After having had such a beautiful and sunny day yesterday, this morning we awoke to cloudy skies and a light drizzle. I am not sure that we can get two days of sunshine in Iceland at this time of the year. If it is sunny in the morning, it seems to rain in the afternoon, or that night. If it is rainy in the morning, it seems to clear up by the evening, and today was no exception.
It was hard to get going when it was cold and rainy outside, but I was up at 6:30 AM anyway. Of course, it was due to Mother Nature more than anything else. The camping bathroom situation is probably the hardest thing to adapt to, it takes a little planning, and you can’t just wait until the last minute when you have to put on clothes and then walk to the restroom, and possibly wait in line.
I decided to just stay up, trying to catch up on the blog, and to actually put some of the pictures from the camera onto my computer so I could process them in Lightroom. I was able to download the pictures I had taken to date onto the computer hard drive which makes it easier to get them into Lightroom, but it is another step that takes some time.
At about 8:00 AM, I started to try and get Stephanie up, she was reluctant, even more so after I told her it was raining outside. We were trying to get going by 9:00 AM. We did not make it, I will not lie……
After Stephanie finally got up and dressed, we had our breakfast of yogurt and granola bars, with a banana.
Our projected driving time total for today was about 3.5 hours, excluding time for stops along the way.
We finally got going at about 9:30 AM and headed for our first site, the Fossfjordur Waterfall. It was a nice waterfall, but there was hardly anywhere to park to see it. There was a driveway for a building, but it said private property in English, so I guess they were tired of tourists parking there.
We pulled off in a small section of the roadway and headed over to the falls for a picture. Since the falls were close to the road, it did not require much walking to get there, which was nice.
The next stop on the route was the Reykjafjardarlaug Natural Hot Baths. This is a free hot springs and heated swimming pool on the side of the road. It was easy to see as we approached, the pool was painted blue. There were several cars there and we could see some people walking from the natural hot spring to the pool. There was also a changing room in a small building by the pool. We parked and checked out the upper hot spring and decided it would be nice for a soak, so we moved the camper to a more grassy area and went inside to change into our bathing suits.
Some other people headed up to the hot spring, so we decided to try the pool first. It was pretty warm but shallow. There was also some algae growing on the bottom, so it was a little slippery. We soaked in the pool for a while with a few other people, waiting for more room to become available in the sho spring. Several more cars arrived, so I told Stephanei it was now or probably never t try and get into the upper natural spring area, so we headed up the hill about 100 feet to the spring.
It was all-natural, and had a black sandy bottom. It was only about a foot deep, so we just sat down on the sandy bottom and mainly soaked our legs an bottoms. It was fairly large, much larger than Stephanie had described after she went to look at it when we first arrived. There was one other couple in the spring, and then two more men arrived, one said he was from Utah, and we talked with hin a bit.
The water was pretty hot, probably more hot than a hot tub will get at home. It felt good on our tired legs.
After about 15 minutes of asking, we decided we had enough, not wanting to get too hot. We got out and drip-dried on the walk back to the camper to change. Once we had changed back into our clothes, we headed to the next destination. We were glad we had stopped and this was our first hot springs visit in Iceland.
The next stop on our route was the Hæstahjallafoss waterfall in the Dynjandi area. It was over an hour away. We headed up into the mountains on the gravel road we were once again traveling on. There were some nice things to see, so we often pulled over to look and take photos. In one area, there was a small stream flowing through the rock on the side of the road. We stopped, planning to try and fly the drone over it, but it was just too windy, or more wind than I wanted to fly it in.
It was not much longer before we were in a fairly steady light rain. I was not sure how this would impact the driving on the dirt/gravel roads, they looked a little slick in areas when they were dry, so it might be worse when wet. Luckily, we have the option to engage all-wheel drive on the camper. They call it traction control.
About thirty minutes down the road, we came to an area that was under construction. It narrowed down to one lane, and luckily, no one was coming in the opposite direction. They had to alter the roadway in its area and make a temporary road, and it almost looked like the road had ended and we were in a construction zone for something else. Of course, the GPS was thoroughly confused with the temporary road re-route. There was one section where it was solid rock to the side, and we could see where they had drilled into the rock and placed explosives, there were many blue fuses sticking out of the holes in the rock, so that is what we assumed was going on, blasting with explosives, which was probably being done at night.
There was an area of containers and offices, I guess this was the construction yard. It was so remote, I think these were also living quarters for the workers. Near the buildings, there were some signs along the road, and a man was standing out by the road in a bright yellow jacket. At first, we thought he was going to stop us for some reason, so we slowed down, but he was only out for a smoke break!
