Day 7 – 2Dec19
Dalshöfdi Guesthouse to Seyðisfjörður
I woke up with a head that felt like it was made of lead and wondered whether I would be able to drive to our next destination but started feeling better after breakfast.
Our host has given us a tip to visit the Fjallsárlón Glacier Lagoon as it was less visited by tourists than the Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon. We had plotted the location in the GPS the previous evening and it was just a magical place. There was no one around for hours. There was no breeze but fog concealed the glacier with teasing reveals. There were large icebergs in the lagoon and the overcast conditions were highlighting the blue in the ice. It was perfect conditions for photography. I was satisfied that the images that were taken were good but my skills were obviously rusty as I had forgotten to compensate for the excess of white in the images so they were under exposed. Still the actual views were stunning. We were so lucky.
Diamond beach. This was an interesting lunch stop. This is situated where a river meets the ocean. What was unusual was that there were chunks of ice of various sizes being carried along by an impressively swift river current. Some of the ice chunks were larger than cars. The fog had set in accentuating the blue in the ice and hiding the bridge not more than 100m away. Not too bad for a lunch spot. The reason for the beach name is that clear ice is deposited on the beach giving the appearance of large diamonds. It was cold and we were not dressed for the occasion but wandered the beach for quite a distance and came across a large sculptured block of ice that was scalloped. It was fun climbing onto it while avoiding the incoming waves. The conditions were poor but we had fun but were glad to get back to the car and warm up again as a t-shirt under an outer shell was not particularly effective.
Jokulsarlon Glacier Lagoon. The weather conditions deteriorated even further. We could not see beyond the carpark. Others had given up and were sitting eating fish and chips in the rain. We moved on and 10 minutes later we drove out of the fog. The glacier must have been influencing the local weather conditions. We got a glimpse of the glacier before driving on.
We had been told that the reindeer would be coming down from the mountains soon. We hoped that we would see some and had visions of an annual migration of a herd. Then as we were driving along Vanessa spotted 2 reindeer on the side of the road! One with antlers and one without. We drove back and forth a couple of times but they were skittish so we left them alone and continued.
The terrain changed as we continued along and we were sandwiched between mountains with enormous scree slopes that meet the edge of the road on one side and the eroded coast that had been battered by the ocean. We then entered the east fjord area and our destination for the day.
There was something like a monty python circus skit when we arrived at Framtid Hotel in Djúpivogur which was the reception for the Framtid hostel. I was asked for my first name rather than my last name. The hotel reception person scanned through seemingly all names in the database taking about 10 min. Now to get this in context this in a very small hotel with a small hostel in a small town and there were not many guests. He then got the number of days staying wrong and gave us directions to the hostel that were so complicated that we got them wrong when trying to follow. The correct directions were just follow the hill up behind the hotel, turn right and you will see the hostel. It must be frustrating working the hotel desk when there are very few customers at this time of the year!
We were the sole occupant of our hostel floor. So Vanessa may be walking around naked to be more Scandinavian. Well at least in the shower. It really is a bonus to have a hostel to ourselves sometimes as it is like having a home for a night.
Day 8 – 3Dec19
Seyðisfjörður
My cold worsened overnight. We have been eating mandarins and kiwi fruits to increase our vitamin c intake. It has not developed into a full blown cold at the moment which is promising.
Heatwave today. The temperature was expected to get to 9 deg C although the wind was quite cutting.
We headed out to revisit some of the region from the previous day. We called it the 1.5 sisters coast as we found one large column and one smaller column in the ocean seemingly separated from the island.
Christmas was almost cancelled. We drove around a bend after leaving town and two reindeer ran onto the road just in front of us. Luckily we were not up to the speed limit. Santa keep your team under control! We did not expect to see reindeer in the area but as we continued along we came across 3 more near the road. They come down from the mountains when the snow makes it difficult for them to find food.
The weather was changing and looked like it was raining so we turned around. There are quite localised weather patterns in the fjord areas and we found better weather heading to the next fjord area in search of seals. The fjord had a least 12 floating salmon farms along the way but we did not find any seals by looking along the shore.
We went in search of a waterfall that I had seen on the map and found ourselves following a gravel road into the mountains that become more and more steep until eventually the car stalled and we lost our nerve. Vanessa needed to get out and guide me as I reversed down the incline on a mountain track shifting a little too close to the edge for her liking. We found a turnaround point and decided that a retreat was the best course of action. The waterfall was actually on a side road on the way back down the hill. It was worth a visit and the water in the pool below was turquoise.
