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| Top of the crater |
Hotel Dalvik was our home for nights 4 and 5 of our Iceland road trip. On our way from Bifrost to Dalvik we climbed a cinder cone that was a short drive from our hotel.
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| Path up to the crater |
It was very breezy at the top and, because of the wind, we decided not to walk to the smaller cone. We had to hang onto our hats and really brace against the force of the wind. At one of our stops after that, we managed to acquire gas and a paper map. I’m old fashioned and there is a certain sense of comfort that comes from having a paper map onboard because it’s much easier for me to understand the big picture from a physical map.
When we were, again, looking for a washroom we decided to take a detour into a little town where the community swimming pool overlooked the ocean.
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| Small town |
We managed to find a washroom and ice cream there. I drove for a while but Richard did the bulk of the driving.
Around noon we arrived in Siglufjordur and, what ship should be in port but the Ocean Endeavour so we decided to put on our Adventure Canada jackets and play a few head games with the staff.
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| We meet again |
We met a couple of people we knew as we walked toward the ship and then on our way back to the car, at an outdoor pub, we saw a collection of the distinctive light blue ball caps worn by staff. We sidled up and began a conversation as if we had never left. Some of the folks knew we were driving around Iceland but it took one person about 15 minutes before she exclaimed, “Hey, you guys aren’t on the ship anymore are you?” We confessed and everyone had a good laugh. Shortly after that we said our goodbyes and headed for Dalvik.
In the morning we intended to take a hike noted in All Trails but we weren’t able to find the start of it so we headed for Akureyri. Turns out the Ocean Endeavour was docked there when we arrived and again, we bumped into staff that we knew. We checked out a pedestrian mall which was very crowded and decided to head for a Bonus store to buy stuff for lunch. Richard found a pull off by a pretty little bridge so we opened the hatch and had our lunch there.
After lunch Richard sketched while I had a nap. We caught something on the ship and, although we tested negative for covid, we were left with coughs and diminished energy on our circuit around Iceland. We finished up the day with dinner at Georgie’s. I was doing my best to eat whole foods that are plant based on this trip and it was a challenge. In the smaller towns dinners rely on either fish or lamb to anchor the meal. I had cod which was very good but I was feeling the lack of fresh veggies.
Sunday July 9 brought us to our 6th day in Iceland. It was a perfect day with the car thermometer reading +23C by 5 pm. We stopped at Godafoss where we walked down one side of the falls, crossed a bridge and then walked up the other side.
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| Godafoss |
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| A little closer in |
In the afternoon we visited Lake Myvatn. We walked part way around the lake and my birding heart was happy because we saw ducks, swans, loons, Arctic terns, and some LGB’s (little grey birds) that I couldn’t identify. We had lunch on the deck of the information centre and I discovered that I had left my Swiss army knife at the last place we stayed. I was not amused.
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| Lake Myvatn |
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| From another angle |
Swiss army knives seem to be a casualty of my travels. I lost one on our Cumbria way hike in 2008, and now someone in Iceland has a little souvenir from Scotland. I hope both knives found good homes and that their new owners are enjoying them. We spent the night at Hotel Laugar and in the morning continued our journey. We saw 2 waterfalls, some rather smelly fumaroles, and boiling mud pits.
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| Waterfall ! |
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| Waterfall 2 |
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| Dried mud |
Stinky 1
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| Stinky 2 |
The volcanic region was quite different from the coast road. Whereas the coast road had farms and green fields, we passed through a desolate landscape where the only green was lichen on rocks.
After a night at Hotel Edda in Egilsstaoir, we needed to put on some miles so we drove. It was cloudy when we left in the morning and we had cloud, sun, and some rain throughout the day. We covered some beautiful territory with sea views, plateaus, farms, lavascapes, and a humongous glacier with more tongues than I was able to count.
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| Sea view |
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| Plateau |
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| Glacier |
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| River |
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| Reflection |
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| That's a long way down |
The driving got exciting on a narrow gravel road with a 17% grade and lots of twists and turns.
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| Between the barrier and the dropoff |
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| Twisty |
For a third and final time we caught up with the Ocean Endeavour. We had a chat with the Icelandic storyteller who was travelling with the ship. He suggested that we should go to see the volcano that had just started to erupt. Meanwhile a friend in Calgary sent me a CBC article urging tourists to stay away from the area. We went with the CBC’s advice. We wandered out onto the pier where Adventure Canada was doing their zodiac transfers. Although it was a secure area the guy on duty saw us talking to the storyteller and assumed we were with the ship. We did nothing to disabuse him of that notion. When one of the younger members of the staff saw us approaching he grinned broadly and hollered, “No way!” We had lunch in a restaurant overlooking the harbour and the Ocean Endeavour. Then we returned to the car and continued to Hunkbakkar Guest House in Kirkjuvaejarklaustaur.
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| Miniature house |
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| Our cabin |
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| Interior of our cabin |
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| Cabins and parking |
That guest house was our favourite accommodation of the trip. We had our own little cabin and I would have liked to spend a few days there. The cabin had a porch out the front and a living area complete with a table and a couple of chairs. It felt roomy and cozy at the same time. There was a tiny model of the main building on the road leading into the property which only added to the charm.
After reluctantly leaving our cabin, and continuing on our way to Reykjavik, we stopped at the ‘church floor.’ This is a spot where the ends of basalt columns are visible on the surface of the landscape and they look like tiles laid by a careful craftsman. There was a small campground across the road from the church floor. There is a lot of opportunity to camp in Iceland and you can rent everything from a small converted van to a behemoth of an off road vehicle with its own compressor so you can add air or let air out of the tires depending on the type of terrain you want to drive over.
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| Church floor |
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| There's supposed to be one segment that's different |
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| Close up of church floor |
In the afternoon we encountered a pay toilet. I didn’t mind paying to pee but I couldn’t get my credit card to work. Luckily Richard came to the rescue and the door magically opened. I have an ability to misunderstand directions that others find perfectly clear.
The Drangshild Guest House marked our last day before Reykjavik and our flight home. The guest house is in the center of an old caldera
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| Panorama of guest house location |
and, I guess, that is the drawing card. It certainly wasn’t the condition of the building we stayed in. It was under construction. The room numbers were taped to the doors with masking tape. The drywall was badly done; some of the doors didn’t open all the way because the floors were uneven; the curtains hung down from the window onto our faces as we lay in bed; and the shower looked pretty iffy. Having said that, it was clean enough; there was a heater, which we used; the hot water worked; and the food was okay. We spent the time after supper watching birds soar and land on the cliffs behind the buildings.
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| Classy room number |
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| Dangling curtains |
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| Not quite finished |
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| Door that opens part way |
On our way into Reykjavik the next day we passed some touristy sites but didn’t stop. We did take in the lava museum which was well worth it. The highlight of the day was our visit to the giant geothermal plant that supplies Reykjavik with hot water and home heating. The most fascinating thing to me was that they are now able to remineralize gasses that escape during the process of providing hot water and heat to the community. The gasses that escape are mixed with water and then pumped back into the basalt where they deposit and become rock. It requires a lot of ground water, which Iceland has, and it’s a way to sequester carbon. Our last night in Iceland was at the Northern Lights Hotel in Reykjavik.
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| Drill bit |
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| Heating plant |
In the morning we got up and put ourselves into airplane mode. We stocked up on licorice chocolate but I wasn’t hungry so we didn’t go to the Omnom outlet for licorice ice cream. We returned the rental car and the guy gave us a short ride to the airport.
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| View from our hotel window |
As we took off we saw smoke from the erupting volcano and had no idea what was in store for Iceland over the next year.
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