Varmahlíð

Never have I been more excited to go to a public pool than today! Almost every community here seems to have a pool and hot tub with geothermal water.

We strolled the shops in Akureyri this morning before hitting the road to drive the Tröllaskagi peninsula. Our first stop was Hauganes as I had heard they had hot tubs on the beach. And they sure did! For 1000ISK ($10 CAD) per person we had our choice of 3 geothermal hot tubs or a boat to soak in right on the beach! You can even do a cold plunge in the ocean - just like Kevin did! Blue lagoon didn’t stand a chance to this view.

We continued our journey stopping in picturesque communities along the way. One of them being Siglufjördur - a small fishing town on the fjord with bright coloured homes surrounded by snow capped mountains.

During the drive we travelled through 3 tunnels. Overall from our road trip we have driven more than 30km just in tunnels through the mountains. On this peninsula most tunnels were 1 lane only, meaning you had to find little pullouts to let cars past. Thankfully it hasn’t been busy on the roads but could only imagine how it would be in the summer! Especially in the 7km long single lane tunnels!

Our last main stop today was Hofsós, a community of under 200 people but they must have a great town planner! We dropped by their community geothermal pool as it is perched on a cliff side overlooking the fjord offering spectacular views!

Tonight we are camping outside Varmahlid at Lambeyri. Originally we pulled up to Steinsstadalaug camping as it is a winter camping site (not all are open in April) but it seemed pretty deserted. Then a man pulls up in a van, Fredrik Fredricksson (you can’t make this stuff up) who tells us about a better campground up the road! It definitely is the best campground we have been to thus far - grass, a big shared kitchen, washrooms and showers and a heated pool open 24/7! And it’s also not the most expensive one we have been to (they have ranged $35-50 per night). Home cooked vegetarian meal tonight - falafel, salad and pita with a sauce we debated buying for too long as we had no idea what the label said! 😅

Today was a nice pace as we didn’t have a set agenda, just stopping along the way on the way to our destination! Tomorrow should be similar after a morning adventure we are looking forward to!Read more