We found a 700g pack of Atlantic salmon at the local supermarket for AUD$10. We were not sure how to cook it without oil or foil or setting off the smoke detector at the hostel. Another problem was the oven was complicated and without an instruction manual. Thankyou internet. We found a metal frypan suitable for the oven. The manual from the OEM for oven had recommended temperatures and cooking times for salmon. The temperature was 220 deg C and time was 30-35 min cooking. Vanessa set the timer for 15min and she was correct. The salmon was almost perfect. I cook by numbers so would have set the time for 30 min.
Day 9 – 4Dec19
Djúpivogur to Seyðisfjörður
We tracked along fjords today after leaving Djúpivogur. Not before visiting the famous 34 stone eggs representing the same number of bird species in the area. We were not quite as enthusiastic as the reception person at the hotel. The scenery was absolutely stunning with tall waterfalls falling from the mountains on one side of the road and angry ocean swells and rugged coastline on the other before meeting the more calm fjords. We stopped at the end of one fjord as I wanted to take some images of a waterfall we had just passed. It was another case of a steam train slowly climbing a hill. Office worker fitness training still ineffective!
There are some birds that flock on the fjord and dive together. I was watching them while walking down the hill and noticed that there was a seal cruising along the fjord edge so was trying without luck to signal to Vanessa. Seals are like dogs. Once you have their attention they tend to track you. This happened with this seal and it followed me along the beach about 20m away. I named it Bob as it was just bobbing around watching then would disappear and pop up about 50m along the beach. There was a curious sound coming from the waters at the end of the fjord and could see that as the waves rolled onto the shore and withdrew the large pebbles on the beach would roll crashing into each other for a few seconds. Quite soothing. Vanessa and I enjoyed a cup of soup while listening to the sound of the rolling pebbles and Bob kept us company for a while before disappearing.
We continued following fjords for a while until entering a 6km tunnel. It was interesting to see that the temperature rose from 2 deg C to 14 deg C in the centre of the tunnel. It was a bit uncomfortable as the exhaust fumes from previous traffic seemed to remained trapped so the air quality was low.
It was not long and we were driving across an alpine pass towards Egillstadir then rising again into another snow covered alpine pass where the road was the only contrast to the snow cover. Very impressive. We started dropping down into a magnificent brown and white striped entrance to the seyðisfjörður fjord and heading to seyðisfjörður township. On a previous day we had encountered a cyclist as we were driving around one of the fjords and joked about a cyclist riding up the road that we were driving down. Next minute there was a cyclist riding up the road and going well. We were impressed. Even more impressed when we stopped off at Gulfoss waterfall for a few images and found that the wind was blowing strongly against his climb. It was really cold and cutting so we didn’t stay too long at the waterfall. Foss is waterfall by the way.
We and our GPS are bonding. Ironically the GPS writes “Don’t get lost today Vanessa and David” across the screen when we turn it on. We entered it years ago as a team we were getting lost and it is still true now. We have a map loaded that is routable and has a lot of useful information such as petrol station locations. It has mostly been working well although it tried to take us down a walking track when trying to get us to turn around when we missed a turn today.
We arrived at the post hostel our accommodation a little early. The owner came over and had already picked a room. It was a room with private bathroom in a hostel. The problem was that it was overlooking a backyard not the fjord. The hostel was effectively empty so it was an odd choice. Vanessa was not concerned but I was not impressed so called the owner again. I asked for a room upstairs and overlooking the fjord. She was happy to make the change in a couple of hours. We went for a drive down the fjord as far as we could go without arriving at a private farm. It is interesting that we valued the view more that the bathroom yet that was the treat that the owner had decided that we would appreciate. We were much happier with our view of the fjord and there was a ferry loading to head to Denmark expecting to leave at 8pm. It was delayed leaving.
I got side track in the kitchen having a chat with a lost soul who seemed to be trying to escape herself without a great deal of success. She was fascinating. Highly intelligent and well-read but suffering from paralysis analysis: the fear of not making the right decision and choosing to run at any sign of commitment. Vanessa was not impressed as I had neglected to tell her that I was in an engaging conversation and had missed dinner.
The night was clear and I was watching the magnetic indicators every 10min but there was no auroral activity worth noting.
My coughing is becoming worse overnight but clearing during the day.