On the other side of that area, the road was normal again, and we saw more cars, so we knew we were back on our route. We still had about 25 minutes before we arrived at the Hæstahjallafoss waterfall. We saw signs that we were entering the Dynjandi area, and there were several other waterfalls nearby up on the mountains. Of course, with the rain, almost any gully was going to look like a waterfall cascading down the steep mountains. We stopped to take a few photos, and then we came to the Hæstahjallafoss waterfall. We could see it from a distance, it is very wide near the top. What we could not figure out from this distance was what all of the small white items we saw in several areas to the sides of the waterfall.
We arrived at the parking lot and it was pretty full with both cars and tour buses, great. We found a spot to park and backed in knowing it would make it easier to get out with all of the vehicle congestion. There were about 5 tour buses parked there, and we could see long lines at the restroom building next to the parking lot.
It was still lightly raining, more of a mist, and we got out our rain gear and camera gear. As we were walking up to the falls area, we could now tell that all of the tour buses were from a Norwegian Cruise Line ship. It looked like most of them were heading back to the buses, so maybe it would be less crowded on the walk up to the falls.
At first, the walkway was nice, it was made of pavers and had a gentle upward slope. We saw signs that the area was under construction to improve the walkway, and before long, we knew why. The walkway became a rocky and muddy area, with a lot of irregular height steps, and it was really steep in some areas. It was not easy to climb at all, and it was really crowded in the steeper parts because everyone was going slowly through those areas. Oh, did I say it was now raining a little harder and with the heavier rainfall, it made many of the rocky steps more slippery.
We made it up about three levels of the falls, each level having a smaller waterfall of its own to view, with the top being the major waterfall. We did not make it all the way to the base of the large waterfall near the top, it was just too difficult and slippery. They were in the process of adding gravel steps in some areas, but a lot of the gravel had come out of the wooden forms, and made it even more slippery, the gravel was like walking on small marbles on a slope.
Now we could not see what all of the small white shapes were that we had seen as we were driving to the parking lot. They were large bags of sand or gravel that had been brought in by helicopter for the pathway construction. There was a sign stating that the walkway may be temporarily closed at times for helicopter deliveries, which was the only way to get them up to these higher areas.
We took photos at the highest level we were going to climb to and then started down. What was hard going up was even worse going down, but eventually, we made it to the bottom. We stopped off along the way to rest and take photos of some of the lower falls, we had not stopped on the way up knowing we would need breaks on the way down. Of course, there were a few people trying to show they could go down faster than most others, and one person slipped and almost fell going down a side area Had he fallen, he would have wiped out several other people, and someone would have gotten hurt.
We finally made it to the bottom where the walkway was obviously already upgraded, and headed back to the car. The waterfall was nice, but it was just too crowded. We now have been impacted twice by cruise ship crowds from different cruise lines, which we certainly had not expected, especially in the more remote Wedstfjords area. We wondered where the cruise ship was docked.
We drove a short distance down the road and found a picnic area on the side of the road that looked out onto the water in the fjord. We stopped there for lunch. It was really windy outside, and it was nice to have the warmth and comfort of the camper. We had our usual ham and cheese sandwiches with potato chips. While we were eating, a van pulled in with about eight people inside, it was a tour van and we were surprised it had stopped here. The people got out and walked around a bit before getting back inside the van and heading off. There was no bathroom here, and it was not that great of a view, especially with the weather today, so maybe it was just to take a break from driving and stretch their legs, who knows?
During lunch, we decided to skip one area on our driving route, it was not that interesting, I think it was added in for its views, but on a rainy day, it was not going to be something we needed to go to, and it was another in and out drive to get there.
The next stop was a small fishing village called Suðureyri. It was about 45 minutes away. We came to a tunnel, and it was quite long. There was a sign stating it was about 9,500 meters long, and on the sign, it looked like at one point there was an intersection inside the tunnel and two other roads branched off inside. The tunnel was very different.
At first, it was two lanes wide, but shortly after, there was only one lane going in our direction and then many side pullover areas for the traffic heading in the opposite direction. We were driving behind a large tour bus, so he was blazing the trail. Several cars going the opposite direction were in the pull-over areas as we passed by them.
It took us a little bit to figure it all out, the signs were a little confusing when we entered, but now it all made sense as we drove through.
Sure enough, there was an intersection in the tunnel about two-thirds of the way through, and we needed to turn left. At that location in the tunnel, there were two lanes for traffic, just because of the intersection. After turning left, we were now in a section of tunnel where we had to yield to oncoming traffic and use the pullover areas, all of which were marked by lighted signs with a large M on them. They were about every 150 feet or so. We saw an oncoming car, and pulled over, but then realized that the car was still far away, and we had pulled over too quickly. We headed to the next pullover and still had to wait a couple of minutes for the car to pass. It seemed to be going really slow, and maybe had its bright lights on, making it seem closer initially.
