swan lake, Lónsfjörður, although in this weather it was unlikely to be as amazing as usual.

Click here for my blog from Day 5 - Red Volcano and Dark Canyon
Click here for my blog from Day 8 - A Wet Day Around Stafafell

Iceland #16 - Day 9: More Snow Driving West

Day 9 was the day I had to leave my beloved yellow cottage and start the journey west. I woke up pretty late, as again snow showers and pretty miserable weather had been forecast. I poked my head under the curtain just before 8am, a little after sunrise. Again, I was annoyed that I hadn't made the effort to get up (and out) earlier, as a gap in the cloud had produced some marvellous light on the surrounding mountain peaks. Oh well, at least the view from the cottage was wonderful so all was not lost. I donned my down jacket, grabbed the camera and took a few shots as the peaks were illuminated.

I had breakfast and tea, and started to pack up, feeling a little sad (and still incredibly sore). I didn't leave until about 9.30am and headed up to the farmhouse to say goodbye to Sigurdur and pay. I headed down the track and just reached the turn-off towards the canyon when I remembered that I hadn't given him back the key (I'd done this once before, a few years earlier, and had driven back from Höfn to return it!), so turned back to return it, before heading on my way. The weather was stormy, with some great contrasty black clouds and distant snow showers visible. I stopped at the road that leads down to Papafjörður and took a few photos of the beautiful Brunnhóll and snow blowing on the road.

After the tunnel I headed down towards Stokksnes; again I paid the entrance fee as I didn't fancy walking up the road in the biting wind and under very ominous skies. I parked near the entrance to the radar station again, where snow showers were passing over. The weather was ridiculous - absolutely freezing with a horizontal wind taking snow past me as I got out of the car.

I walked along the perimeter fence of the radar station for a bit; a couple of visitors could be seen on the horizon from time to time, struggling against the oncoming wind. The waves in the bay were choppy and frothy, themselves struggling against the wind!

I decided not to go down to the beach - it was too ghastly! - so instead turned back and went away from the beach into the dunes on the far side of the spit road where it was a little less exposed. The dunes were covered in snow, but most also had a fine layer of black sand on top, so they looked a strange grey.

There were some strange formations, where ice had formed around grasses, and then snow and sand were blown on top. It was snowing and fairly unpleasant, but like the previous day there were signs that the sun was trying to break through.

The sun began to illuminate the snowy slopes of Vestrahorn and within a few minutes I was also treated to some warming sunshine. It lasted a very short time, but was very welcome!

I noticed a wonderfully sculpted snow mound on a sand dune and headed over to investigate. The patterns and curves were just exquisite in the early afternoon sun.

I might have stayed there all morning, but the sun disappeared and it lost some of its appeal.

As soon as the sun disappeared the next snow storm rolled through - and this was quite a severe one, taking the loose snow snaking across the sand, the mountains behind completely obscured.

I headed back across the road towards the beach, hoping that it might pass soon.

Finally it began to ease a little and the mountain loomed back into view. A couple of minutes later there was even a patch of blue sky above me! This gave me my first opportunity to change lenses - so I swapped the 70-200mm for the 16-35mm so I could capture the whole range.

I got to the water's edge when the snow had finally stopped and took a couple of shots of the mountains reflected in the wet sand before the next storm hit; it looked sublime. Within a couple of minutes the mountains were gone and I was hit with horizontal snow yet again. I took a rare selfie, all wrapped-up in my 66º North gear!

Here's a little slo-mo video of the snow - pretty full-on!

The snow was coming in from the sea, making photographs of the beach pretty impossible, so I decided that it was time to call it a day, and head on my way to my next stop, Jökulsárlón (weather-permitting). I stopped to capture one last shot of a couple of stones arranged like a sad face, which reflected my feeling at having to leave here. It's not my favourite place in Iceland, but it's definitely up there, and it never fails to deliver something. Adieu Stokksnes!

It was 11.45am by the time I left. I wanted to reach Vík at about 5.45pm for sunset, and had 280km to drive, so didn't have a great deal of time for stops. It wasn't long before I stopped - I'd only got a few kilometres before I drove past the horses, looking so forlorn in the snow, so I had to pull over and take a few more snowy horse photographs.

I drove on, taking the right turn near Höfn to continue on the ringroad. I didn't stop for another 40 minutes until I reached my favourite tree. The weather to the north looked rather nice now, with sun on the distant glaciers and snowy peaks. Gloomy snowstorm clouds lurked over the sea to the south.

