Hot and Cold Running Water

Today started early - last night, actually.

Just as we were winding it up for the day I thought I should check over the itinerary for tomorrow (today) and I found that (a) it was going to be another busy day and (b) the first point of attraction to visit was a slight backtrack to our intended route of travel for the day. It was a waterfall called Sveinsstekksfoss and access was open 24 hours, so we jumped back in the car at 10pm and checked this great little ‘Foss’ before heading back to Lindabrekka for the night. We were ahead of the game before it even started!

Alarm at 6am, out the door just after 7 and drove to our first waterfall for the day - Folaldafoss. This one didn’t require much walking and we snapped a few shots in the cold morning air and headed off to the little town of Stodvarfjordur - tucked away on one of the fjords that are a feature of this part of the coastline. Nothing was open as it was only 8.30am - so ‘Petra’s Rock Collection’ museum would have to wait for another day as this was the only real feature in the town and Petra was sleeping in until 10am.
We continued snaking our way along the dramatic Fiordland coastline and then turned off the Ring Road to visit the very quaint town of Seydisfjordur - again as the Icelandic name suggests is situated on another fjord.
On the way in were another two ‘fosses’ - Fardagafoss and Gufufoss - both sensational but the first one requiring a steep and strenuous climb from the car park. This definitely warmed us up for the day but the effort was certainly worth it.

At Gufufoss, Loss in her bright jacket was seconded by a German photographer who asked her to pose in front of the waterfall for her shots. All of a sudden it dawned on me that I could have been utilising this as an income stream all through the trip. What a missed opportunity!

The drive in to the gorgeous little town of Seydisfjordur required climbing up over a mountain pass and then descending down the valley on the other side leading into the fjord. The low cloud and overcast that had been lingering earlier started to burn off and we were treated to a beautiful morning and the picturesque little town looked stunning. The way the vibrantly painted houses cluster around the harbour make it look especially attractive and the ‘Blue Church’ is a famous feature of this town.
We spent a little time wandering around, treated ourselves to coffee and lunch at an excellent little restaurant with views up the fjord and then we returned back up over the mountain pass to rejoin the ring road and continue on our way.

We now had quite a long drive towards our destination for tonight (Myvatn) with a detour off to see the most spectacular falls of the northern part of Iceland - Selfoss and then just slightly downstream, Dettifoss (which according to Google is Europe’s most powerful waterfall). They were indeed spectacular and the spray from Dettifoss wet us considerably even though we were well away from its plunge point.

We continued driving towards Myvatn and just before arriving we crested a hill that was spouting steam and sulphurous fumes. This of course required further investigation and we pulled into the parking area for Namafjall - Iceland’s version of Rotorua. Steam vents, boiling pools of water and mud and lots of sulphur dioxide - what more could you want?

It should then have only been a short drive to our destination for tonight (Myvatn Guesthouse) - but there happened to be two of these on opposites sides of the lake to each other. I managed to enter the wrong one into Waze and drove half an hour past the correct one before realising my mistake.
It wasn’t all bad, because our backtrack took us around the beautiful Myvatn lake again which wasn’t too much of a trial to endure.
Tonight, it is as close to ‘camping’ as Loss has gotten in a long time. We are staying at a large campground and although we have a private room, it is a shared bathroom and cooking facilities. While I’m sitting in the communal dining area typing out this blog, Loss is a few metres away in the shared kitchen cooking up some dinner. I was keeping a mental tab on how long I thought it would take before she stuck up a conversation with the Germans in there as well. She was a bit slower than I had expected tonight - it took her exactly 3 minutes and 30 seconds before they were all best friends, sharing stories and being subjected to photos of the grandchildren.

Dinner was done by 8pm - just in time for the perfect way of finishing a day in Iceland - a visit to the open air hot baths. These were about a 10 minute drive from our accommodation and were very well set up with good facilities and two different pools of different temperatures. We chose the hotter one - and then found the hottest part of that where the water was flowing into the pool. It was quite special to be out in daylight at 9.30pm enjoying this experience. Quite tranquil and much less odiferous than Rotorua.

Loss has just finished hanging out the washing in the daylight at 10.40pm. Tomorrow is our last full day in Iceland and at this stage it looks like the good weather should hold out.Read more