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Around Iceland in 14 Days August 2009 |
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North Coast |
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Tuesday, August 25: We got up at 6am to make an early start to the most northerly point in Iceland. It got light at around 4am so we normally ended up having to force ourselves to at least sleep until 6 or 7am. We couldn't go right up to the lighthouse at Hraunhafnartangi as the road was very rough and rocky. We found a small beach a little way away from the lighthouse where we had breakfast. The beaches are black with this intense yellow green grass and what looks like sedum growing along the beach. It was really beautiful but harsh-looking. You get a sense that the weather is severe up here as there are almost no houses and no real settlement or town anywhere near there. It is only 2.5km (8,000 feet) south of the Arctic Circle so it is rather cold even in summer. |
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We stopped at Kópasker to make tea. They have a really nice campground and a free shower. If it hadn't been so windy that would have been a nice free place to camp. |
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We got to Húsavík at noon, bought tickets for the 1:30pm whale watching boat trip and had lunch. The boat was an old fishing boat. Fortunately the sea was fairly calm with gentle if big swells. The sun was out when we set out but it eventually got overcast. We saw one Minke whale come up for air 4 times. It was fairly close to our boat so we could clearly see the blow holes and some of the white on the flippers. The rest of the trip was spent motoring around the bay looking for more whales but we didn't see any. We were out on the water for 3 hours. They served cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate. It was cold but a pleasant trip. |
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We got off the water at about 4:30pm. It had just started drizzling so we went to the whale museum for the rest of the day. It was very interesting as it showed the evolution of whales, their habits, whaling around the world and many other whale factoids. From there we drove south on Rt 845 for about 20 minutes to a campground which was free, however basic. There wasn't anyone there and in fact there didn't seem to be any houses for miles around. There was at least a wash house with toilets, a sink and cold running water. |
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Wednesday, August 26: I woke up at 5am but lay in for an hour listening to the sheep bleat and a crazy bird flutter around our tent. When we got up the tent was wet from dew but the skies were blue. We quickly dried the tent in the breeze and packed up. We stopped at Akureyri for groceries. We found a picnic bench and had lunch. We then moved on through Dlavik up to Siglufjörður where we watched the fishermen bringing their catch in for the day. On the way to Siglufjörður we went through a 1 lane tunnel of 800m. So far all the tunnels we had gone through had been single lane. They have pull-outs every 1/4 km or so in case you do get oncoming traffic you have to pass. This is how the bridges work too. Once you leave Reykjavik all the bridges crossing small and large rivers are single lane. The longer ones have an area for passing in the middle. The longest single lane tunnel we went through was 6km (3.7 miles) and it split halfway down to branch off to another town. |
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On the way south again we stopped at an overpass to take photos and saw several people picking blueberries. We got two containers and picked about 2 cups of berries each. They were fairly small and not as sweet as the ones back home, but it sure was nice having access to as many berries as you could pick. We stopped at Hofsós to make dinner. I had lamb chops with baked beans. At $8 for three double chops I found the lamb not badly priced. After having dinner we decided to just stay there as the campground was free and we had done enough driving for one day. The campground was primitive but it did have running cold water and toilets. |
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Thursday, August 27: We got up at 6am and headed to Varmahlíð to see about white water rafting. They only opened at 9am so we made tea in a light drizzle and Robert read his book while I knitted. As it turned out they were fully booked for the day. We asked about another company that offered rafting and they suggested Bakkeflöt, a company about 10km down the road. The deal with them was even better because they included the use of the hot pool and spa and free tea and coffee. We then spent the rest of the morning in the hot pool. After lunch we got together with our two guides, who were from Nepal. In all we were 5 plus a guide in our boat and 4 German women and a guide in the other boat. They bussed us to an area on the river where we got our safety instructions. The water was cold but we had wetsuits and spray tops so we didn't get THAT cold, but cold all the same. After going through several class 2 and class 3 rapids we stopped along the way where there was a hot spring flowing into the river. The guides got out mugs, filled each with steaming hot water from the spring, added hot chocolate and handed the mugs around. We sat in the hot water warming ourselves, sipping hot chocolate. You couldn't get your bare skin in the water as it was too hot. We did another stretch down the river then came to a narrowing with a 12 foot overhang. Several of us jumped off the cliff into the swift-flowing river below. We had to do a quick swim to get back to shore or we would be swept downstream. It was fun but really cold. Our guide had collected heated stones from the hot spring which he handed to us to warm ourselves. What a great idea that was as by then I had started to shiver. Then we headed downstream again to where our transport
was waiting to take us back to home base. In all we were on the
water for about 1 1/2 hours. Once we got back we all soaked in the
hot tubs to warm up. There was a campground right there so I made us
dinner. They even had a gas grill outside so I grilled another lamb
chop and made tortellini for Robert. We chatted to Gavin, a British
guy who had been in our raft with us who was seeing Iceland taking the bus
to get around. We left there at around 6:30pm and headed for the
campground near Laugarbakki. They charged 800 Krona ($6) per person to
camp which included a hot tub and showers. |
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