I continued on until I reached the tree-line. The clouds to the south were still extremely ominous-looking, but for the time being I was out of the snow's path.

I stopped just before I reached the turn-off to Hali, as the clouds over the ocean looked a bit like white northern lights dancing above the water.

I hoped the light would hold for the last few kilometres to Jökulsárlón, as these stormy skies would make a great backdrop to iceberg on beach pictures. I was obviously excited to be back, approaching one of the true natural wonders of my world.

I reached the car-park at 1.20pm and headed straight down to the east beach. I realised that on the whole trip I hadn't been over to the lagoon, but my obsession with the beach is sometimes too all-consuming to allow the lagoon a look-in! Today was no exception, and I was tight on time, so the beach was the only place for me to be. And how wonderful it was. I spent two hours there, watching and photographing the waves crashing against the stacks of huge icebergs. If only I'd had longer! The skies weren't quite as cool as they'd been on my approach, but still gave the place a wonderful moody atmosphere. I took a lot of shots in that two hours! It was challenging, as I sorely missed my (smashed-in-the-fall) 6-stop ND filter. I realised that it was one of the filters that I use the most at this location. Instead I was having to stack the 2-stop with the polariser, and variable ND filter to get a slow enough shutter speed for the effects I wanted. Fortunately it was fairly dark, which helped.

I had to tear myself away - until next year! It's always so hard, when you love a place so much. I drove pretty quickly from Jökulsárlón to Vík, stopping only very briefly once I reached Hjorleifshöfði. I didn't even stop for a quick photo at Lómagnúpur - don't know what was wrong with me!

I had the usual dilemma as I approached Vík of "where to go for sunset". There wasn't going to be an actual sunset, but I still wanted to find somewhere for the last session of the day. I decided to park near the petrol station at Vík and do my last session on the beach there. Amazing as Reynisfjara is - with its incredible basalt columns - I have a real soft-spot for the beach at Vík, partly because it's the first real black beach I stood on hearing the waves scraping the pebbles back to sea, partly because there's never many people there (at Reynisfjara there's always tons!) and partly because it's just incredible. So Vík beach it was. On my walk down to the beach I passed some tourists having a quick horse-ride. They were just walking along some paths and I hoped that they were at least allowed to get up to a tölt.

I walked down to the rocky jetty, where a couple of others stood, the spray from the odd massive wave hitting them a little.

Huge numbers of seabirds flitted around near the crashing waves on the left side of the jetty - amazing they didn't get injured by the water. I took a few long exposures (now possible as the light was fading fast).

Of course I took a few photos of the stacks to the right of the jetty. The light wasn't great, but at least it wasn't snowing. I had a small accident with the tripod toppling over (not with the camera on it) and I bashed my knee as I reached out to grab it (preventing it from potentially falling over the edge and into the sea).

The waves and the stacks weren't really doing it for me from that angle, so I walked back up the jetty and up to a bridge over a small river leading down to the beach and on to the beach a bit further round. I'd hoped to find some large stones to get some decent water trails, and eventually found a couple, but couldn't quite find a composition I was happy with. I did capture some nice waves though.

The light began to fade fast and another light snowstorm hit me (I must have been caught in about 6 throughout the day!). I was nervous of driving in the dark in the snow, so I hurried back to the car, keen to make the last bit of the journey - across the pass and down to my cottage at Reynisfjara - before it got properly dark.

The drive wasn't too bad, as there was still enough light for me not to worry about the snow which was still falling. I got to the reception house and got the key - knowing exactly where to go next as I'd stayed there the previous week. It was nice to get back to the cute little place, warm and dry, out of the endless wind and snow, able to rest my aching body. The evening followed the usual pattern - call hubby, download and review photos, cook pasta, have a beer, recharge batteries. I ended up having rather more than "a beer", instead drinking three Garuns, which are 11%! I felt quite drunk as I went to bed, setting the alarm early. Finally a nice day was forecast again, and given my proximity to the beach, I had to make myself get up for sunrise. It had been a wonderful day, in spite of the endless snow storms - visiting the wonderful Stokksnes and Jökulsárlón and ending up on Vík beach. Such a great country is little old Iceland!

Click here for my blog from Day 8: A Snowy Day around Stafafell
Click here for my blog from Day 10: Driving from Vík to Álftanes