Laugar to Varmahlid

We chugged our little "Rolls-can'ardly" up and over the mountains this morning and into the low-lying cloud. We feared we wouldn't have a decent view of Goðafoss, the Waterfall of the Gods, but we were thankfully mistaken. This mighty glacial river flows through a small, narrowing gorge and over two large falls. Legend has is that, in the year 1000, the local chieftain of unpronounceable name, was entrusted with the decision to embrace Christianity or to stick with the pagan gods. When the decision for Christianity was made, he went home and threw his statues of the pagan gods into this 12m high waterfall, giving it the name Godafoss. (If I had been chieftain, I would likely have named it Odin-afoss). I saw a bloke fishing in an eddy pool of this fast flowing river. Neville would have loved that and climbed his way down for a yarn and some tips!! It was a misty and ethereal start to the morning.

We took a scenic drive around the northern fjords and, as the morning moved on, the sun showed her face at last. It was still cold though, at around 8°. The scenery was incredible, balancing the threats of the bumpy narrow roads. I drove through 4 tunnels, each passing through the mountain rather than going around. The first and the last were single lane, distancing 7 and 4 kilometres respectively. To say I was a little freaked out was an understatement! I missed a pull-off at one point and met an incoming car, having to back up in a dark narrow tunnel for about 20m in a left hand drive. It wasn't my most joyous moment of the day.

We found a tiny little turf church that is located just outside of Hofsós, called Grafakirkja. It's the oldest church in Iceland and hard to spot from the road. We needed to open the sheep gates to get through them and walk about 50m to the little black kirk. It was ever so cute! Set amidst lush green fields at the base of a snow speckled hill, the site of this 800+ year old church contains a reconstruction built in the late 1600's. It also had a small, traditional circular cemetery (and you know how I love a good cemetery!).

We arrived at our destination earlier than expected this arv and have enjoyed a little bit of downtime. We were hoping for a soak in the local hot tub but it's summer and cold and too many other people had the same idea. We didn't feel like crowds tonight. Instead, we've enjoyed the view of the local Icelandic ponies, stout and shaggy maned, here in Skagafjordur, the cradle of Icelandic horsemanship. It's quite soothing…Læs mere