There was one other car behind it and those were the only two cars we had to pull over for. There was one curved section of the tunnel and the curve made the sight distance even less, so there were more pullover areas in the curve.
We finally exited the tunnel, and we knew we would be coming back through it later, but would be on the side that did not have to yield to oncoming traffic on the way back.
It was a short drive to the small fishing town of Suðureyri. Of course, there were tour buses here, about six, and we assumed they were also from the cruise ship. There were several fish processing plants here, and maybe they were on a tour of one of those, we couldn’t tell, as we did not see a lot of people outside. We drove through the small town, and on the opposite side of town, the road turned to gravel again, and we headed to an attraction called the Viking Hovel. It is a replica of a Viking House on the coastline. It was pretty interesting and had a sod roof.
We headed back to the town to park and walk around. There was not much to see and we did not stay long. It did not help that the whole town smelled fishy from the several fish processing plants located here.
We headed back to the tunnel, now fully understanding how it worked. In the initial section before the intersection, several cars had to pull over for us, and we could see just how close they got before pulling over, and better understood how it worked, and saw that they used turn signals to let the oncoming traffic know they were turning into the pullover area. We had not seen any of that initially since we were behind the tour bus and everyone was already pulling over before we ever saw them.
At the tunnel intersection, we turned left, heading to the town of Ísafjörður, which is a fairly large town and also the location of our campground for tonight. First, we went to the Bonus grocery store which was on the outskirts of the town. It was a nice store, one of the larger ones we have seen. This town is fairly large, so it also has a Netto Grocery in the town itself. Bonus stores are the favorites and the least expensive, plus we know what they have and where to find things since we have been to several already.
We bought some more yogurt, bread, and supplies to have another Mexican quesadilla night in the future. We also bought some more salsa and some plain tortilla chips. We had bought chees flavored chips the first time and they are good by themselves, but not that great with salsa. We also purchased another package of cooked chicken for the quesadillas. We picked up some more bananas, they really help with our sore and tired legs, and keep me from getting leg cramps at night from all of the walking, and probably not drinking enough water during the day. Next, we headed into town, and we saw the cruise ship that had been busing so many people to the waterfall we had visited. We were not sure which Norwegian Cruise Line ship it was, but it was large, with at least 3,000 passengers, which is a lot of people to add to these small towns.
We had noticed we had not gotten another can of black beans for our Mexican night, we just forgot, so we thought we would go to the Netto Grocery. We also needed some Italian or French bread to go with the pasta meal we were planning for tomorrow night, and the Bonus was all out of any fresh bread loaves. We struck out with the black beans there but got some bread.
Next, we headed to the Vínbúðin liquor store for a couple more bottles of Pinot Grigio wine. It was closer to the pier where the cruise ship was docked. After that task, we stopped at the N1 to fill up with Diesel Fuel. This was the first N1 that did not have the new credit card machines, and we tried the old one to no avail, it would not accept our PIN number just like the first day we had tried a few days ago. We were going to go back to the Bonus for our black beans, and they had a gas station there, and the gas was cheaper than the N1 anyway, but we did not know if our credit cards would work since we had not bought any fuel there before.
I pulled up to the pump and Stephanie went inside for the black beans. Everything worked just like a gas pump at home, there was no issue with our credit cards, it took the card using the touchless reader, and even gave us a receipt, which most N1 stations do not.
The campground we were staying at tonight was just down a side road from the Bonus Store, and it did not take us long to get there. There was no one at the desk, so we just went and picked out a spot. We found a great spot next to a small stream and backed in next to another campervan. The electric hook-up was right beside us and we plugged in. The instructions at the reception said they would be back between 8:00 PM and 10:00 PM, so we would just have to go and pay later. that has officially become Stephanie’s job. We did find out a couple of campsites ago that most give a substantial discount for anyone over 65, so we have been taking advantage of that since, and this campground was no exception.
After settling in, we headed across the road to hike up a little distance to see a nearby waterfall. We did not go far on the trail, just enough to get some better photos, we were tired from hiking at the waterfall earlier with all of the cruise ship passengers.
We headed back to the camper and set up our chairs behind the camper and next to the stream. t was relaxing to listen to the water cascading down over the rocks, and we also had a great view of the waterfall in the background.
We set up the grill, tonight’s meal was grilled hot dogs and a can of chile beans. They do not have baked beans here, at least none that we have seen, so chile beans were a good alternative. We also had potato chips with hot dogs and beans
We washed up all of our dishes in the kitchen area not far away and then decided to take showers. At first, Stephanie was not going to shower, so I went and found that the showers were really nice, with good water pressure and lots of hooks for clothes, plus really hot water. When I got back, I convinced Stephanie to go, and she was glad after she came back.
It was not long before we were both tired and headed off to sleep. I worked on the blog a little before retiring for the night.
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